Masks to be Mandatory in Scotland until at least next Spring

[Ginandfantalemon]

Just read this and wondered what others in Scotland are thinking.
The article states that Scotland will stick to the strictest rules in the UK and it is hoped that voluntary mask wearing, as in Asian Countries, will be a measure that is adopted. I truly don't know if I can go on anymore. I haven't been out for over a year because of these bloody rules and this is just enough now.

But they aren't optional or just for guidance in Scotland. They are a legal mandatory requirement and you can be fined for not wearing one. I shouldn't need to break the law to be 'free'

You are not breaking the law by going into a public space not wearing a mask. You are exempt. You are not breaking the law by not displaying a lanyard either. There is literally nothing stopping you, and absolutely no reason why you can't go into a shop without either a mask or a lanyard, beyond your own anxiety at the prospect of doing so.

Go outside and look for yourself. The shops are teeming with maskless people, even by comparison to the way they were at the weekend. Half the people simply aren't bothering, nobody bats an eyelid, the police don't have the slightest interest, and nobody is going to get fined or any such thing. Even most of the staff in my supermarket have binned the masks. It's simply not the same as it was prior to Monday 9th.

Honestly. This is your anxiety, which I completely understand. I had shopkeepers, twice yesterday, actively try to hurry me into their shops before I had taken my mask out, telling me not to bother any more.

That sounds tough OP. I’m very glad to be living in England at the moment.

I think if it were just me and DP I’d probably suck it up to some extent, while avoiding mask-wearing wherever possible. But if masks looked like becoming a permanent fixture and my child were still being forced to wear one in school I’d be looking to move elsewhere. I see that they’ve now exempted under 12s from mask-wearing, which is some positive progress at least.

For once, I’m glad I live in England. Life is quite normal now, it’s bloody brilliant.

@Bobholll

For once, I’m glad I live in England. Life is quite normal now, it’s bloody brilliant.

It's pretty much normal here now too, with the exception of being asked to where a mask if possible in a couple of specific settings, with no consequences for those who ignore the request for whatever reason.

Oh, and the ones who appear to believe they are going to be raided by a snatch-squad at 3am and 'disappeared' if they are spotted in Tesco without a mask.

wear* obvs

@HelloMissus Reckon most of us locals would prefer if it stayed as it is this year!

For me, being pregnant and not wanting the vaccine, wearing masks seems a slight comfort when in crowds and around people I don't know. I can't imagine catching the delta variant when pregnant would be fun... One my closest friends developed long Covid soon after they gave birth and that's made their first year with their wee one a nightmare.

Side note: I'm in Scotland and it doesn't feel authoritarian, but I have noticed friends and family have that perception from England... If anything, it feels a lot more sensitive and caring than what is happening on the other side of the border. I'm thinking of a certain English politician saying things like 'Let the bodies pile high in their thousands'... Lovely...

strawberry but what about the huge boost to the local economy?

I mean it’s worth about 1bn to Scottish economy right?

I dont really get attitudes like yours @Ginandfantalemon

I fully support you not being able to wear a mask. I wear one all day at work and i can so i do. Its horrible right enough. But if you can't wear one there's no reason you should be forced. But then not wanting to wear a lanyard either confuses me. Ive seen plenty of people wearing lanyards and i dont think twice. Its such a shame this is putting you off going out. I really think people wont be really bothered if you wear a lanyard, most people are too interested in themselves to notice.
If you have stayed in all this time i really feel for you.

@Hellomissus haha.

The festival and tourism in general is hollowing out Edinburgh as a place to live.

The “boost” is totally outweighed by the way living costs e.g. rent/mortgages are totally skewed. A lot of the work at and around the festivals is unpaid or low paid and temporary.

The city becomes unpleasantly busy and the local infrastructure struggles and fails to cope. Much of the boost goes into the hands of landlords and companies who aren’t necessarily local.

Basically the centre of the city is just becoming a tacky playground, with a cultural value that is transient and ersatz. It leaves very little behind for local people of any lasting value. Just crowded pavements and over flowing bins.

The festival was a different story 20 years ago but it’s just an empty shell that is pretty detached from the locale now.

@HelloMissus

strawberry but what about the huge boost to the local economy?

Prefer to just actually be able to get on a bus, without 3 going past in a row, full to the gunwales with middle-class tourist families desperate to go and see Roslin Chapel. Or walk home, down the Mile, without being jostled out of the way by someone trying to punt flyers for something or other.

I appreciate the cultural side, but it's morphed into something ridiculous that it never, ever used to be. The CEC have done their best to turn Edinburgh into a tartan theme park over the past 25 years or so. The Fringe used to be an alternative, bohemian thing, that attracted a cosmopolitan crowd and split new and innovative acts that would never have been seen otherwise. Now, it's just a disruptive nightmare for the locals, thanks to all the nuclear families who book AirBnB's for a week solid, and then troop off to go an see Jimmy Carr and get up the noses of the locals just trying to go about their working day.

To be honest, I wouldn't miss it one iota if it vanished entirely. We're already swamped with tourists the rest of the year round as it is, August is just a hellish nightmare.

I hope i dont sound dismissive @Ginandfantalemon

Im someone who moves at least once every train journey to work to get away from people. I get anxiety.

You could wear a visor instead of a mask, or just pull a scarf up over your mouth and nose when you go into shops? You have to get this sorted or get an exemption. I do understand some people genuinely can't wear masks or visors, but I think the true number must be miniscule.

@Ginandfantalemon have you tried going out and looking around at others?

If you haven't then it's worth going for a short walk, you'll see many people with lanyards and/or without masks in shops and most other venues where it's advised.

I've yet to experience the "authoritarian dictatorship" that our UK neighbours seem to think are in force. It definitely doesn't feel that way here 🤷‍♀️

You can't be fined because masks are an advisory not mandatory, shopkeepers aren't allowed to question your use of a mask because again it's not mandatory to display a lanyard.

As a side note have you seen the doctor about your anxiety? I started experiencing it and having attacks at the beginning of the year, mostly centred around the Covid "rules", they prescribed medication and I've been able to rationalise everything and go about my life as normal since settling on to them.

@ssd

I hope i dont sound dismissive *@Ginandfantalemon*

Im someone who moves at least once every train journey to work to get away from people. I get anxiety.

No, it's ok and I know you're right, but to me a lanyard is as good as me shouting out loud, 'hey look at me, I've got something wrong with me'. I dont want anyone knowing I have something wrong with me. If I lived in a big city perhaps I would find it easier, but I live in a place where everyone knows everyone. I also know that the majority would not bother, but others, I know for a fact would judge, and that's why I have anxiety in the first place.

Do not support this. Masks cause harms as well as benefits and wearing them should be voluntary, not mandatory. They are used in many setting where the evidence they actually prevent spread of illness is dubious.

[quote DoucheCanoe]@Ginandfantalemon have you tried going out and looking around at others?

If you haven't then it's worth going for a short walk, you'll see many people with lanyards and/or without masks in shops and most other venues where it's advised.

I've yet to experience the "authoritarian dictatorship" that our UK neighbours seem to think are in force. It definitely doesn't feel that way here 🤷‍♀️

You can't be fined because masks are an advisory not mandatory, shopkeepers aren't allowed to question your use of a mask because again it's not mandatory to display a lanyard.

As a side note have you seen the doctor about your anxiety? I started experiencing it and having attacks at the beginning of the year, mostly centred around the Covid "rules", they prescribed medication and I've been able to rationalise everything and go about my life as normal since settling on to them.[/quote]
Yes, I've seen the doctor and I am having online counselling, but I cant say it's making any difference to be honest.

OP I would think village gossip is more likely if you haven't left the house for a year, rather than going into a shop with a lanyard. Sounds like you're making excuses. Get a lanyard, or stick a visor on, and start living your life again.

Ok i get that. Is there anything else you could wear except a lanyard? I dont know what else is available. But i know if I'd been at home this long my perception would be a bit skewed too. And thats not a criticism, i know what I'm like. It sounds more of a confidence thing than a health issue. I'm sorry your confidence has been knocked so much. Is there any way to sort of start letting your neighbours and people around you know you have to wear something thats not a mask? Like pop into the local shop or meet in a cafe without the mask and just generally chat like "oh I'm exempt due to my asthma" or something similar, make it up even, no one needs to know a thing. Just do whats easiest for you. Maybe after getting out a bit and seeing others with lanyards or with nothing you'll feel a bit more confident about joining in more.
Good luck

I think you need to push yourself to get out there OP!

I was where you are at the beginning, we were isolating when lockdown began and everything I was seeing/hearing made it seem like the apocalypse was coming. I actually cried and had a panic attack in the car park on my first day back at work after our 2 week's were up but the reality is that not much has changed and people are too busy wrapped up in their own world to notice or care what others are doing.

Staying in and isolating yourself when you don't have to is just going to building it in to a huge thing when it doesn't have to be.

@Scottishgirl85

OP I would think village gossip is more likely if you haven't left the house for a year, rather than going into a shop with a lanyard. Sounds like you're making excuses. Get a lanyard, or stick a visor on, and start living your life again.

I haven't not left the house for a year, I have been out for walks and met up with family, friends, etc, it's just the public places with the need for masks that I haven't been into.

@Bobholll

For once, I’m glad I live in England. Life is quite normal now, it’s bloody brilliant.

It's not remotely normal for those working in the hospitals, or the ones in ICU with covid. Nor for CV or other vulnerable people who either cannot go anywhere or have to risk contracting covid because of the number of people who cannot be arsed to wear a simple face covering to protect themselves and other people.

Absolutely lol at Scotland being described as a dictatorship 😂😂😂

Talk about people not having a clue…tell me, in what way is Scotland similar to other counties where there has been a dictator in power? I’m keen to know.

Also don’t understand why the mandatory wearing of masks should cause an event to be cancelled - why would an AGM be cancelled because you need to wear a mask?

OP I am genuinely sorry that your anxiety is having such an impact on you, I truly am. But the reality is that it is the anxiety that is impacting your ability to leave the house and attend appointments - you can ask to be exempt from wearing a mask, as others have done.

Honestly, the public places is full of all sorts. I work in one, i know what i mean

Above all else, there's a total mix out there. People like me, jumping away from everyone, anxious all day, others wearing masks under their noses or under the chin, others wearing lanyards or visors, others wearing nothing, all getting on with it.
Join in @Ginandfantalemon