Face coverings to become mandatory in shops in England (includes poll)

[yorksrob]

I recently watched a live stream video on Reddit of someone going on a evening walk through a busy Japanese city arcade. Everyone wore one, but a number wore theirs below the nose. If they can't get it right, what hope do we have here?

On the plus side, japan has maintained a low rate of infection !

 

[Enthusiast]

Went on the Sandbanks Ferry last week and despite a notice about every 20 ft that says roofs must be closed and no passenger window can be open the vehicle next to us has the front passenger window open, not the only one either.

We digress from face coverings a bit but are they seriously mandating that measure on an open top ferry that takes about twenty cars on a ten minute trip? Are they suggesting that there is a risk of infection through the open windows of adjacent cars as they travel across the breezy entrance to Poole Harbour? Ye Gods!

 

[CaptainHaddock]

If masks had any effect on controlling the virus they should have been made mandatory back in April when the virus was at its peak, not now when the pandemic is as good as over.

 

[Bletchleyite]

If masks had any effect on controlling the virus they should have been made mandatory back in April when the virus was at its peak, not now when the pandemic is as good as over.

I believe the main concern back then was that widespread wearing would cause availability issues for the NHS.

The pandemic is not over, that's a dangerous statement. It will be back as soon as people drop their guard.

 

[MrTurbostar170]

The pandemic is not over, that's a dangerous statement. It will be back as soon as people drop their guard.

Have been hearing that for weeks...

 

[CaptainHaddock]

I believe the main concern back then was that widespread wearing would cause availability issues for the NHS.

The pandemic is not over, that's a dangerous statement. It will be back as soon as people drop their guard.

No it won't, it's dying out naturally, have you not been looking at the daily and weekly figures?

The focus now should not be on making people more fearful by making them wear masks needlessly, it should be on encouraging people to leave their homes and start socialising and spending again!

 

[adc82140]

I believe the main concern back then was that widespread wearing would cause availability issues for the NHS.

This is still the official line, which is why people are being encouraged to wear pointless home made ones, rather than the proper surgical ones that all the research is based on.

 

[Jonny]

The whole concept is pandering to the coronaphobes!

 

[J-2739]

No it won't, it's dying out naturally, have you not been looking at the daily and weekly figures?

The focus now should not be on making people more fearful by making them wear masks needlessly, it should be on encouraging people to leave their homes and start socialising and spending again!

Just saw that the death toll figure today was 148, around double last Saturday.

Really hoping that it's just an anomaly.

 

[CaptainHaddock]

Just saw that the death toll figure today was 148, around double last Saturday.

Really hoping that it's just an anomaly.

It is, you need to look at the weekly average figure to find out what the ongoing trend is.

 

[Edgeley]

There is a hygiene issue with people frequently touching a mask (adjusting it, putting it on, taking it off etc) and then touching other surfaces.

 

[bramling]

There is a hygiene issue with people frequently touching a mask (adjusting it, putting it on, taking it off etc) and then touching other surfaces.

This is one of my gripes with the whole thing, it’s virtually impossible to avoid touching them for one reason or another, which is what most people are doing.

I might just about be prepared to put aside the civil liberties argument on the basis that it’s “the right thing to do” if the evidence were better than flaky at best, however the point about risks from masks being touched is rather compelling.

 

[778]

I think it is a good idea for masks to be compulsory as a temporary solution (both in shops and on public transport), until we have a vaccine or an effrective treatment. However, it does worry me that it could become permanent after covid has passed. If masks are still complulsory during the flu sesason, and there is a reduction in flu deaths, politicians could use this as justification for making masks permanent.

 

[Richard Scott]

I think it is a good idea for masks to be compulsory as a temporary solution (both in shops and on public transport), until we have a vaccine or an effrective treatment. However, it does worry me that it could become permanent after covid has passed. If masks are still complulsory during the flu sesason, and there is a reduction in flu deaths, politicians could use this as justification for making masks permanent.

Why? We are on a dangerous route here where some evidence suggests masks make a slight difference, possibly. I for one hope these things are got rid of as soon as possible otherwise it will become the norm and some people will get it into their heads that anyone not wearing one is going to give them every disease under the sun. This will lead to mental health issues in some people, others may get physically hurt. Whilst many will do it and then stop when it's not needed this won't apply to everyone. This is a very poorly judged decision by politicians in my opinion and us problem with media and opinion driven political decisions.

 

[NorthOxonian]

I think it is a good idea for masks to be compulsory as a temporary solution (both in shops and on public transport), until we have a vaccine or an effrective treatment. However, it does worry me that it could become permanent after covid has passed. If masks are still complulsory during the flu sesason, and there is a reduction in flu deaths, politicians could use this as justification for making masks permanent.

The problem is that a vaccine could be years away. Even the best case scenario is probably a year once you factor in how long it will take to manufacture and distribute them. So I'm not sure how your solution is any less temporary than what SAGE wants.

 

[Skimpot flyer]

You think anyone catching flu this winter is not going to assess their symptoms, panic and call 119?
There’s going to a huge number of people getting told to self-isolate ‘just in case’, and an even greater number of their contacts told to do likewise.
Hey presto... the second wave !

 

[PHILIPE]

Just saw that the death toll figure today was 148, around double last Saturday.

Really hoping that it's just an anomaly.

The death figure is virtually meaningless in order to monitor the position as it is the new case figure that should be regarded as the one to useassess any spread. The deaths have already been been included in the new case figures.

 

[Busaholic]

If mask (or face covering) wearing does become mandatory in shops etc, it will be a tacit acceptance that it should have happened four months ago, except of course it couldn't because of the total failure of Halfcock's contingency planning (total absence of.) In fact, if you remember (and the government would rather you didn't) we were told we'd be snatching vital PPE from the beleaguered NHS if we started buying up what few face masks that became available, at 'spiv' prices. How Johnson can keep a straight face when he announces these things I don't know, but then I've long given up trying to work out what people see in him other than the (to me) obvious traits of hedonism, total incompetence and bluster. God, even I could muster a few Latin quotes if I put my mind to it: it proves nothing other than that the recipient may have had a better education than they deserved.

 

[trebor79]

I've written to me MP expressing my concerns, both with the policy (3 months too late, unlikely to have any impact on infection anyway, pandering to the SNP and social media mob, highly likely to destroy the high street and market town economies and no criteria for rescinding it) and how it is being drip fed on social media.
It's a safe Tory seat so I doubt he will care even if he reads it, but at least I've tried.
I'd urge everyone who is similarly concerned to do the same. Write your own letter/email.

 

[MrTurbostar170]

Been reading on twitter that TK Maxx are notable for denying entry to anyone even with valid exemptions.

 

[trebor79]

The focus now should not be on making people more fearful by making them wear masks needlessly, it should be on encouraging people to leave their homes and start socialising and spending again!

This is another bizarre juxtaposition. On the one hand we're about to be told we have to mask up to go and buy a pint of milk. But on the other have, I can have a tenner from the government to eat out, as often as I like. Might go for a few pints afterward too. No mask in any of those venues, where I'll be lingering far longer.
Not that I'm likely to encounter any COVID sufferers in either setting, of course.

The whole government response is just brain dead.

 

[MattA7]

Anything but shut the pubs again,as far as I'm concerned. I'll wear a facemask on my own toilet if it stops that !

I think you will find pubs were the very thing that did cause a small outbreak for obvious reasons. As you are drinking you won’t be able to wear a mask (not that I agree with compulsory mask laws) and you can’t expect drunkards to social distance we have a hard enough time trying to stop them from driving cars and getting them to behave in a peaceful orderly manner when in public.

opening pubs is like storing flammable materials around a bonfire and hoping nothing ignites

 

[trebor79]

Been reading on twitter that TK Maxx are notable for denying entry to anyone even with valid exemptions.

Private premises so they can deny entry if they don't like your shoes or your perfume. People will go shop elsewhere and they'll relent. Judging by what I see, only 5% want or feel the need to wear masks, so that's cutting their potential customer base down a lot. Everything everywhere is discounted at the moment so their USP is broken too, and proper shops the clothes aren't all just randomly stacked together so you can't find what you want.

 

[philosopher]

I think it is a good idea for masks to be compulsory as a temporary solution (both in shops and on public transport), until we have a vaccine or an effrective treatment. However, it does worry me that it could become permanent after covid has passed. If masks are still complulsory during the flu sesason, and there is a reduction in flu deaths, politicians could use this as justification for making masks permanent.

Personally, I am OK with compulsory masks in indoor public spaces if it allows a relaxation of social distancing. I think compulsory mask wearing is a more practical solution to reducing infection rates than social distancing.

That said I personally do not find them that uncomfortable, I am aware though for a lot of people this is not the case.

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

One of my biggest objections to any such proposal is that, just like with face masks in public transport, there needs to be a defined point at which the face covering mandate ends. It isn't acceptable to just define that as a woolly "when it's no longer needed". No longer needed in whose opinion?! In my opinion it is a pointless and backwards measure now already, and yet it looks like it's going to happen anyway.

If this comes in it will be goodbye to 99% of customers that can't or don't want to wear a mask. They might only be a small percentage of the population but the high street needs all it can get in terms of support right now. Any positive effect from masks in terms of reassuring worried people is going to be much less than the off-putting effect.

I would be very interested to see whether any studies have been undertaken on the potential health risks of people touching their masks to adjust them and then touching items in a store. That has got to be a surefire way of transferring whatever crap is on peoples' masks to other peoples' hands (and thus their faces and bodies down the line). I suspect any such studies won't be funded or publicised because they don't follow the groupthink that masks are a panacea, and that "something must be done, this is something so we must do it", which it appears still hasn't let off

 

[Llanigraham]

Do you not think the asthma could be linked to wearing a mask against medical advice?

Since I'm an asthmatic could you please explain to me how there is a link?
(Note, I have been wearing a mask regularly and had no problems!)

 

[trebor79]

If this comes in it will be goodbye to 99% of customers that can't or don't want to wear a mask. They might only be a small percentage of the population but the high street needs all it can get in terms of support right now. Any positive effect from masks in terms of reassuring worried people is going to be much less than the off-putting effect.

This. Notable that mask wearing in supermarkets went down from about 25% at the start of lockdown to almost nothing within a few weeks. The worried soon noticed that the rest of us went doing like flies.

 

[SouthEastBuses]

No country in the world has had mandatory masks outside your house. Would you want solitary fellwalkers wearing them for example?

Actually, for a couple of months (I believe it was from March until May or June), Slovakia and the Czech Republic required you to wear a face mask (or face covering or whatever you like to call it) everytime you step outside your house. Now this is no longer the case.

 

[Busaholic]

Actually, for a couple of months (I believe it was from March until May or June), Slovakia and the Czech Republic required you to wear a face mask (or face covering or whatever you like to call it) everytime you step outside your house. Now this is no longer the case.

Don't know about Slovakia, but the Czech Republic has had less than 400 deaths from the virus in a population of about ten million, so maybe it had the desired effect.

 

[Jamiescott1]

I used to spend about £70 a week in hospitality prior to March. The past week I've been abroad.
When back in UK I expect to spend the same as pre March levels. If masks are compulsory then that will reduce to £0 per week.
The sooner they admit that covid-19 is only deadly to unhealthy fatties and grannies then we can continue with our lives