Staff in Asda not wearing masks

[HermioneMakepeace]

I went to Asda yesterday and loads of staff were not wearing masks. How is this allowed? I am very wary and wear a mask at all times as we are shielding. I had a problem at the self-serve checkout and the staff member who came to sort it out was inches away from me, maskless.

Does anybody know why Asda thinks this is OK, especially when we’re in Tier 4?

@Wherediditgo I agree. A piece of fabric over your face isn't the same as a medical grade mask, it's a token gesture nothing more. Today it's been reported that cases are worse than back at the beginning of the pandemic yet we've all been wearing masks since the summer so what good are they really doing?

Maybe the staff member was exempt!!
Is this really so hard to understand??

If you're shielding, how's about staying at home then? Get your food delivered, do click and collect, get someone to get your shopping for you.
There are options.
If you're so vulnerable, then that's on you and not on the key worker trying to do their job.

Most of the staff at my local Asda do wear a mask ,and they are behind a screen the ones that don't wear s Lanyard saying they are unable to wear a mask but will keep their distance.

Perhaps you should have stepped away and given the staff member space when she was sorting out your issue, so you weren’t “inches away”?

Staff could be exempt and also, as far as I was aware, retail staff don't have to wear masks. There is no way of anyone on here of knowing best just to ask next time you are in

If you're vulnerable, you could look into the masks with filters that will protect you.
-I know that the theory is that you wear a lesser quality mask to protect everyone else, but if your mask is protecting you, you're greatly reducing the chances of getting it in the first place to pass on and you can't transmit something you don't have

Another option might be to ask them to give you time to step back as you're shielding.

It is now mandatory

Exempt staff should wear a lanyard so customers know why they aren't wearing one.

Or maybe people could assume the best of people and realise if they aren't wearing one they have a reason. It doesn't matter what they reason is.
Really, what's the point of everyone who is not wearing a mask having a lanyard? If you're not wearing a mask there's no need to have a compensatory piece of clothing.

@Wherediditgo

Has there even been any statistical proof that masks make a blind bit of difference?? They’ve been mandatory in so many places for months now and yet our infection rates have skyrocketed.

There’s somewhere they’re not mandatory, in fact they’re disallowed - in school classrooms. Infection rates have skyrocketed in schoolchildren, who go home to their families.

And yet still no measures to make schools safer.

Because that is the purpose of the lanyard, where I work all staff that are exempt where one and we never have customers complaining about them not wearing masks.

*wear

I've just been to a huge Asda and all staff were wearing masks. Same at my local Tesco, except for the staff behind screens. There's one manager who doesn't have a mask but she wears a lanyard and maintains distance from customers.

If your Asda branch is lax, then contact the manager politely and ask why his/her store isn't conforming as much as others.

@PleasantVille

Oh so now young people can't be exempt? Your ignorance is astounding

So not what she posted and I'd also be pretty surprised if in a supermarket with a large number of young staff they were all exempt from mask wearing

Me too. In all the weeks and months since masks became a legal requirement I have seen one member of staff in a shop not wearing one at all. A couple wearing visors but they were behind plastic screens at tills as well.

But my mum said most of the staff at her local Iceland don't wear them. It's a bit odd, I also thought it was a legal requirement for staff unless you have an exemption and I would have thought that an employer would ask for some sort of evidence and/or move staff to other duties like working in the warehouse rather than the shop floor.

no staff do not have to provide medical'evidence' just like customers don't!!

if they are exempt then they are exempt. and they do the role they were employed for not get moved around to other duties

staff are often lugging heavy items around up and down etc for 8 hour shifts....in a mask

@HermioneMakepeace you are getting grilled this morning. I for one, think you have a valid point. Groups of youngsters working in ASDA are unlikely to all be exempt. In reality, statistically it's unlikely any of them would be exempt, but it's not impossible.

Yes, masks are essential in slowing the spread. Pieces of fabric, especially Tee shirt fabric which is easier to breathe through, have been shown in testing to reduce transmission by 50%. So it's not great when compared to PP3 of 95-98%, but it's a whole lot better than nothing. The key is to fit it well and not to touch it. Sanitise after you take it off and put it into a bag to wash. Do not reuse until it's been washed. Realistically you'd need 6-8 masks a day to stay safe and protect others as they become ineffective when wet. I doubt many people even know this.

The best home made masks combine two layers of synthetic chiffon (or fine silk) between cotton to create a electrostatic barrier. The fitting is important, nose wire and sewn to fit the face. These give up to 84% protection if I remember correctly. I made this type for friends and family.

People are tired of covid, tired of being told what to do. Those that have the least to lose seem to be especially lax as this situation is an annoyance that's affecting how they want to live.

Covid fatigue will help fuel this next highly transmissible new wave.

Our area has just moved to tier 4. Went to the large Tesco near me this morning, and the first 4 out of 5 staff were wearing their masks under their noses. Thought if I see the manager, I’d make a complaint. When I did see him, his mask was hanging off one ear. Didn’t bother talking to him. Shopping at Sainsburys in future.

more young people are exempt due to anxiety!!! give them a bloody break!

It's not just the large numbers of maskless staff in my local Asda that suprises me.

It's the fact that they shout to each other, past customers, across the store.

It's the fact they gather in maskless huddles to talk and block the aisles forcing customers to squeeze past.

It's the fact they don't observe any physical distancing.

I'm CEV and on crutches and gave up going there on the day we witnessed there maskless security guards racing round the store at full pelt after a banned shoplifter, shouting at the tops of their voices so close to other maskless - presumably exempt - people in the pharmacy queue that they were jumping out of the way, and nearly knocking some people over.

@Rockmeamaryllis

Our area has just moved to tier 4. Went to the large Tesco near me this morning, and the first 4 out of 5 staff were wearing their masks under their noses. Thought if I see the manager, I’d make a complaint. When I did see him, his mask was hanging off one ear. Didn’t bother talking to him. Shopping at Sainsburys in future.

they have probably had the first delivery after christmas to sort....heavy cages to move and push around, boxes to unload....all whilst wearing a mask....try it yourself for 8 hours a day and see how you feel then??

If large number of people aren't wearing masks, I would simply shop elsewhere.

@LoveNote
Eight hours working with mask on... Oh like clinical staff are? Like hospital porters, cleaners are?
If we an do this I honestly think staff in a supermarket can

I'm not denying wearing a mask can be a pain.

But what I will never understand is e.g. Asda security staff not wearing masks and then deliberately shouting across customers in a pharmacy queue who themselves aren't wearing masks - presumably because these customers might be medically exempt and vulnerable - and acting like they're in a Mission Impossible film rather than protecting packs of sausages from the local sausage-nicker.

*It's not just the large numbers of maskless staff in my local Asda that suprises me.

It's the fact that they shout to each other, past customers, across the store.

It's the fact they gather in maskless huddles to talk and block the aisles forcing customers to squeeze past.*

Maybe because they have been working right back from march. When we didn't know what we were dealing with these people still had to come into work to keep food supplies going. Maybe having worked through all of this and been initially at midday risk and having to deal with the fear and come into work anyway, they have a different perspective.

@SufferingFromLongLockdown

*It's not just the large numbers of maskless staff in my local Asda that suprises me.

It's the fact that they shout to each other, past customers, across the store.

It's the fact they gather in maskless huddles to talk and block the aisles forcing customers to squeeze past.*

Maybe because they have been working right back from march. When we didn't know what we were dealing with these people still had to come into work to keep food supplies going. Maybe having worked through all of this and been initially at midday risk and having to deal with the fear and come into work anyway, they have a different perspective.

It's not about individuals' 'perspective'.

If there's a problem in your store (and like I said upthread, I've not found this at all. There's 99.9% compliance in the supermarkets near me) then say something. Talk to the manager (and if his mask his hanging off then all the more reason to) or phone someone. You don't have to be rude or bolshie. Be polite and friendly but firm and ask what their rules are.