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?

I'm sick of people saying Oh but doctors etc do it. Yes and they chose that career for themselves knowing full well what it entailed and they get paid at least 3 times what I get paid. So no, that is not a valid comparison.

People dying all over the world with covid.
Yet you've got these people "oh it's so hard wearing a mask ..poor poor me"
Selfish if you ask me.
Happy to potentially give people a death sentence.

@nothingcanhurtmewithmyeyesshut

I'm sick of people saying Oh but doctors etc do it. Yes and they chose that career for themselves knowing full well what it entailed and they get paid at least 3 times what I get paid. So no, that is not a valid comparison.

I agree with you

@angeharis

People dying all over the world with covid. Yet you've got these people "oh it's so hard wearing a mask ..poor poor me" Selfish if you ask me. Happy to potentially give people a death sentence.

Selfish?!? We've worked throughout this pandemic and had no PPE at the start, we put up with physical and verbal abuse every day and don't get paid that well for it. If we were selfish we would have said no and got our unions involved but we just rolled up our sleeves and carried on and now we get called selfish for not wearing a mask. Unbelievable!

Went to Aldi yesterday and was thrilled to find (a) all customers wearing masks (it was quite busy) and (b) all staff wearing either a mask or a visor.

@Jakobabear yes selfish.
It's a mask that could potentially stop people dying of covid.
Why is wearing a mask so difficult?
If you were offered ppe from the start you more then likely would have refused it ..considering the song and dance your making over wearing a mask.'

Were definitely not selfish we have worked right through this with no choice and not been put on cushy furlonged staying at home while getting paid. Working so much overtime as our colleagues have to isolate etc. Putting up with abuse and making our colleagues cry. A man spotting at my manager
That man is now in prison.

So no shop.workers dont have to wear masks by LAW. Customers do. No one cared about masks earlier in march and now people all of a sudden do.

HCP's change masks between patients so not wearing same mask constantly for whole shift, there will be periods when not wearing a mask
when I was a dentist(retired) I would greet patient without mask,examine them with mask, talk to them about treatment plan without mask, put mask on again to do treatment remove mask to give advice on care afterwards and when they needed to return, clinical masks get damp quite quickly on the inside 30-60 minutes
1 mask would not last all day ( obviousyl because of cross infection we changed them) but if someone is working an 8 hour shift they would need 4 disposable masks or 3-4 washable reusable masks

while evidence shows masks are marginally beneficial in not passing it on there is little evidence that they are of any use prevention wise from people you spend hours with, wearing a mask at home would not be effective to stop your spouse giving it you.
that is why they are unlikely to be compulsory in offices, they are useful when with strangers for a period of time ( not the sort of fleeting contact of walking past on a pavement) like a bus train tube journey but are not much use for people constantly together like in a workplace or home

@TeacupDrama HCPs do not change masks between non-suspected Covid patients. You were wearing a mask in a dental surgery for the procedure only. HCPs are to wear masks whilst in the area of work not just during certain procedures. Anyone is a suspected Covid carrier, staff included so masks are worn for the duration of the shift.

Your comparison is not valid.

part of my comparison may not be valid
but HCP's do not and indeed should not be wearing the same mask for masks for 8 hours continously as they lose effectiveness when wet even from exhaled water vapour so should be replaced frequently even if not every patient. theyobviously remove them to eat and drink and should be replacing them at regular intervals even if not every patient and a mask should never be reused once touched or removed to eat so my comment about at least 4 masks a day is relevant

I am actually fairly appalled that areas of NHS are not changing disposable PPE ( I don't mean scrubs/ dresses etc) between patients covid or no covid

my sister is a district nurse they definitely wear a different mask and apron per patient,

You’re right it’s bonkers but then everything about this is now!

@cccro maybe you shouldn't make a song and dance over us not wearing them?

Retail staff have more than proven their worth over the past few months and don't deserve to have their every move scrutinised by customers.

If it bothers you that much order online and then you won't have to be amongst us selfish retail workers.

Wear a mask for eight hours whilst lifting heavy boxes and pushing heavy metal cages.

Then come back and tell us how we should be wearing them.

We've worked right through this Covid drama with no PPE AT ALL for most of it, whilst you all came in for your fags and scratch cards, for peanuts. We are certainly not going to suffocate simply to make you feel better about going shopping.

If you are wearing a mask that's all the protection you need.

Why the hell should they?

I've yet to see a randomised controlled trial that says cloth or surgical masks reduce viral infection in a community setting

@Jakobabear my song and dance is for a valid reason.
God knows how many people will be infected because retail workers aren't wearing masks.
Like I said previously ..retail staff are only following government guidance.
It's the governments guidance that's baffling

@Karenovirus why should anyone then ?

@Zaphodsotherhead the masks the customers are wearing are to protect the staff and fellow customers.

There is no real evidence that retail staff were the source of infection when it was far more prevalent than it is now so I don't think Susie from Morrisions is more likely to give you virus now than in March / April

in fact prevalence in community it most areas is very low ( not saying it will definitely stay that way but it could) so the chances of picking it up now are much much less. It was always thought that sustained encounters like on transport offices homes are the likely routes of transmission not fleeting encounters on footpaths and shopping aisles

[quote cccro]@Zaphodsotherhead the masks the customers are wearing are to protect the staff and fellow customers.
[/quote]
Exactly, you are all wearing the masks to protect each other.

Please don't tell us it's to protect the workers. You weren't wearing them to protect us at the height of Covid when we didn't even have the perspex screens at the tills. You weren't worried about us then, why suddenly feel concerned for us now?

Try working a minimum of six hours wearing one. Then you'll understand.
You are in store for an hour or so, stop whining about store staff.

How MN had changed since March / April / May when retail staff were being called heroes and could do no wrong.

Customers are mandated to wear masks to protect other customers. Simple. There's less distancing happening all the time and its to reduce transfer where possible because of it.

Staff have had hygiene regulations in place for months for themselves to keep transfer to a minimum. If you think them wearing a mask will save you then you're naive because I assure you that when the shop is closed the masks all come off and shelves are stocked like normal.

I'm a retail worker, been in constant contact with the public since the beginning (not supermarkets), but i will not wear a mask. I look young and healthy. I'm not. Im 30 with a trio of respiratory problems that are aggravated by heat and excess moisture, both of which come with a mask. I've tried a visor too. It was physically painful for me, pinched my head and left lasting marks and gave me a raging headache. The reflections on the inside of the screen also made me dizzy.

I've had enough of the abuse from customers already on why I should be wearing a mask according to them, and their apparent fear of catching covid doesn't stop them from coming right up to me to tell me.

@FluffyKittensinabasket Hasn't it just!

Give it a few months and they will be back to slating NHS employees too.

@cccro you aren't listening are you? you've been given answers over and over as to why shop staff choose not to wear masks

@Mrsm010918 sorry to hear you have also experienced abuse

i'm a retail manager and have colleagues come to me daily, upset, by these 'customers'

i support them at the till, particular place of conflict, and by god the public are getting WORSE! complaining about queuing,2 meters we ask for not 1,one way system.....they complain about it all and are now getting violent. its spiralling