People STILL not wearing masks on London buses

[custard6543]

I had to take a journey by bus earlier. There were about 10 people on the bus, three of whom were not wearing masks. Drivers need to stop letting people on without masks - these selfish passengers are putting everyone else’s lives at risk!

@Oliversmumsarmy correct. I am exempt and all you have to do is say you are exempt. Got asked many times by staff members on public transport. You can also choose to download an exemption card from the govt website to show it to them if asked but you don't have to by law.

As for why would anyone get a fine if they can just say they are exempt, I have to assume the people who get fined didn't say they are exempt but said they choose not to wear one...

There seems to be a correlation between those areas who have significant numbers of mask refuseniks and local lockdowns, or areas heading towards one.

I expect it will be on house listings soon...”Sought after area, good local schools, high mask compliance.”

@Derbygerbil

It’s weird that some parts of the country have many times more people who can’t wear masks than others. How bizarre that where I live in Suffolk, compliance is around 95%+, with that being 100% for every older and infirm person, yet in some parts of London, large numbers of 20-somethings are apparently unable to! Who could have guessed it!

I agree, our area is also very compliant. When I last went into town I didn’t see one person not wearing one. All ages, ethnicities, able bodied, disabled....

It does make you wonder what the problem is in other areas and make you feel that there must be a significant number who choose not to wear one for non medical reasons.

I expect it will be on house listings soon...”Sought after area, good local schools, high mask compliance

HOUSE BINGO

The whole premise of this thread is ridiculous. The fact is that you've no way of knowing whether these strangers were exempt or not, and you only make a fool of yourself pretending otherwise.

Well the fact that one of them put on a mask after the bus driver did an automated announcement suggests that at least one of them wasn’t exempt, @OpenlyGayExOlympicFencer. So your post makes you look rather foolish I’m afraid.

Mumsnet is hilarious though. There’s thread upon thread stating how selfish people are for flouting the rule of six. But people who get on a bus without wearing a mask for no good reason, potentially putting the rest of us at risk? Fine!

The thing is it isnt just about genuinely exempt people not wearing masks.
If you go to certain areas of london (incidentally the ones with higest infection rates) you will see that the majority of people do not wear masks in shops. It seems highly unlikely that so many proplr in a poplulation would be exempt. It might be explained by a popular local area culture. To see an entire group of 5 or 6 people together all of whom have dont masks does make me question the statistical likelikood of them all being exempt as opposef to being refusers.
To say its not the OPs business isnt really a fair statement. Masks help protect other people, if people arent wearing them it puts the op and everyone else at a higher risk of catching Covid. I suffer a disability and have a compromised immune system. So i also think its a genuine concern.

Dd was on the tube a few day’s ago and of all the people not wearing a mask, not one was exempt.

She knows this because the police came onto her carriage and handed out fines for those not wearing a mask and not having an exemption.

This.

The first claim was bad enough, but are we to take 'this' as a claim that the police have gone onto buses twce and fined a load of people who weren't wearing masks but then just admitted there was no reason for this despite knowing that there is no proof actually possible for exemptions? Really? This place is great

I also find it astonishing how many MN users believe all the non-mask wearers are exempt.

Fairly sure noone thinks this, however, they are willing to overlook the pisstakers in order to not discriminate against the genuine people, as just assuming everyone is a pisstaker obviously affects exempt people. And theres no real way of telling who is genuine, and who is a pisstaker.

Others apparently think its fine to assume all pisstakers, yet seem shocked when people say this is discriminatory against genuine people. Though, this is surely obvious.

Sorry, most, not all.

@custard6543

The whole premise of this thread is ridiculous. The fact is that you've no way of knowing whether these strangers were exempt or not, and you only make a fool of yourself pretending otherwise.

Well the fact that one of them put on a mask after the bus driver did an automated announcement suggests that at least one of them wasn’t exempt, @OpenlyGayExOlympicFencer. So your post makes you look rather foolish I’m afraid.

Interesting and convenient drip feed. However, that still leaves all the others where you've nothing to go on but assumption, so I'm afraid you're still in not very bright territory here and as such are unqualified to call anyone else foolish.

The fact remains that you do not know. Everything else is embroidery.

It’s interesting that many of those who seem so concerned about the many young massless men in the bus have hidden disabilities, also seem to have no concern whatsoever for the formerly shielding people in high risk categories who have no option but to get on buses/tubes for work.

Very few people are arguing that there aren’t genuine exemptions, but those who are hiding behind this figleaf to justify the significant numbers of people not wearing face coverings on buses etc. (with total disregard for those at risk) are cynically and disgracefully using those few vulnerable people with genuine exemptions for their anti-mask cause, and cowardly hiding behind their disabilities.

Others apparently think its fine to assume all pisstakers, yet seem shocked when people say this is discriminatory against genuine people. Though, this is surely obvious.

But it’s equally blindingly obvious that the vast majority of non-mask wearers in certain places of poor compliance levels are pisstakers. Pretending they’re not is absurd.

I've not seen that.

What I do see is that people who can wear masks but don't cynically exploiting the fact that some people are exempt in order not to wear one.

Interesting and convenient drip feed.

Hardly - I was simply reminded of it when someone else mentioned the automated message thing. Don’t worry though, because two of the three people still didn’t put a mask on despite the announcement!

however, they are willing to overlook the pisstakers in order to not discriminate against the genuine people

So other bus users (including vulnerable passengers) have to put our lives at risk because some people are selfishly not wearing masks for no genuine reason? How is that right or fair? Or do we not matter?

Good post @Derbygerbil and fully agree.

If you're exempt then you wouldn't have a mask dangling under your chin or one that only covers your mouth. I think they have them dangling ready to pull up in case an inspector comes on board.

Hardly - I was simply reminded of it when someone else mentioned the automated message thing. Don’t worry though, because two of the three people still didn’t put a mask on despite the announcement!

You didn't mention it in your OP and only included it once it had been pointed out that you didn't have any way of knowing. That's a drip feed. And you still don't know anything about the others.

To be honest I don’t care what you think or whether you believe me - but that’s what happened.

@Derbygerbil

It’s interesting that many of those who seem so concerned about the many young massless men in the bus have hidden disabilities, also seem to have no concern whatsoever for the formerly shielding people in high risk categories who have no option but to get on buses/tubes for work.

Very few people are arguing that there aren’t genuine exemptions, but those who are hiding behind this figleaf to justify the significant numbers of people not wearing face coverings on buses etc. (with total disregard for those at risk) are cynically and disgracefully using those few vulnerable people with genuine exemptions for their anti-mask cause, and cowardly hiding behind their disabilities.

Great post

Anyway, I will continue using public transport (because I don’t have a choice) and putting the lives of me and my family at risk thanks to the selfish bastards out there who refuse to wear masks for no good reason.

@BatShite

I also find it astonishing how many MN users believe all the non-mask wearers are exempt.

Fairly sure noone thinks this, however, they are willing to overlook the pisstakers in order to not discriminate against the genuine people, as just assuming everyone is a pisstaker obviously affects exempt people. And theres no real way of telling who is genuine, and who is a pisstaker.

@BatShite

No one is assuming everyone is a pisstaker, please show where people have implied this.

There obviously are a large proportion of pisstakers in some areas though, as other areas have 95% or more mask wearing compliance. How do you explain that? Or do all exempt people live in the same towns?

It’s a genuine concern for vulnerable people who have to travel on public transport. They have the right to feel safe. Why can’t you see their point of view too?

@Theworldisfullofgs

LangClegsInSpace

Primarily Asian countries like South Korea, Singapore etc

Which also happen to have excellent contact tracing systems and highly effective arrangements for isolation and quarantine, developed in response to previous disease outbreaks.

And poor disability rights - especially Singapore.

We can certainly learn a lot from such countries but I disagree with you on what we should be learning from them.

A few weeks ago these threads were full of people holding up France and Spain as shining examples of mask compliance. You don't hear so much of that lately.

[quote SheepandCow]@LangClegsInSpace
I agree that masks alone don't help but I'm not so sure they don't make much difference. I thought experts discovered they reduce infection by quite a lot? (Based on research looking at various different countries, who had different measures aside from masks). Is there new evidence changing things again?

I do agree it's partly about much needed psychological control around safety for some people. Actually many people. For whom we should have empathy.

As I've said so many times, we should've done what Australia and New Zealand did. We'd have no need for masks or most other measures by now had we used our island advantage.[/quote]
I'm going on the evidence presented in the WHO guidance documents:

apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/332293

apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/333919

There have been some interesting lab studies that show they can potentially make a bigger difference but it doesn't seem to translate into real world situations.