To think retail staff should be wearing masks too?

[cccro]

Sorry if this has already been posted.
Today I went to a few shops.
Wilkos -no staff wearing masks,yes screens at tills but staff at door and walking around aren't wearing masks.
Primark -no staff wearing masks
Superdrug -no staff wearing masks

What's the rule here?
Are sales assistants immune from catching covid?
I don't understand why they aren't wearing masks?

Pointing out - yet again - that not all people are able to wear face coverings. Some are exempt and that includes people working in supermarkets or other shops.

As a retail staff member I do not wear a mask - I choose to social distance from customers (we have covid procedures in place to make that easier). I do not stray into their 2m space.

Customers are mandated by law to wear a mask in a shop. If they make a choice (and it is a choice they make sometimes despite me asking them not to and backing away) to invade my 2m space then their mask will protect me.

I am, of course, sometimes a customer - retail workers and customers are often part of the same set - there are many of us. When I am a customer I wear a mask.

@ClaryFray I don't think it matters that shoppers can be in and out in 10 mins.
My point is up until last week these retail workers were coming into contact with hundreds of people (most at this point not wearing masks )
So have a much higher chance (in my opinion) of passing on covid to us.

@BeyondMyWits don't you want to protect the customer by wearing a mask?
Yes they shouldn't get into your 2m space but sometimes it's inevitable.
You have came into that much contact with people before the mask rule ..surely you want to make sure your not passing anything on?

Visors are only splash guards from droplets so are pretty ineffective as compared to a mask.

I agree OP, retail staff should be wearing masks as they are having a lot of interactions with others. It will also confer some protection to them too.

The starting point is
Why was mask wearing introduced?
You believe the government: to protect other people
Therefore, it doesn't make sense

Can I suggest the government doesn't give a shit and just introduced the rule because mask wearing was seen as a way to get shoppers back out and spending money

Why the nhs rule? That was introduced without consultation with the nhs and without request by the nhs. You don't need to self isolate for two weeks if in contact with covid (this was at the same time contact testing started) if you were wearing ppe at the time. The alternative (which has happened, when nhs staff didn't wear ppe on a training day) is a whole department on two week self isolation.

I’m in London and when it was compulsory to wear a mask on public transport every single bus driver was wearing one.
Something has changed because now I never see a driver wearing one. I’m worried for them as passengers now use the front entrance rather then the back and therefore their risk of exposure has gone up not down.
It’s definitely optional for them now. There’s too many not wearing them for it not to be.

I guess the majority of people just don’t want to wear one. So if it’s optional they won’t.

I went to our local coop earlier this week - it's bigger than a convenience store - and all the staff were wearing masks - they hadn't been wearing them before.

You can't expect shop staff to wear a mask for a 8 hour shift.

Customers can protect themselves and staff by wearing one for 10 minutes (or however long they are in the shop).

Probably because wearing a mask for eight hours is very unpleasant.

Better cancel all those long and complex operations that sometimes take surgeons more than 8 hours to complete.

@cologne4711 I do in my job,as do nurses,doctors,health assistants,dentists etc etc

I don't think so, because I would imagine its bloody grim to have to wear one eight hours a day, especially in hot busy work enviroments, whereas shoppers like me can cope for thirty minutes here & there. Also worth pointing out that Covid is verging on extinction across much of the country anyway. If the Gov wants to temporarily extend mask wearing rules in potential hotspots, that it seems fair, but I'm not convinced that putting retail workers through hour upon hour of potential discomfort makes sense in the average community right now

@bobbiester

Probably because wearing a mask for eight hours is very unpleasant.

Better cancel all those long and complex operations that sometimes take surgeons more than 8 hours to complete.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

@cccro I am not liking very much the "othering" going on.
" these retail workers",
"passing covid to us "

these retail workers kept the nation supplied, going out to work every day - FROM DAY 1 - putting themselves at risk when this pandemic was at its peak. There are very good hygiene procedures which have been brought in and refined over months.

People pass covid. Distancing and hand hygiene are still paramount in the arsenal. If we are going to do any "othering" - the worried well should not be allowed to dictate the terms of leaving their safe little bubbles to those of us already out there.

We want to go forward. There have been no mass outbreaks related to retail.

(We have had antibody testing - being in a pharmacy/retail environment - and none of the 12 of us have had covid)

@BeyondMyWits "us" as in customers
"Those" as in staff
I'm not being derogatory (I worked in retail for years)
It's not even the sales staff choices.
It's the governments decision not to make it mandatory for them.
I think it should be,some people might not.
I guess we all have different thoughts on the matter.

Transmission over more than 8 metres via aerosols has been confirmed in an outbreak at a German meat processing plant. Yes a cold environment but not much different from the chilled food aisle in a small supermarket. This thing IS airborne. So if the maskless employee stacking yogurts exhales viral material it will travel far.

Funny how quickly we’ve gone from praising and cheering our front line workers, to condemning them

I wore a mask during a shopping trip for 4 hours the other day (totally my choice, not complaining) and it was horrible. I was hot, bothered and couldn’t breathe. Now try to imagine doing your job all day like that.

Seeing as masks are only compulsory in shops and public transport and not in restaurants or other settings, the benefit of wearing them is marginal anyway.

@cccro Firstly, the average surgeon is paid maybe just a little bit more than the average retail worker. Secondly, they've chosen that enviroment from the start????? I wish people would engage their brains sometimes.

@Eminybob nobody is condemning anymore.
A lot of us are confused why they aren't mandatory for sales staff.
They've worked hard all lockdown.
As previously said,this isn't an attack on them,it's a wtf at the decisions made by the government.

@SomewhereEast and ? Because the surgeon earns more than the retail worker,retail workers shouldn't have to wear masks.
What a silly argument.

I think the wtf decision made by the government is why they’ve decided now that we have to wear masks, rather than weeks/months ago, and why it is perfectly fine to go to the pub without one.

@Eminybob I totally agree with you.

Shop workers are exempt that's the way it is. Customers wear masks to protect the retail staff. Customers are not.doing long shifts lugging boxes and heavy cages about which is unbearable in a mask. I work in a supermarket and dont wear one unless I m on the shop floor or personally shopping.

I'm sick of sales assistants saying it's too much wearing masks

I work on a busy hot NHS ward doing 12.5 hour shifts

Wearing masks, shields gloves and aprons.
No air conditioning

Get over yourselves!!!!
It's for your own good to wear a mask etc

I'm sick of people moaning about it.

I think shop staff should wear masks.
We are all in this together we have to look after our selves and keep ourselves safe, this virus will be with us for a long time.

Keep safe everyone.