Masks in Cinemas, Museums etc.

[Rockhopper81]

So from August 8th, face coverings will become mandatory in cinemas, museums, 'indoor places where you will potentially be with people you don't know'.

I admit, I don't get it. I can go for a meal in a pub without wearing a covering, as they record details for test-and-trace, and have distanced the tables. But I will need to wear a covering to sit in a cinema, where there are already restrictions on seats (Cineworld, for example, requires two empty seats be left between groups bookings - admittedly not vertically, but horizontally), and my details are there when I make the booking on the app?

I can walk around a play park with my nephews without wearing a face covering (maintaining social distancing), but I can't do the same in a museum?

I can't be the only person who thinks this is going to dissuade people from going - is it really enjoyable to wear a face covering to a 'fun' event??

@dreamingbohemian
I would personally rather wear a mask and have everything open.

I agree. The more we wear masks the more we will get used to it.

@emptyplinth yes, a quick scan of the updated guidelines confirm it is ok to remove your mask to eat and drink.

He isn't doing a great job...

@emptyplinth

I agree that there are plenty of circumstances where wearing a mask makes sense. But museums? Really? How many documented cases of transmission in a bloody museum have there been? Cinemas make more sense because the seating is fixed, but since they make the majority of their profits by selling food and drink, I wonder what the level of compliance will be. Can you remove your mask to shovel popcorn into your mouth, or slurp your drink?

I'd imagined that cinemas, like some eating places, would ask you to wear a mask on the way in and on the way out as these are the times when you'll be close to people. Presumably you can remove your mask once settled in your socially distanced seat so that you can indulge in overpriced snacks.

I think those without medical exemptions should just get over this mask moaning - it’s here to stay, get used to it.

Problem is people have created such an unpleasant vibe re masks (refusing to wear them because they can/policing other people's reasons) that many people who are exempt, don't feel they can go places where masks are mandatory. I certainly don't and I've seen plenty of others posting the same.

I've completely given up on 2020. It's pathetic, I've never considered myself disabled but masks have demonstrated how bloody useless I am and that my family would be 1000x better off without me. Museums and the cinema are (were) two of ds's favourite things.

I get confused about masks in cinema. So you go into cinema and order popcorn etc with mask on. Go into screen #1 wearing mask. So far so good.

Movie starts, so everytime you go for a mouthful odd popcorn a picky food if ever there was one yes I know that phrase is a bit on mn you have to take you mask off and put it on again? Same with sips of coke etc. All while being in pitch black of a cinema.

Meanwhile there's a mw cinema usher policing that between sips and bites you have your mask on.

The only good thing is about masks in is that at you have something to hide behind if the movie is a bit scary or gory.

I’m just not going anywhere other than essential shopping, mostly click and collect.

I’m going to restaurants as no masks, but no leisure shopping/activities. Just a thoroughly unpleasant experience.

@Dinosauratemydaffodils

"Problem is people have created such an unpleasant vibe re masks (refusing to wear them because they can/policing other people's reasons) that many people who are exempt, don't feel they can go places where masks are mandatory. I certainly don't and I've seen plenty of others posting the same."

This exactly! I am exempt from wearing a face covering due to sensory difficulties. I tried to wear one today to pop into a shop and couldn't do it without inducing a panic attack, so took it off and scurried out within a minute or so. But I also have a big thing about confrontation, so I just won't go to places now I know I absolutely can't wear one.

I thought the cinema was one of the places I would be able to go, but I've read a few stories about people being challenged over their 'excuses' not to wear face coverings, and I'd rather not risk that, so it's just another place I won't go.

The list is getting ever longer...

@hayfeverhellish

I don't understand why it's not compulsory in hairdressers either? The only rule is the hairdresser has to wear a visor?? 🤷‍♀️. I think general compliance would be better if it didn't look like they made these rules up as they go along....

Not sure how you would wear one while your hair was being done so that may explain that one.

And yes they ARE making up these rules as they go along. Every country is.

The easy way is to say everyone wears masks when not at home, but then you start thinking about places that won't work and you say "ok not in restaurants or hairdressers. Then someone points out that dentists can't work on teeth if you have a mask on so say they add "ok not dentists"

Then you start removing restrictions and suddenly people take the piss and the numbers start to rise and now you're adding restrictions back on but trying not to make too many as you need people to earn a living.

I'm not even saying they have done a fantastic job, but I'd like to know how other people would have got on trying to sort it out.

I didn’t realise it wasn’t compulsory at hairdressers - it was at mine!

And just to add I had a cut and colour and it didn’t seem to get in the way.

I won’t be going to a cinema or museum if I have to wear a mask.

Same. And I’m pretty much the archetypal culture vulture - live in London and use museums and arts venues regularly. Masks suck the enjoyment out of everything and prevent me from relaxing and properly focusing on what I’m doing. I won’t be tacitly signing up to this shitty new normal’ by sucking it up and wearing one.

It was compulsory to wear a mask at my hairdressers. 3 hours of wearing it was fine. But again you could bring own refreshments so it was awkward to sip a coffee and wear a mask at the same time. They also weren't blow drying hair

But I was talking to a beautician friend today and the guidelines are that clients are advised to wear masks but you can't force clients to wear them and can't insist. 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

at my mums hairdressers clients were wearing masks and hair was being blow dried. So there's lots of variation

@TempsPerdu

I won’t be going to a cinema or museum if I have to wear a mask.

Same. And I’m pretty much the archetypal culture vulture - live in London and use museums and arts venues regularly. Masks suck the enjoyment out of everything and prevent me from relaxing and properly focusing on what I’m doing. I won’t be tacitly signing up to this shitty new normal’ by sucking it up and wearing one.

I am no fan of mask wearing and nor do I accept this current situation as any kind of normal but surely the point is wearing masks now is what will help to hopefully get us back sooner to the actual normal?!

What do you think will happen to the museums and cinemas you enjoy if people don’t visit for the next few months because of masks?

I don’t disagree @MarcelineMissouri but I still won’t be going, it’s a shame. I don’t enjoy any activities in a mask.

For members of the public, from 8 August the places where you will have to wear a face covering will be expanded to include:

funeral directors
premises providing professional, legal or financial services
cinemas
theatres
bingo halls
concert halls
museums, galleries, aquariums, indoor zoos or visitor farms, or other indoor tourist, heritage or cultural sites.
nail, beauty, hair salons and barbers - other than where necessary to remove for treatments
massage parlours
public areas in hotels and hostels
place of worship
libraries and public reading rooms
community centres
social clubs
tattoo and piercing parlours
indoor entertainment venues (amusement arcades, funfairs, adventure activities e.g. laser quest, go-karting, escape rooms, heritage sites etc)
storage and distribution facilities
veterinary services.
auction houses

I predict that by the end of the month we’ll have to wear them outdoors

What do you think will happen to the museums and cinemas you enjoy if people don’t visit for the next few months because of masks?

The key word is surely "enjoy". If masks stop people enjoying things, they aren't going to do it. They've cured my mum of her shopping addiction, she found it so unpleasant she's only been once since masks were introduced in Scotland. She says she's never spent so little money a month before.

I feel bad but because of my mask issue and dh's rage towards them due to the effect it's had on my mental health, we won't be going to the cinema or museums either (I can't go/he's refusing to take the kids on his own).

@Dinosauratemydaffodils is there a reason why he won’t take the children on his own?

What do you think will happen to the museums and cinemas you enjoy if people don’t visit for the next few months because of masks?

Disappear probably? Some of them anyway. Which would be devastating, but as Dinosaur said it still isn’t going to coerce me into doing something I don’t enjoy - to me it would be the equivalent of sitting in a cinema with a mosquito buzzing in your ear for several hours. To me arts and culture are about escapism, and if you can’t escape or be properly in the moment they lose a lot of their appeal.

I am a member of the Barbican and several other arts venues and will continue to support them financially, even if I don’t attend.

is there a reason why he won’t take the children on his own?

Other than masks, no. He's happily taken them to soft play, for food and to museums plenty of times before. Always been really hands on. I nearly got sectioned earlier in lockdown trying to desensentise myself to masks without professional support and it's basically undone years of therapy. Other than for food/essentials, now he refuses to go anywhere they are mandatory.

I predict that by the end of the month we’ll have to wear them outdoors

Wouldn’t be at all surprised. Visited an RHS garden yesterday and plenty of people were wearing them there. Sadly logic and reason went out the window months ago.

Some countries already ask people to wear masks outdoors where a large number of people can be congregated

I'm exempt from using masks, but I was using them anyway in shops and public transport as I didn't want to deal with confrontation, and it would only be for a short time. Now for these types of venues, I'm going to print out an exemption card and wear with my sunflower lanyard - I can't tolerate wearing one for a few hours which I might be spending in there. I know a few other people who will be doing this, so it could end up with less mask-wearing overall - more people will be resorting to using their exemption as the rules become stricter.

Agree masks outdoors basically everywhere soon