Quick poll: how many people are still wearing masks in your area?

[Monsterathai]

I'll start! I'm in North Yorkshire and prior to today it has been almost 100% mask compliance. It was more 70%-ish here today following the mandate being lifted. Where do you live (city or county) and what's it like where you are?

P.S: if you think this is a boring topic, irrelevant or if you're sick of talking about masks then please feel free not to read any further.... and no, I don't have anything better to do

@SummerBluez

Some people believe that masks offer much more protection than they actually do and won’t hear any counter arguments. Cases have been dropping recently and in my opinion they will continue to do so despite many people abandoning the masks. Do you think those people will offer to eat their masks if the cases do continue falling?

More reasons:

They make it easier and socially acceptable for people to hide their faces for nefarious reasons.

They create a lot of waste and litter.

At least some of them are made in sweat shops.

They make people feel self righteous and justified in confronting strangers in the street. They make people think in a very black and white way (masked people = good, unmasked = arseholes).

Our freedoms are important. Previous to this pandemic we would have taken a dim view on any law that coerced people into covering their faces.

I don't think there is enough evidence that they make a significant enough difference to transmission to make them worthwhile. I loathe them. I wore one when they were mandated only to avoid confrontation in the street.

@2X4B523P
I would offer to eat mine in solidarity but they've all been consigned to the bin where they belong!

@Tumbleweed101

I’ve been working so not had a chance to go anywhere in town yet but last time it lifted it seemed to take a couple weeks before most people felt comfortable without wearing them again. First few days most people were wearing them as if checking what others were doing then they gradually declined.

Personally, I am glad they are no longer mandatory and I’m unlikely to wear them now unless directly requested - such as at doctors - or if
somewhere particularly crowded.

I agree. I saw a man put his mask on to go into a shop today (dd and I went in behind him) and then he took it straight off when he saw that no one was wearing one. People seem to go with whatever the majority are doing.

South coast central.

Went to Tesco today. Didn't really look but only noticed odd few people without a mask.

Taking ds to swim training. Parents still wearing them whilst wandering around but we do take them off whilst talking. But we still SD too.

@SummerBluez

Good, best place for them!

@littlepeas

More reasons:

They make it easier and socially acceptable for people to hide their faces for nefarious reasons.

They create a lot of waste and litter.

At least some of them are made in sweat shops.

They make people feel self righteous and justified in confronting strangers in the street. They make people think in a very black and white way (masked people = good, unmasked = arseholes).

Our freedoms are important. Previous to this pandemic we would have taken a dim view on any law that coerced people into covering their faces.

I don't think there is enough evidence that they make a significant enough difference to transmission to make them worthwhile. I loathe them. I wore one when they were mandated only to avoid confrontation in the street.

More excellent reasons - thank you!

Took my DD to swim lessons today and not a single mask in the place. It's in a local secondary school as well, so I was fully expecting all the signage to be up, but nothing.

London, NW and Central. I'd say about 50%, including on the tube. In some places, less. In some places (communal areas in my workplace, where they're demanding it till Monday) more.

No idea. It doesn't register with me. I really don't care.

Most people still wearing them here today.

Some think they give them invincibility and make it OK to push right up into someone’s personal space though. Extricated myself from that sharpish.

In Scotland. Mask wearing where I am is still about 80%.

So, I'm bumping this thread. Just went to Aldi and I'd say over half are now not masked. An absolutely massive drop.

Just a reminder about this thread to preempt some rather predictable responses-

-Yes, I am obsessed by mask wearing
-yes, I have a very sad life
-yes, I am selfish [insert other insults ad infinitum] blah blah blah

In my immediate area I'd say 98%, but go to our main town and it's more like 70%.

I'm in the NE, and there's about 50% where I live wearing them in shops and on buses, I'm wearing mine for my own reasons (work in a care home and for the last 6 weeks I've posed a risk to others out and about due to outbreak) and I assume other people are too.
I've had a few people say to me I don't need it when wearing it/putting it on and I just reply that I know and carry on.

Definitely been gradually dropping off as the weeks have passed, much like the cases, hospitalisations and deaths have been. Seven day average for cases are now almost half what they were on the 26th Jan and deaths down by about 41%. Yes some might say that the cases are down because testing is down (or perhaps less people are becoming infected and therefore less people require testing) but are they also underreporting the death figures?

I noticed in M&S yesterday where two weeks ago I was probably the only non-mask wearer that it had dropped to only one or two people still wearing them so it has definitely been dropping off. The only place I'm still wearing a mask is work (NHS).

Yesterday, North Yorkshire town. Hospital appointment- everyone wearing one. Town - hardly anyone, despite signage and announcements in every store. Generally those wearing them were wearing FFP (or whatever they are called)

Co-op today, no one was wearing a mask.

In my local Aldi I would say 99% wear wearing them until this week. It’s now down to about 50%. Based on my weekly top up shop so not very scientific!

Significant minority still wearing, maybe 30%. But most by far are not, and it seems to be dropping as time passes.

Significant minority still wearing, maybe 30%. But most by far are not, and it seems to be dropping as time passes.

The figures might drop faster with less mask wearing. Some won’t like my opinion that they actually contribute to spread. In laboratory conditions they offer a very small benefit, especially with omicron, but the supermarket isn’t a laboratory.

Aside from how many people will keep touching them whilst walking round and stuffing them in their pocket for next time the big difference is they give people a false sense of security. I’ve witnessed someone asking someone else to keep their distance and the other person replied they was both wearing masks and there wasn’t a risk. Yes queuing outside shops wasn’t much fun, but when masks were first made mandatory that stopped.

Yes anecdotal I know but last time they wasn’t mandated in England the figures dropped but continued to rise in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. This time round the figures have been dropping each and every day.

I’m in Coventry and no one is wearing them. I had to wear one today in the opticians as it’s their policy. I then proceeded to wear it round the shops as I totally forgot I had it on. It was only when I got in the car I realised I must have looked like the only anxious fool in the centre 😂.

Nobody here wearing them hardly, maybe 5%. Haven't for whole now.

@2X4B523P

Significant minority still wearing, maybe 30%. But most by far are not, and it seems to be dropping as time passes.

The figures might drop faster with less mask wearing. Some won’t like my opinion that they actually contribute to spread. In laboratory conditions they offer a very small benefit, especially with omicron, but the supermarket isn’t a laboratory.

Aside from how many people will keep touching them whilst walking round and stuffing them in their pocket for next time the big difference is they give people a false sense of security. I’ve witnessed someone asking someone else to keep their distance and the other person replied they was both wearing masks and there wasn’t a risk. Yes queuing outside shops wasn’t much fun, but when masks were first made mandatory that stopped.

Yes anecdotal I know but last time they wasn’t mandated in England the figures dropped but continued to rise in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. This time round the figures have been dropping each and every day.

I suspect it's more that masks haven't really been relevant in the Omicron wave. It's so much more easily transmissible than some of the earlier strains.