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politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » The decision to make mask wearing in shops compulsory dominates the front pages
So the decision has last been made that shoppers in England should be forced by law to wear masks in shops but not till July 24th. Like other elements in Britain’s attempt to to contain the pandemic the big political issue has been on the timing. Should this have been brought in earlier?
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It could be that they're thinking that we need to get into the habit of wearing them ahead of the autumn. Pubs and restaurants could easily be shutdown again in October as a precautionary measure.
I do think this is a killer for commuting, though. As long as masks are required on public transport, I think workers have every right to say they won't go to the office.
Probably. Unlike a restriction on travelling to and from say France it does make sense to bring it in now mind.
It takes time to adapt to the no touch techniques that professional mask wearers adopt. Micropore along the top, change every few hours, dispose of properly, wash hands or sanitise whenever handling them etc. I have got used to it over the decades.
The issue with Covid-19 is what happens behind the scenes in textile and meat factories and care homes (not this).
I think this isn't about the science. It's the Government gambling it will increase consumer confidence to go out to boost the economy.
I must say I have my doubts about that.
Had N95 mask, used hand gel on hands before putting on and taking off, no adjusting or touching whilst on was needed, put away in resealable food bag. Re-used for return journey and plan to re-use a half dozen times again. Is the re-use part terrible?
You must be the only one. I don't see any cyclists wearing a mask - and nor do I think they need to.
People like RCS were speculating that encouraging/mandating mask use made great sense economically if combined with other loosening measures like reducing guidance on 2m distancing etc. But is there any indication of that at all from the Govt? I’m not seeing that. Which does adds to the view that this is just govt by opinion poll, there no real coherent planning behind it at all.
I will challenge and test Government policy at all times.
I hope you do too.
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/uk/
That is a fact.
Now, it might be that we'd have reduced them further with masks, or perhaps to get them down even more we need to be wearing masks.
But I'd be interested to know what the aim is. Clearly eradication is not the aim as we're resuming international travel. So why do we need to go even further to suppress cases when it appears to be pretty low at the moment and the NHS is coping well?
As I said, it might be with a view to the autumn and winter, but right now I'm struggling to see the logic behind this.
Most people want that lockdown to be eased.
If you want to keep the numbers down then you don't jump from lockdown straight to zero.
Wearing masks in public spaces indoors helps. It might help avoid a second lockdown in your town.
Of course, others have suggested that wearing masks can be combined with reducing social distancing. So perhaps another reason for getting this going now is to reduce the need for queuing outside in the autumn/winter.
Pause.
Ah, my deluxe PPE mask...
Wearing masks isn't great but it will allow provide a means for shops to stop restricting numbers - the rather large Next in town could only have 43 customers in it last weekend (and this was a Next Sale weekend).
And as I stated already Social distancing has completely disappeared in shops and personally telling people to keep away is going to cause far more anger than a security guard telling someone to wear a mask.
No.1 is death from Covid.
No.2 is hopsitalisation due to Covid
No.5 is Lockdown.
No.20 is people wearing masks.
Go to a shop to buy a pint of milk, wear a mask.
There is not much logic to this position.
Do I wish in an ideal world we needed masks? Of course not! But we don't live in an ideal world.
If the choice though is between locking us down and stopping our civil liberties ... Or saying we can go out and about and get on with our lives but wear a mask ... Then the mask is the lesser evil.
No idea how the clubs will allocate those tickets, highest bidder vs season tickets on rotation?
So do I support masks? Yes. But straight away. A lot of people have bought masks. Every supermarket now sells masks. You can make one out of a sock in a minute for temporary use. Mask up. Not a week on Friday. Where as I and others have pointed out we have the absurdity of it being safe to not wear a mask to go into the pub and get hammered but not safe to not wear a mask when you buy a bag of crisps at the shop on the way home.
You can't make distinctions between "essential" and "non-essential" either. This is either being done for public health reasons or it is not. We're trying to crush the virus or we're not. Half-arsed wear one here here and here but not there there or there is stupid. I suspect the call now is that unless we wear a mask we're going to carry on with infection levels well above our neighbours including Scotland and therefore we either squash it or we will be on no-travel lists quickly.
Plus at a restaurant I sit at a table and don't come into contact with lots of other diners. In a shop I'm constantly moving around and going into the air stream of other shoppers or having them come into mine even while trying to keep a distance.
But I'm more than happy to let other go who really really want to see games live. Being at a game is better than watching on TV as you can see the whole pitch all of the time, but it won't be especially enjoyable if I'm not able to go with my friends. Going to football is a social occasion.
. Why on earth is something so depressing ,going to cause aggression and disgusting litter (with little upside as people -especially people who don't want to - wear masks wrongly and keep fiddling with them?) being imposed now? It will cause economic damage as well . There must be lots of people like me who have been deliberately going out (not using public transport due to needing to wear a mask) walking to shops some distance away to buy stuff (clothes ,books , electrics) who wont be doing that after this rule comes in.
Maybe a big reason why high streets are not that well populated at the moment with people is the requirement to use masks on public transport. Extending this to shops will mean people who are happy to go out (its what the government says we should do ) will be less keen to do so and it will still mean people who do not currently visit shops (like Mike ) do not
But I'm really not fussed about going so I'll stay away until we can get back to something like normal. It could be a long time, but I just don't see much enjoyment in driving to north London on my own to sit in the ground on my own and pay £50+ for the privilege.
Wearing a mask during a pandemic is more libertarian than having a lockdown or other solutions. That so many people are blithely saying 'why don't we shut the pubs again instead of having masks' really bothers me. So people should be driven into penury because some people can't be arsed to wear a mask?
Would I wear one to the pub? On Wednesday, when we go out for wife's birthday celebratory meal; probably not, as we won't speak directly to anyone and one can't wear one while eating. Might do so, though until we sit down to eat.
It’s such a tiny thing to do that primary benefits others. I can’t see what the fuss is. Just get on with it and carry on.
In any case we’re already obliged to wear fabric coverings in shops, just somewhat lower down. Perhaps these too are controversial with the anti mask crowd. Maybe they like other things to breathe freely in Tesco.
Or is it going to e split between Q1 an Q2?
Wear a mask if you go inside or we will have to take your temperature
We only have rectal thermometers.
https://twitter.com/JenniferMerode/status/1282939687871676416
This seems like the right general approach to me: Containment is a game of averages, if your infection rate is stable or a little bit below 1 but you want to be able to do something that increases the average number of people an infected person infects - say reopening schools - you need to counter that with something else that decreases the average number of people an infected person infects.
Right in the middle of lockdown...
Now I am the first to say that a single swallow doesn't make a summer.
But that isn't evidence *against* a V shaped recession, either.
Rejoining the EU some time around 2024, I guess?
You can order anything online.
Going shopping is a social thing to do. The high street will collapse now. British people will simply not go in shops.
Take betting shops, why would anyone go in one now if you have to wear a mask.
There will be mass redundancies.
I live in the Eastleigh area, in the past month there have been 3 cases in the whole of the area, and now I have to wear a mask to go to Tesco's. When there were 1003 cases in a month I did not have to. Please explain that one.
I was simply standing there, waiting for them to move. They were doing the classic IfIStareAtTheProductsAtDifferentDistanceFor5Minutes thing.
Mind you, I was wearing a Biohazard bandana, mirror sunglasses and an N95 mask.
Very good for keeping the zombies away.
But just because we didn't do the right thing then isn't a reason to not do the right thing now. It's like the old adage about planting trees. The best time to do it was in the past, the next best time is now.
And whilst infection numbers are low now, they are higher than most other parts of Europe. And unchecked, it took about a month to go from 3 cases to 1003 cases in the spring. If wearing a face covering helps keep case numbers low, it's surely worth doing.
Why would it "mock" a V-shaped recovery?
It shows the down-slope. It doesn't show the recovery period. All right, arguably it shows the up-tick of the release of the harshest restrictions right at the furthest edge, but that's in no way incompatible with a v-shaped recovery. In fact, it shows exactly what you'd expect if you had not only a v-shaped recovery, but one beginning faster than you could plausibly expect, anyway.
You mis-typed.
What you meant to say is "the first instance of the police arresting someone in a bank for wearing a mask. At the same time as arresting someone else for not wearing a mask, in the same bank."
Remember, if your feet are in a furnace and your head’s in a bucket of liquid nitrogen, on average you’re perfectly comfortable.