From the random box of covid restrictions we now get....

[WaxOnFeckOff]

Facemasks in shops.

I mean really, what is the point now? If they were useful then the time when they were useful was months ago.

Surely the chance of catching covid in a shop is minute, the chance of then being ill is more minute and the chance of dying is vastly remote.

It just feels like it another thing to say just to keep control? I have no problem doing things that make sense and protect others, but really? Public transport where you may be in the vicinity of someone for longer seems fair enough but shops doesn't make sense.

IME so far, having a mask dangling from your neck without even being worn seems to give people carte blanche to stand less than a foot away from others.

We were specifically told not to wear them! It's blatant tokenism.

You can shove your sexist "Karen" comments.

You do realise that those of us who can't wear face coverings don't walk around with a convenient label on our heads. Many of us have invisible disabilities and will be forced to explain our private medical details to shop staff who may not believe us, and we're likely to be challenged by members of the public even though it's none of their business. That is incredibly stressful and upsetting especially when shopping is challenging enough at the moment.

And if it's so bloody important why is it being introduced now when community transmission in Scotland is near non existent?

Karens 🤦‍♀️

Karens? Don't be such a dick.

Too late for masks now. I'm going to get all my shopping done before 10th July.

I'd like to know is there is a target for the ending of wearing masks. If they had started earlier with the target of needing them until daily infections are consistently in single figures or something like that then I would have been fine about wearing one. I don't like the open-ended feeling of this rule.

My husband is NHS and has to wear a mask all day virtually, not the same mask, he has to change it multiple times a day. We've just had our 2 weeks summer holiday during which we could do very little more than have a local picnic. The highlight of his holiday was not having to wear a mask. His skin has managed to heal properly as it was all broken out round his mouth. Wearing a mask makes you very hot, if I wear one it rubs on my eyes.

But yes we are all incredibly selfish for not wanting to wear one for fuck all reason.

People in shops have generally been good except for a couple of incidents I've had, one where someone smacked straight into the back of me, and no I hadn't stopped suddenly , she was wearing a mask and we were outside the supermarket, and another where two women wearing the masks as chinstraps decided to ignore distance markings in the queue and stand right behind me to the point of almost breathing down my neck.

If you have a genuine reason not to wear a mask, then you’re exempt and should have no fear about saying so without feeling that you have to divulge personal medical information. For those of us who don’t have any good reason - I don’t include a petulant ‘I don’t want to’ in that - then what’s the issue? The simple truth is we don’t actually know with any certainty how many people in the community are affected. And if wearing a face mask - as is mandatory in so many countries around the world without all this hand wringing - saves even a few lives in the long run, is that not worth doing?

I have never voted SNP but I do think the SG has handled this pretty well overall. Not perfectly, no. But the numbers are currently going in the right direction. And that is surely due, at least in part, to the decisions - some of them unpopular - taken by the SG.

Personally, I was cheered by today’s announcement. The figures are going the way we would hope by and large. The five-mile limit is being lifted and there is hope of further easing of restrictions over the next couple of weeks. Play parks are open again and primary-aged children can socialise with their friends without social distancing. To my mind, there are things worth celebrating. And while I don’t want to wear a mask either, it seems to me to be a small price to pay if it helps even in some small way to keep the statistics on a downwards trajectory.

If you have a genuine reason not to wear a mask, then you’re exempt and should have no fear about saying so without feeling that you have to divulge personal medical information.

Given the attitudes of people here do you really think it's that easy? Also from what I remember of the list, I'm not sure PTSD is actually covered. I think it's entirely breathing related. Plus given the police can fine people for non compliance, I don't see how anyone can accept a blanket "I'm exempt" without proof. I think it will be horrific and I'm not willing to gamble on the kindness of strangers.

I don’t think it’s easy, no. But I can only speak for myself and say that if the majority of people I encounter on my supermarket shop are wearing masks then I would assume that those not doing so would have good reason. I certainly wouldn’t challenge anyone. And surely if the police can challenge/fine people for non-compliance, then they will also accept medical evidence too. I haven’t heard of any particular problems since masks became mandatory on public transport, so I’m not sure how this would be any different. Obviously it affects more people but there must be people who are unable to wear masks for wHatever reason using public transport too.

@SnailHouse,
One is petulant (and I am indeed), because what NS says makes no sense.
She could have done it weeks or months ago and allow shops to reopen, but no... She does it now when there are 9 people in hospital in the whole of Scotland and a number of new cases in single figures. My LA has seen none for 2 days and prior to that has been in single figures for quite some time.
When can we actually go back to a normal life? If it were to NS, trying to do a Jacinda, never, because the virus is not going to go anywhere, even if we have zero cases for three months.

Also, in the supermarket here hardly anyone wears a mask when I go in the evening, and none of the staff (unlike at Clarks' where they look like they are fighting ebola infected zombies).

Like another poster I'm hard of hearing masks cause problems

1. you can't lip read
2. it muffles sound so people need to speak louder, ( like they do when there is background noise too) the louder you speak the more droplets etc you expel from your lungs and the further they will go
3. if people can't hear well enough they step closer so risking getting too close

4, if people are behind a screen and wearing a mask it is even worse

if masks were going to help it should have been months ago, NS didn't say masks and 1 metre she said masks and still 2metres this is going to making hearing really hard as I can barely hear normal speech at 2 metres with my hearing aids

Stop saying this is not a big deal because if you are deaf it is a big deal as not hearing is socially isolating

Obviously it affects more people but there must be people who are unable to wear masks for wHatever reason using public transport too.

They might have thicker skin than me. My mental health isn't great at the moment anyway, attempting to find a mask I could cope with has been exceedingly triggering so I'm far too anxious to risk it.

to be fair it is not 9 in hospital it is in ICU there are many more in hospital about 500 I think

@Arkadia
Actually, it’s 9 people in intensive care and 432 people in hospital in Scotland according to the latest figures.
Yes, perhaps the use of masks weeks or months ago would have made sense. But there was a lot of controversy at the time and hindsight is a wonderful thing.
My point is that the figures have improved greatly in Scotland, even though the overall statistics are pretty devastating. And that must be due at least in part to decisions taken by the Scottish Government.
My beef is not with people who cannot wear masks - their situation is undoubtedly stressful and difficult. But for everybody else, I just can’t see the issue - it can’t do any harm and it might just do some good.
I would love nothing more than to go back to a normal life too!

@SnailHouse, yes sorry. My mistake. I realized too late I wrote the wrong info.

It is not a big effort, but it is the principle of it. As I said, in my LA single figure for a good while and now zero, and NOW you tell me to wear a mask?? That should have been done ages ago (BJ made the mandatory on public transport, but we couldn't do it because we had to wait the costumary three weeks).
We are far too far behind. Now we should be opening up (before it is too late and winter is upon us) and let people live, not discussing masks. That train has already left.

What is all this work for? Infections go to zero, and then what?

@Noworrieshere my concern too.

Why not say masks are mandatory until we reach X point?

Why not make them mandatory months ago?

Why mandatory in Scotland but not NI, Wales, England?

Why in shops? What about pubs and restaurants where people stay longer and do more talking?

Why not reduce SD to 1M as a concession?

By the way, the 5 mile rule, the kids playing together thing, the meeting up with more households—- all been going on for WEEKS. You need to be wearing a mask over your eyes not to have realised this. They absolutely know this in government. Hence all of this is just control, posturing and point scoring now.

@Arkadia
Three weeks ago we were in a stricter lockdown than we are now. Public transport was limited, shops were for essential supplies only. Now things are opening up, I guess there’s a greater risk of the virus spreading more readily. Again, I can only speak for myself, but in our family we are out and about and doing more, seeing more people, albeit at a distance.

As we can travel further, holidays are back on the cards. Visitors from England or further afield will be able to come to Scotland. If wearing a mask can help to protect people as the easing of the lockdown continues and as those shielding start to get out a bit more, then I think it’s a small price to pay by those of us who have no genuine reason not to wear one.

It’s maybe partly selfish reasons on my part too as i want my DC to get back to school/uni in August or September with as much normality as possible. And I reckon that the more that those of us who can wear masks with no issues can do to keep the virus suppressed now, the higher the chances of returning to anything even vaguely resembling normal.

it's a slippery slope of control for no reason, it's taking away peoples right and ability to make decisions the same as it's been all the way through.

I agree that the initial lockdown was necessary to get a handle on the spread and to avoid an overrun of our facilities, however this was counteracted by poor decisions such as the Nike one and moving untested people from hospitals to care homes, allowing care homes to move staff between settings and failure to support them etc.

However there has then been the posturing and political choices and the usual stuff that is simply nothing more than control of the population for their own gain.

We’ll just have to agree to differ as I don’t see it as taking away people’s rights to make decisions. I see it as a public health decision that just might benefit me too. I reckon shops are still riskier than other environments, especially since everybody needs to get food supplies in some way. I don’t actually trust everybody to do the right thing and self isolate if they meet the criteria to do so and if somebody who should be self isolating gets too close to me in the supermarket then I’d be happier if a mandatory mask lowered the risk to me and my family. So the least i can do is afford others the same courtesy since i have no reason not to. I can choose not to go to pubs, restaurants etc. when they reopen, but food shops are pretty unavoidable.

Where does it end though!

I’ve seen people comment on Facebook news articles that “we’ll all get used to it and soon it will be weird to see people without masks”

I don’t want my children growing up in a world where human beings must kowtow to the whims of a woman that was never voted in to her position and certainly does not treat her remit as a democratic one.

R

@SnailHouse, yes, but we've been going to the shops, big and small, for months and NO masks required (I repeat, here I see very few people wearing them). Now all of sudden it is a necessity such a necessity?
We shouldn't have been in such a struck lockdown three weeks ago, so now we lag behind. People have been getting about for quite some time and more and more shops had been opening (and no masks...). I have been to Screwfix, B&Q, Klondike and some other (on top of supermarkets, Indian store, corner shop, etcetera). Even the chiropractor has been open for some time.
Actually what I need urgently is the bloody dentist, as we've been buying clothes on the internet. :D

@Arkadia same here. Where things are open it all feels very back to normal, no masks etc.

We are 3 weeks behind, and we shouldn’t be.

Why throw in the masks now?

Should be taking away restrictions.

I agree with @SnailHouse. Whilst cases are low and the chances of community transmission are really low, it may seem overkill to bring in rules about mask-wearing. But with lockdown easing and travellers from other parts of the UK and abroad, that will bring fluctuations in the number of cases, and as there's growing evidence that mask wearing can prevent transmission, it seems reasonable to introduce this rule for shops. I would never judge anyone for not mask wearing, and hope it will not be enforced in a strong-armed way, but if a majority are able to wear masks, surely this will help us live with the virus, and keep numbers as low as possible.

Interesting article in the Scotsman by Devi Sridhar about this: www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/coronavirus-if-you-cant-socially-distance-wear-face-mask-or-use-bandana-or-scarf-professor-devi-sridhar-and-lois-king-2900676

Countries where the population wear masks as a matter of of course appear to be doing reasonably well in terms of controlling the spread of the virus.

Why do we appear to have approx 80% (totally made up figure but appears depressingly likely) of the population with reasons why they can't wear masks?

What would happen if for whatever reason we had to wear WWII style gas masks to protect ourselves against a real threat of poisonous gas?

Every sympathy for people with real and genuine reasons why they can't wear a mask, but for most, yes, it's a PITA and a bit uncomfortable and awkward but ffs get a grip. It's not as if we're being asked to wear a mask 24/7 - it's where we can't keep 2m apart, and it can be a scarf or a bandanna, it doesn't have to be a full-on gimp mask....... Cases may be low, but there's been a spike in D&G and as lockdown eases there will be an increased risk of more and more cases.

How on earth do you think medical personnel cope, having to wear PPE all day every day?