Is mask wearing limiting your economic participation?

[byvirtue]

I knew mask wearing was mandatory in shops but I hadn’t heard about the new restrictions that have come out today www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53702291

I had planned to head to a spa for a couple of days this month for my birthday and we were going to book a staycation in a hotel in September. We would have easily spent £2k on these trips.

Now it seems that masks are mandatory for spa treatments and in hotel public areas we won’t be going. I personally find face coverings unpleasant and they significantly reduce my enjoyment so I'd rather not bother.

We are fit and healthy with money to spend and were happy to get out and spend money prior to face coverings becoming mandatory. These new rules mean the opportunities for us to spend money have been notably reduced.

I’m curious are these extended face covering rules going to lead to you spending more or less now?

Nope, I do whatever I want that is currently permitted and wear a mask where required. I am fortunate not to have to wear one for work though. I would definitely want a break from it if I did. I do quite like that some people are put off going to places that require masks though as they are less busy, but I worry about them making enough to survive.

@ChavvySexPond

Masks reassure us.

We both have friends in mask-wearing Asian countries who have been getting on with life this whole time.

Just with a mask on.

(And an adequate test and trace system)

Masks piss me off. Why does your right to feel "safe" (when there's no strong evidence to suggest that is even the case) trump my right to be happy and comfortable and cool in these temperatures?

@feetfreckles

Gosh, cases are already slowly rising again, local lockdowns announced every week, and the only thing that has prevented and continues to prevent catastrophic social and economic disaster is a set of highly restrictive conditions that in themselves have huge negative consequences, and someone thinks the pandemic is over.

Are they rising though? According to this oxford professor, they're not. If you adjust for things such as number of tests taken.

www.cebm.net/covid-19/covid-cases-in-england-arent-rising-heres-why/

I prefer to food shop in person so wear a mask for that
Anything else that involves mask wearing I will avoid if possible
I’m also spending much less on clothes, days out, holidays etc

I'm still buying stuff. Just online instead if the high street. I live in a rural area, no point in driving to town if browsing is unpleasant and I can't try stuff on. I'd just have to do the same trek the following weekend if it didn't fit or whatever. If that means shops go bust, well that's the new normal.

I honestly don't think the extra people who are comfortable going to places now masks are required will come close to outweighing those who don't bother because of them.

That's what I think as well. I would like to be wrong on this because otherwise more businesses will suffer, more people will be made redundant and places like museums etc will struggle and ultimately less money will be generated to spend on services.

@epythymy

"Masks piss me off. Why does your right to feel "safe" (when there's no strong evidence to suggest that is even the case) trump my right to be happy and comfortable and cool in these temperatures?"

My rights and feelings don't come into it.

Take it up with your government.

Or those mask-wearing countries flaunting their masks and their vastly lower death tolls in temperatures higher than a British summer.

[quote ChavvySexPond]**@epythymy

"Masks piss me off. Why does your right to feel "safe" (when there's no strong evidence to suggest that is even the case) trump my right to be happy and comfortable and cool in these temperatures?"

My rights and feelings don't come into it.

Take it up with your government.

Or those mask-wearing countries flaunting their masks and their vastly lower death tolls in temperatures higher than a British summer.
[/quote]
Those countries like South Africa which introduced masks at 5000 cases and now has 700,000?

@epythymy

if you're so worried about a pandemic which is basically over and which has a survival rate of over 99% then you should stay at home

Basically over....Jesus wept, WTAF did you get that idea from? It's nothing like 'nearly over' and if people keep behaving like chumps we won't keep the infection rate lower either.

I'm sure people who feel it's risky would live to just stay at home & no one bother with masks, but you know...shop/pub/retail staff. Bus drivers/vets/chemists/teachers...

What do you think might happen if everyone 'just stays at home'? Or you know, the vast majority could just wear a mask & hopefully we can keep infection rates lower that way.

You're comparing apples with zebras.

You might like to actually do some reading about SA before you make statements like that. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I dont actually mind wearing the masks, but were not doing indoor entertainment (cinemas/museums etc.) that we otherwise would as we dont find it as enjoyable with the mask. We shop, but dont hang about to browse/spend extra.

We've done a uk holiday a couple of weeks ago that was already planned before covid and did most things we would normally do but will now likely save a lot of money to enjoy going out/aboard when masks are no longer needed.

This thread seems to show that the economic effect will probably be nil. For everyone who isn't now spending because they don't want to wear a mask, someone else is saying they will go out and about because masks are now compulsory. It will be interesting when we get the first quarter figures for retail spending following the change to the rules.

I fall firmly within the 'not contributing to the economy camp'. I am a few years into the menopause and suffer from extremely severe hot flushes. I will not be going anywhere by choice where I am required to wear a mask. I have worn one a couple of times to dash into the pharmacy or the corner shop but apart from that I will be sticking to meeting friends and family for walks, garden bbqs or eating outside at pubs. I won't be browsing in any shops or visiting anywhere where a mask is required

@IncrediblySadToo

You're comparing apples with zebras.

You might like to actually do some reading about SA before you make statements like that. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Yes. Much better to rely on comparing statistics from those bastions of democracy in East Asia such as China. Or maybe Japan which appears to be having a not insignificant second wave as we speak.

I’m definitely more likely to go out and spend now that most people are wearing masks. I don’t think I had set foot in a store prior to that coming in.

I won't be doing many indoor activities anyway so it won't really change that. I have no intention of going to the cinema or similar. I'll eat in restaurant and pub gardens.
I did wear a mask to get my hair done for most of the appointment (not when she was putting foils around the sides).

I'm doing quick shops in supermarkets but not big shops and will avoid other shops unless I have to go in.

I'm a prolific online shopper though so I'm doing my bit. 😉

I don't mind wearing a mask, I don't complain about it at all but I do feel more anxious and as anxiety makes me sweaty, masks don't help and I find that embarrassing.

I am not sure that I am going to be able to wear one at work (and where I work, once we go back, it will be compulsory, as it is one of the sorts of offices where it is - they sneaked that in under the radar - and one of the things I do out of the office also requires them to be worn). I have been wearing them for shops, but I don’t spend a long time in them and can just about bear the elephant sitting on chest sensation for a quick trip to the post office, for example, but a whole working day I think I would struggle with. I know that doctors etc. have to, even if they are exempt (like I am), but I didn’t choose to be a doctor, nurse, painter and decorator, fireman or join the Navy - I chose to be a desk jockey (and some of those careers wouldn’t have been possible, given my breathing issues). But I know that people will probably challenge not wearing one, so I feel that my economic participation as in going to work could be limited, if my colleagues get annoyed with me not wearing one.

Yes

I wear a mask to do the shopping obviously but I don't like wearing it and wont be bothering to go anywhere else where they are mandatory. I could probably do with finding a mask that fits my face better as the one I have keeps riding up my face until its brushing my eyelashes which is really fucking annoying and I have to keep touching it to pull it back down.

Yes it absolutely has. I understand why they are necessary but i avoid going to shops ect anymore then i have to because i can't stand wearing a mask. Was in a shop the other day, got really claustrophobic and was starting to panic and get really anxious so i just walked out without buying anything! my husband does the shopping and we buy lots online. I wear a mask for a few mins when i need to but that's the extent of it. No more spa breaks or indoor activities for me till for the foreseeable. We do lots of outdoor stuff instead( weather permitting) where masks aren't compulsory.

100% reducing what I spend and my economic participation. Been to the pub twice but that's it. Absolutely sucked the enjoyment out of everything. Everyone I know has said the same. They are vile.

I swear some people on MN seem to love the masks so much I imagine they sit in their own living room with one on.

What cherrybakewells3 said!!! Best observation to date!

100% reducing what I spend and my economic participation. Been to the pub twice but that's it. Absolutely sucked the enjoyment out of everything. Everyone I know has said the same. They are vile

I just don't know anyone in real life who would say anything like that. "sucked the enjoyment out of everything?" It's just a mask. Thankfully most of my friends and family are much more relaxed about life than to get that het up about it. It's just such a tiny inconvenience, seems only to be on mumsnet that people are struggling so badly with them.

I wear a mask where I have to but I don't like it. Today I went to town and probably didn't browse as much as usual so certainly only bought what I went for.

I find it frustrating that we've not had to wear them for ages now we all do and shop staff don't. Especially after the government told us early on there was no benefit.

So, yes I'm still spending a little but there is no pleasure, no impulsive buys as can't try on clothes etc.just got few basic to as working from home, knickers socks etc. Avoided places like Trafford centre Cheshire oaks as I don't think I could face wearing a mask the whole time.

I feel really sorry for my husband too, he is exempt from wearing one but it's made shopping stressful for him, you feel judged plus your on edge expecting to be jumped on for not wearing one. We went to Liverpool for a day out last weekend ended up queuing to get into a shop to be told by rude staff member that he couldn't come in without a letter from his gp saying he was exempt. That isn't the law

So with that experience and stress We are certainly not spending on leisure, spa holidays etc. We've already decided not to holiday in the uk... why waste hard earned money with all the restrictions.

I understand it makes some people feel better let's hope those people spend enough to keep everyone in a job.

I wear a mask when I have to - food shopping etc, but if it’s something I can avoid then I don’t go in. I’m currently on holiday in the U.K., and usually I’d have a mooch around local independent shops, but not this time. My dislike of masks outweighs my wish to go in shops, and clearly I’m not the only one.

I try to avoid it much more than I would if we didn't have to wear masks.