Amount of people wearing masks

[Yetiyoga]

I have seen a lot of people not wearing masks in shops here, I would never say anything as there may well be a reason. But on the scenes you see abroad where masks are mandatory everywhere, including outdoors, it seems that everyone just wears one there but lots of people in the UK seem to make excuses. I get being exempt, but are we just less tolerable?

In big metropolitan cities through the UK many friends dotted around the country have observed an unscientific correlation between health and safety concerns, proactivity and awareness with adherence to Covid criminal laws between peoples of from a diversity of (perceived) backgrounds.

In certain economically challenging and known high crime rate areas it may well be more sensitive to insist on Covid mitigation issues as required in retail settings. You will inevitably find that your average Waitrose, Whole Foods and M&S Food Hall etc (other brands are available) will inevitably attract a certain clientele fully PPEd up with masks and gloves while this is not always the case in other retail grocery stores and establishments.

As always Covid fatalities data only indicate that Covid discriminates on those with lowest existing health and fitness and highest risk appetites with most exposure time and frequency of non mask wearing non social distancing spitting distance occurrences.

@LangClegsInSpace it’s not rubbish. Central Europe is less enlightened than the U.K.

Also, I see you’re in SE London. I went into a shop in Forest Hill today (one of those chi chi little shops that should be called “I saw you coming”) and the woman serving screeched at us before we even set foot in the shop that we couldn’t come in without a mask. I didn’t have the impression she was open to negotiation.

Sorry, I missed that you were not talking about the UK.

Forest Hill woman must comply with the EA if she runs a shop.

Probably there will be one or two discrimination cases somewhere in the UK, or even just well reported threats of legal action, and then the majority of retail businesses will work out what their EA obligations are and will comply.

Went to Lidl in Eastleigh last week, which seems to be a mainly 'working class' area (whatever that is really), and everyone was wearing a mask.

Not sure compliance is a class issue anyway

Having just returned from France - where mask wearing inside anywhere public ( and in more crowded out door spaces such as markets) is mandatory- for everyone ( except young children- and those genuinely unable to wear a mask). i think we make too much fuss over it! If the French can manage to comply with mandatory mask wearing - why can’t we? There are signs on entry to shops to help remind the forgetful and hand sanitizer on entry and in strategic places with polite notices please to use. Staff all wear masks too-even in outdoor cafes. Once sat at tables customers take off their masks to relax and eat- but put the mask back on to get up again. There are faded notices around to remind people what not to do like shaking hands.

@tearsandtiaras, it's much better to handle food with bare hands and wash them regularly. My DD is a chef and during normal times hands must be washed every 30 minutes and if changing jobs. Gloves would be more risky.

In Asda in Knowsley last night I ended up taking my mask off because I was struggling and very few other people were wearing them. People aren't complying in the rougher areas I shop in. You have to ask them to move away from you. Many people think that it's over and done with. I live in an area were there is a lot of weed smoking and many didn't think that it was real to start with.

[quote MrsSchadenfreude]@Waxonwaxoff0 I’m not saying it as something to be proud of, I’m saying it because this is the way it is. At the start of lockdown no-one over the age of 60 was allowed out, except for medical appointments. Neighbours and family rallied round and did shopping and helped out until the rules were relaxed.[/quote]
I'll tell that to my over 60 mother who was going into work answering 999 calls. She'll be most annoyed she didn't get to have a few months off

Sorry!! Ignore - missed the bit about not in uk oops

I see 90% of people wearing them since the rule came in. Before, I think about 25% were wearing them. Hopefully they are exempt. However I know people who could be exempt but wear them anyway and one person who isn't exempt but just doesn't want to wear it!

However I know people who could be exempt but wear them anyway

If they can wear a face covering they are not exempt.

ponoka I disagree- if the chef has a gastric bug then gloveless hands will pass on the bug.

covid is not the only risk to people, personally I find gloveless hands with chefs intolerable. people have become so obsessed with covid they have lost sight of the bigger picture

An 'amount', of people? Like a massive blob of people piled high on top of each other?
Think you mean a number of people OP.

ponoka I disagree- if the chef has a gastric bug then gloveless hands will pass on the bug.

As can gloved hands... Gastric bugs don’t step through the skin! If hands are washed thoroughly before food preparation then that’s fine. Far better to have a chef who washes their hands well before food preparation than one who believe gloves provide some kind of magic protection and coughs into them, rubs their nose/mouth and doesn’t change them between touching raw and cooked food.

seep not step

I'm in a small semi rural town in the SE.

Quite a number of people have been wearing masks for some time before they became mandatory. Now there's a very high level of compliance.

I've had to be out and about quite a bit over the last few days and see very few people without them. People are still distancing as well and using the hand sanitiser provided by shops.

It feels quite strange to walk through the streets and see all the people with face masks on.

Today was my first day out and about visiting shops since masks became compulsory, I assumed pretty much everyone would be wearing them and was quite shocked at how many people weren’t.

Petrol station shop - most weren’t.
Pets at Home - everyone was
Local village shop - only me, 5 others went in and out
Pharmacy - I was thanked for wearing one because apparently most people weren’t.
B&Q - everyone, they weren’t letting people in without one.

And Northern Ireland has brought forward its mandatory masking up date to Monday.

So comforting to know we’re all in this together.

I guess since their Covid hospitalisations have doubled since yesterday this is a sensible thing to do.

Yep, they've gone from 1 inpatient yesterday to 2 today, across the entire country.

“ Confirming that face coverings would be mandatory from Monday, First Minister Arlene Foster said: "It's really about trying to give confidence to people who feel vulnerable and maybe have been shielding.”

So nothing at all scientific then. Great stuff.

'If they can wear a face covering they are not exempt.'

What I mean is there are people like my partner who is asthmatic and if he really didn't want to wear one, he could say it's because it affects his breathing. But he doesn't, he just wears it. My son has Aspergers, so the masks can be a sensory thing and also triggering because they don't like change. He protested at first, but he has worn them. People with autism can be exempt.

The rules say you are exempt if you cannot put on, wear or remove a face covering because of a health issue or disability, or because it would cause you severe distress.

There isn't a list of conditions, it's all to do with whether you can wear one or not. Some people with asthma and some people with autism will find that they are unable to wear one, so they are exempt. Other people with asthma or autism will find that they can wear one, so they are not exempt.

It's when you see photos on social media of people you know all getting together in much larger groups that we're meant to right now and they're all snapping photos where everyone is huddled in close with no masks. I find it astoundingly stupid and selfish.

Only seen 3 people not wearing them in the last month.