I wanted to ask the young man behind me in the queue, to move back.

[Twoforthree]

Just this really. He wasn’t right on my heels but pretty close. Given that this age group are the main carriers at the moment, and he wasn’t wearing a mask, I desperately wanted to ask him to social distance a bit more. I didn’t, but I felt very uncomfortable.

Should I have said something? Would you have done?

Overall I was pleasantly surprised how many people were still wearing masks.I did look at those who weren’t, and silently judge them and think how selfish they were. I know some of them would have been exempt for a good reason but a lot of them wouldn’t be.

if people can’t accept their own mortality, particularly when they are past the average life expectancy

This is more rubbish out of the anti mask rhetoric, funny how it gets repeated almost verbatim. Can you not find your own words to address one of the great issues of our existence. Having overcome odds of 40% that I would not live out my 40s and see my children grow up I am very aware of my own mortality thank you very much, and also aware that most people are in complete denial of death and it’s processes so when it comes to them individually they are in shock and terror.. However even though I am living on borrowed time I very much resent the needless threat of losing my life unnecessarily to a horrible virus or being left with less quality of life by it because an incompetent government and a load of sheeple many indoctrinated by right wing websites are not following the science.

@Emilyontmoor

Because 2 metre distancing makes whole sectors of the economy totally unviable.

Of course there will always be covid patients in hospital, just as people require treatment for other things. It doesn’t mean we should shut everything down indefinitely.

There’s no such thing as ‘the science’ @Emilyontmoor

sheeple

Green where did I say we should lock down indefinitely? It is just that as most scientists are saying we should continue with common sense measures of infection control which require minimal personal effort where they do not damage the economy. As it stands our Hugh Street is suffering more now more than ever, with high case rates in the borough nobody is going out and whilst mask wearing and distancing is being respected by most people people are just not shopping. John Lewis for instance is deserted, possibly the safest retail outlet in the country!

We have had to endure lockdowns and huge damage to the economy because we went against all established public health practise and did not use our existing public health expertise to implement an effective track, trace and isolation strategy, we let the virus rip and the result was not just pressure on the NHS and death and suffering but massive economic harm, damage to mental health and unknown consequences for our young people. All the signs are that Boris’s libertarian let the bodies pile up strategy is still very much in place and with the same dire results…..

High case numbers equals maximum economic damage

@Chillychangchoo

I am a self confessed mask dodger who doesn’t give a fuck about others 🙋‍♀️.

If someone has decided not to protect themselves by taking up a very effective vaccine, that’s really not my problem or concern.

No one is forcing another human being to enter a shop, people do so at their own risk.

What about those who have only just been able to get the first dose....

@pinkcircustop

We don’t need to wear a mask or social distance anymore.

So if you’re worried, you need to move.

Surely it's common decency to not stand so close to people though, regardless of whether covid is here or not? I've always hated people who have no concept of personal space.

Why are people on this thread fuming just because they've found out that most people don't like it when strangers breath down their neck? What is it about getting close to random strangers that you enjoy so much?!

@Chillychangchoo oh my mistake. I've just read your subsequent posts and can see that your one of those Facebook sheep's that spout absolute anti mask nonsense. Should learn to read all the updates first

I asked someone not to come in the lift with me and my baby today they were fine about it. It was a tiny lift and even pre covid I would have said something as I hate being in enclosed spaces anyway especially with someone else right in your face. I’ve never been afraid to speak up though as I genuinely don’t feel embarrassment about things like this, much to my husbands disliking as he will do anything to avoid the slightest confrontation

Even without the pandemic, given some people's lack of personal hygiene, there are some I'd want to be at least 2 metres away from at all times. No reason not to ask politely.

@squiddybear

Nonsense in your opinion, I call it perspective.

The anxiety and hysteria is concerning though, but you do you .

@Lottie4

I'll be working on self serve at the weekend and am dreading it. Work have backed us up with distancing in the past saying we could insist anyone without a mask was 2m away from us if we wanted, and if they refused not serve them. That's all gone now, I'll be within inches of their faces. I'll wear a mask and if it gets too bad put my visor on as well (others have worn both at times).

I do feel very sorry for all the staff. It must be horrible.

I was in Boots in one single queue for a couple of checkouts, so no trolleys to use.

Similar to a cold I think you are hearing “mild” and assuming that it’s like a cold. For many, it might be. Mild means not hospitalised, so for many, even those double jabbed, whilst they may not die, it could be pretty severe and that’s without long covid entering the equation.

The other day I was at the pharmacy (before 19th) and there was this lady in the queue standing close behind me (just a few inches away from me) I kept inching forward and she kept inching forward too. Soo rude and annoying. I honestly wonder if some people do this to make you feel uncomfortable enough to move to the back of the queue for them to get ahead. When I am with my dd I would say loudly to her " make sure you give people space " so anyone standing too close me would hear and hopefully get the message.

Close to me*

This young man could still be breathing out aerosol particles of the virus with no symptoms

Yes but he could be doing that even if wearing a mask. The larger particles that drop to the floor won’t be a problem if OP isn’t facing him, the ones that hang in the air and are a problem aren’t stopped terribly well by masks.

There is a value to masks but people seem to think they stop you breathing covid out, and unless it’s a high grade medical one, they don’t.

There are disproportionate amount of dickheads on MN who are proudly throwing away their masks and no longer distancing themselves from others.
In real life most people I’ve seen are still wearing masks and being considerate with personal space.

Chilly Paranoia, hysteria, anxiety

There you go again with the boring old anti mask rhetoric. Can you not try to put it into your own words or do you have to stick with the tribal norms?

Paranoia is an irrational reaction to something that isn’t real. Given that most people are just getting on with common sense responses to a real virus that by now most people have experienced at least at second hand to be at best unpleasant (no symptoms when I had Covid but agonising unexplained ear pain for the 15 months since now acknowledged as another of Covid’s gifts, my DB is still struggling to eat six months from getting Covid “mildly” because everything tastes literally of shit). I don’t think they are the ones that are paranoid and out of touch with reality because they are reading right wing nonsense on Facebook……

@Twoforthree

I didn’t say anything because it was a long queue, and I was embarrassed.

Clearly not uncomfortable enough to make a perfectly reasonable request 🙄 but yeah come onto a forum to pass judgement on people making their own choices...

I've never liked anyone in my personal space, ever. I don't want anyone breathing down my neck. I always tell dd to put her bag on the seat next to her on public transport and do not move it. She had had some dirty old bastard try to touch her up. Obviously if ALL the seats are taken that is a different matter.
What this pandemic has reiterated is that I like my own space I don't want you near me. I'm also getting blunter about it.

@Emilyontmoor

It might be what you refer to as a boring old rhetoric and you’re more than entitled to think that but it’s my opinion. If there is a group of people who happen to have the same opinion, then that makes it a popular opinion not a rhetoric.

Honestly I’ve heard it all now. So because I’ve chosen not to wear a mask I’m reading right wing content?

Jesus Christ. Mumsnet is something else. I got accused of being an anti vaxxer earlier too despite not even mentioning my vaccine status. (I’m double jabbed).

Bizarre.

I've found that I naturally give extra space to maskers as they are more likely to be worried about such things. It would have been fine to ask him to step back. I doubt many people would have been offended.

I kept inching forward and she kept inching forward too. Soo rude and annoying. I honestly wonder if some people do this to make you feel uncomfortable enough to move to the back of the queue for them to get ahead

I think people do it deliberately on railway station platforms to get you to move if you are in prime position for where the doors open.

Nobody should be crowding people out. Give people space. Covid isn't the issue here, not respecting peoples' personal space is.

I’m in two minds about this.

Firstly, I hated it even pre-pandemic when people stood too close. I also think that it’s been so ‘normal’ to SD over the past 18months or so that I feel like it would take a conscious effort to NOT do it now, if that makes sense? So people are going out of their way to stand close… just because they can. Which is odd.

However, the rule of SD and mask wearing no longer exists. We are all to take responsibility for OURSELVES and that’s it. I hate the saying but I think “you do you” applies here. You can only take your own precautions, you cannot force others which precautions (if any) they take. That is up to them.

@GreenLakes

The thing is social distancing is no longer even guidance, so people are perfectly entitled to stand however close they want to others.

If you personally are not comfortable with that, you need to stay out of supermarkets and look into home deliveries.

Eh? So you’d be ok with me literally hanging over you? You don’t need a law or guidance to tell you that is nonsense.

So, let me just understand the ‘rules’ now - because there isn’t a law or guidance telling me how far apart I need to stand from people, I can literally press myself against others like a pervert on a train and if they don’t like it then they should not be out in public in the first place? Am I the odd one here? I mean WTAF?

I mean it might be an unusual idea but how about we all try to treat others with respect and consideration? You aren’t going to get served any more quickly if you’re looming over the back of the person in front of you.

Chilly So sod the people who have spent years developing expertise in public health, virology, behaviour science etc. because you have an opinion, not even a popular opinion, a minority opinion and one that is held by some extreme twats who like to down six packs of Stella whilst marching through London shouting out conspiracy theories. Actually judging from our local shops it is not “popular opinion” 90% still wearing masks and I am sure a lot of the rest have a medical reason.

Popular opinion and political ideology have no place in how you manage a public health emergency.

Would you have marched into prohibited areas of Salisbury when needed public health officials were telling you there was a risk of poisoning because in your opinion there wasn’t or it infringed your freedom / right to roam?