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 hate masks, I wore one when we had to but it definitely reduced my shopping to the bare minimum.

I'd be happy to go back to social distancing, I hate having people in my personal space so this worked perfectly for me. I felt better when people were some distance away with no mask rather than right next to me with a mask on.

Yes, masks should be made compulsory (unless you're exempt blah blah blah) and it should be obligatory to work from home if you are able. Shops and other businesses should also have to limit the number of customers as they did previously.

All these restrictions are better than having to have another lockdown. (Personally I loved the lockdowns but I know they cause economic problems.)

@ilovesooty

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.

Does it? I saw plenty of protests against restrictions in other EU countries.

@ilovesooty

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.

There have been issues all over Europe with people not wanting to wear masks. This insistence that it’s just England that pops up on every thread like this is nonsense.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/02/hundreds-arrested-berlin-protests-against-covid-restrictions-germany

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.france24.com/en/20201009-french-anti-maskers-who-is-behind-this-divergent-movement

@Haventhadaneggsinceeaster

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!

This. I dont mind wearing a mask, and they may make people feel safer but a quick comparison between Scotland and England would suggest they are not very effective,

I wear one at work all the time. I think in the community it’s more of a comfort blanket especially if they’re cloth ones. I haven’t worn one outside work since we don’t have to but then I haven’t been anywhere crowded. Social distancing is easy and natural to do. Scotland’s cases are higher than ours and they still all wear masks. If they mandated it I would just return to online shopping as would most people I know.
I caught covid whilst wearing a mask and full PPE so am dubious about their efficacy.

I'm speaking as I found. People wore masks, and wore them properly.

I can see masks coming back..social distancing though nope. Would have a impact on to many bussinesses again.

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.

This with bells on.

Like Witty said, it's rate of change that matters. At moment the rate of change in hospitalisations is very gently upwards (daily death counts are about static) -- not sharply upwards. By all means impose controls earlier than last time, but barely creeping upwards isn't a strong trigger for action.

On related note, does anyone know where NHS publishes OPELs? (Alert levels for hospitals). I can't find any regularly published data since 2018, but some newspaper articles talk about individual hospitals or even weekly data (only

@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?

They are not real hardship FOR YOU.

We are not going through all this again for the umpteenth time but they are a very real hardship for many.

Also, we have never ditched the masks in Scotland. They've been compulsory in indoor places since about July 2020. Kids have been wearing them in secondary schools throughout and still are. Parents are still expected to wear them on the school run.

And a couple of weeks ago, Scotland had more cases of covid than anywhere in the country, if not Europe.

Masks are fairly pointless in my opinion (and no, I can't be arsed linking to "sources") and the sooner they are gone the better. They are no more than a security blanket for the anxious.

They're a comfort blanket, you only have to look at Scotland to see how useless the "standard" mask is.

If we really wanted to use masks as an effective means of virus control it would have to be mandated that we all use the medical grade N95/FFP3 style masks. A bit of cloth getting warm, damp & smelly wont have a significant impact.

I’m not anti mask and il happily wear one, however the flimsy unwashed decorative masks that some people wear do not stop the spread of void, it just gives the illusion people actively doing something to stop the spread.

I’m still wearing one in shops and on public transport, mainly out of habit. But afaik the evidence base is still quite shaky. I think if something is going to be made mandatory it’s got to have a really solid evidence base behind it. At this stage would making them mandatory actually make that much difference or just piss people off and limit support for measures that might actually work?

*Covid

I'm speaking as I found. People wore masks, and wore them properly.

We watch outdoor men's road race cycling... have been watching lots of classic races & tours since March 2021, in many European countries.

You see a lot of roadside spectators by watching hours of road racing.

The variety in mask-wearing has been striking. Most spectators masked up most of the time, but varies so much by country. And plenty with masks not worn 'perfectly'.

i have it in my head that there were almost none in Slovenia but almost universal in Catalonia, Turkey or Italy, for instance, back in March-April.

Yes there are protests elsewhere, but if you dig into the detail they’re usually tiny attendances and get far more air time than they actually warrant.

Where I live we have one of the highest vaccination rates but still have a mask mandate nearly everywhere (except outdoor spaces). Do I love it - no, but do I just get on with it - yes.

Overall societal good is more important than me, and whether mark wearing is actually effective or not, it’s certainly not harmful.

Not harmful... I guess it's only minor harmful. I didn't coin the word maskne.

Bottom line is a lot of people don't like masks.
A fair few people hate them.
A public health intervention isn't a good one if many people don't find it relatively easy to do.

No. Enough is enough. I'm not wearing one and neither will a lot of other people.

@Grenlei

I hate masks, I wore one when we had to but it definitely reduced my shopping to the bare minimum.

I'd be happy to go back to social distancing, I hate having people in my personal space so this worked perfectly for me. I felt better when people were some distance away with no mask rather than right next to me with a mask on.

I was the same. I hate masks too, but have been a social distancer since long before the phrase was even coined.

I'm not an anti-masker. I struggled for a year trying to wear masks where required, and finding that they caused me to feel short of breath and panicky. Probably due to some of my health conditions.

I'll use an exemption if masks are brought back.

I see most parents in playgrounds very close to one another and no masks. Will not be surprised if classes get asked to isolate.

@ilovesooty

I'm speaking as I found. People wore masks, and wore them properly.

When masks were mandatory in England, when I went out, most people were wearing them whenever I went into shops (and I would like think that those that weren't were exempt) so it looked from an objective point of view, that everyone was complying without fuss. I only know there were protests from watching the news - they were few enough that, really, you would have to seek them out.

I am still wearing them, because it’s the law here in Scotland and because maybe it helps a bit, who knows. But I do find it difficult, and having masks has not stopped our cases being very very high.

If you want to convince people to do things that they find hard and/or unpleasant and which the evidence of their own eyes shows them isn’t very effective, you need to at least meet them where they are. You won’t get far by saying “but I don’t find them hard to wear, and I don't think it’s relevant whether they’ve actually worked or not.”

No, I don't think they should be mandatory at the moment. Cases are dropping at the moment without a mask mandate.
However, it's something to be considered over the winter, if covid combined with flu and other respiratory illnesses start to rise sharply.

I haven't ever stopped wearing mine but I do wish they would make them mandatory. That said, health issues aside, I find it astonishing that people think wearing a mask is somehow an infringement of their 'rights and freedoms' and have likened it to being 'muzzled' or 'oppressed'. Utterly batshit.
I wonder though what the odds are of another lockdown. I don't think people would adhere to one - I think we've collectively had it.