Surely just bring the mask mandate back now?

[Maskedtonigh]

They are an easy measure that are no real hardship and could help (even if just in a small way) suppress this virus surely we should just bring back our mask mandate now?

I was thinking the same this morning.

AGREED.

I agree but you will get ripped apart by anti-maskers on here that refuse to be ‘muzzled’

I'm not an anti-masker, I wore one as and when required and still caught covid. But I do think the chances of getting the bulk of the population to wear masks again are slim. Especially those who are double jabbed as many of them now seem to think they're bulletproof.

I don’t think it necessarily needs to be a “mandate” again. Plenty of people are still wearing them here in the situations where they’d be mandated. A strong public message would really help. We’ve had nothing and the conservatives not wearing masks in the House of Commons with no distancing doesn’t help.

I feel for shops. It’s going to be a nightmare to enforce if it does become a rule again.

People won’t do it anymore.

Also, if you’re going to mandate masks, you need to make FFP2/N95 or similar masks the only acceptable, legal option. A bit of cloth over your mouth and nose doesn’t offer much protection, the science now supports this.

To mandate proper masks you need to make them affordable - aka stop selling them at £3 a piece and making profit from them. I don’t see it happening in the UK anytime soon.

I feel for shops. It’s going to be a nightmare to enforce if it does become a rule again.

It was never enforced. You could declare yourself exempt - that’s not a mask mandate or a rule, at all.

We still have to wear masks in Scotland- I don’t think the figures show they are helping in any way if we compare with England.
High school children still have to wear them all day in classes and everywhere else in school unless they are eating- again, doesn’t appear to be making a difference to transmission rates.
Think masks have maybe been a bit of a false protection measure to be honest- I am not an anti masker and wear them and am not bothered but really don’t think they are all they are made out to be!

I won't wear one again. I'll be "exempt" like every other fekker was.

I'm very relieved we still have to wear masks in Scotland. Mostly for people who are immuno-suppressed and their family members. It means they can still go to the shops etc and aren't having to continue to isolate. It's such a small thing to do, I don't know why people complain so much about it

Ask anyone who lip reads or needs facial expressions to decipher social cues how much of a hardship they are.

I didn't realise until masks became a thing how much I need to see people's faces or I lose the unspoken bits of conversations. It's been difficult.

In the very liberal society that the UK is it seems really hard to enforce anything at all, this isn’t just about covid. It seems people love rule breaking. It’s all very much about the individual until people want state help, it’s a strange mix.

In all this I have been mighty annoyed with people who liken the UK to really oppressive regimes. My grandparents fled an actual oppressive regime where millions eventually died directly and indirectly due to crazy policies.

@NothingIsWrong

Ask anyone who lip reads or needs facial expressions to decipher social cues how much of a hardship they are.

I didn't realise until masks became a thing how much I need to see people's faces or I lose the unspoken bits of conversations. It's been difficult.

I 100% agree with this. I have felt very vulnerable not being able to 'hear' people as I heavily rely on visual clues.

I'm not convinced that mandating masks has no cost. You don't have to be a frothing "you're all sheeple", "muzzles for people", anti-masker to not particularly like wearing masks and if enough people avoid places where masks are mandated, which are generally places where money is spent, it will hit the economy which the government is desperate not to do.

Did the previous mask rules stop people going shopping? I didn’t really notice that happening.

No point. Kids in Scotland wear masks all day. Covid rates still one of highest in Scotland. All a bit pointless IMO. Social Distancing probably more helpful

@ADreadedSunnyDay

No point. Kids in Scotland wear masks all day. Covid rates still one of highest in Scotland. All a bit pointless IMO. Social Distancing probably more helpful

I agree. I think that the visual impact of masks gives false comfort to people, in that “seen to be doing something” way.

If not masks, then how about restricting people in shops etc again? Go back to the 2m rule. I know the weather is getting crappy again, but this was far easier to enforce and, on the whole, people went along with it. We like queuing!

I very much hope they don't bring masks back. I can finally go out and see as well.as breathe. I've enjoyed browsing again in the shops and just starting to go out again properly. I never managed to stop my glasses misting just hated them. I hate hats, scarves and hoods too so generally dislike things around or on the face.

Masks make little difference to me catching it, with the rules changing about under 18s not having to isolate I'm going to be far more likely to get it at work than in a shop.

• restricting numbers of people in shops

(I'm not suggesting we ban people from shops!)

@PurpleDaisies

Did the previous mask rules stop people going shopping? I didn’t really notice that happening.

I went to our town centre a couple of time shortly after lockdown ended and it was absolutely dead. How much of that was masks, the relatively high rates at the time and people still working from home, I don't know.

Supermarkets and food shops are a different matter, you have no choice if you want to eat and picking up a supermarket shop is a lot less time in a mask than spending an afternoon browsing a shopping centre.

No thanks. Still if you don't want to wear a mask you can download the exemption from the internet. I wont be wearing a mask again.

I never stopped wearing mine, but you'll just get people making a mockery of exemptions again (not those who actually need one, to be clear, the ones claiming exemption with no real need because they don't want to wear a mask).

I've recently returned from a country where masks are mandatory in public places. No one seemed to have a problem wearing one in shops or on public transport.

Hostility and resistance seems to be a peculiarly English thing.

Personally I don't see the point in bringing masks back - as PP have said, Scotland still requires them and has a high COVID rate. It's coming up to a busy time of year, the shops need customers willing to go in and with mandated masks that might not happen (the Trafford centre for example was so relatively quiet when masks were required compared to now they're not!) and our local shops were too.

The whole story of getting double jabbed to avoid masks and lockdowns and get life back to normal was told, now the majority of people are double jabbed with winter boosters to come I think it would be a hard position for the government to take if they reintroduced these measures - I think it'd slow vaccine uptake again.