Why are so many people not wearing face masks?

WSS said:

YTS1978 said:

Just curious, what's the difference between sitting in a pub/restaurant without a mask, or walking round a shopping centre or sitting on a train? Shoppers/commuters seem to be criticized, but it's okay if you're having a pint with mates?

Maybe the requirement to use your mouth to eat and drink in pubs and restaurants?

And the fact track and trace should be in those places as well to mitigate to an extent.

Exactly this. The pub or restaurant should have your contact details, the shopping centre/train etc will not. This is about track and trace.

seth plum said:

If I got on a train or bus and there were no mask wearers I would make a very loud pretend phone call describing my circumstances, and I would be very loudly abusive about non mask wearers calling them wankers, but slightly modifying my pretend call by acknowledging a small minority are exempt. 
Not in any way helpful, but a good way to express and reduce personal frustration.

What would you do if you received an incoming call during your fake call?

Was in Oxford Street this evening, and a surprising number of people not wearing masks inside shops. 

Uniqlo had a security person guarding the door, but his duties didn't include asking people to wear a mask judging from the people entering in front of me

Huskaris said:

clb74 said:

Is it that hard.
Our doctors have our records.
Everyone wears a mask or you dont get in the shops those that are exempt they get a proper certificate off the doctor not some Mickey mouse one anyone can knock up on the internet 

I think that's fine in principle but the issue is that most of these people who don't wear masks are narcissistic scum who have never been told no in their life, or have quickly dealt with those who have said no. 

Now tell the poor chap (or chapess) on minimum wage it's their job to police that outside of a Lidl, Poundstretcher or Bargain Booze.

No thanks. 

Also, anything to do with asking people to prove that they are exempt will lead to lazy accusations by people who should know better that "they should all just have numbers tattooed on their forehead/wear badges right?"

Im not expecting those on minimum wage to police it.
Heres the thing though
From monday we are being told they will marshall/police the more than 6 in a group, so police the mask wearing.

MuttleyCAFC said:

clb74 said:

Huskaris said:

clb74 said:

Is it that hard.
Our doctors have our records.
Everyone wears a mask or you dont get in the shops those that are exempt they get a proper certificate off the doctor not some Mickey mouse one anyone can knock up on the internet 

I think that's fine in principle but the issue is that most of these people who don't wear masks are narcissistic scum who have never been told no in their life, or have quickly dealt with those who have said no. 

Now tell the poor chap (or chapess) on minimum wage it's their job to police that outside of a Lidl, Poundstretcher or Bargain Booze.

No thanks. 

Also, anything to do with asking people to prove that they are exempt will lead to lazy accusations by people who should know better that "they should all just have numbers tattooed on their forehead/wear badges right?"

Im not expecting those on minimum wage to police it.
Heres the thing though
From monday we are being told they will marshall/police the more than 6 in a group, so police the mask wearing.

Everything has to be policed for the message it sends out. Start actually dishing out a few fines and you will find everybody starts to comply.

Absolutely this. And the message to the myriads claiming exemption should be that if your breathing isn't sufficiently good to withstand the rigours of a small disposable mask, then it's too risky for you to be anywhere were they are considered mandatory.  Frankly there's far too much pussyfooting around.

Stig said:

MuttleyCAFC said:

clb74 said:

Huskaris said:

clb74 said:

Is it that hard.
Our doctors have our records.
Everyone wears a mask or you dont get in the shops those that are exempt they get a proper certificate off the doctor not some Mickey mouse one anyone can knock up on the internet 

I think that's fine in principle but the issue is that most of these people who don't wear masks are narcissistic scum who have never been told no in their life, or have quickly dealt with those who have said no. 

Now tell the poor chap (or chapess) on minimum wage it's their job to police that outside of a Lidl, Poundstretcher or Bargain Booze.

No thanks. 

Also, anything to do with asking people to prove that they are exempt will lead to lazy accusations by people who should know better that "they should all just have numbers tattooed on their forehead/wear badges right?"

Im not expecting those on minimum wage to police it.
Heres the thing though
From monday we are being told they will marshall/police the more than 6 in a group, so police the mask wearing.

Everything has to be policed for the message it sends out. Start actually dishing out a few fines and you will find everybody starts to comply.

Absolutely this. And the message to the myriads claiming exemption should be that if your breathing isn't sufficiently good to withstand the rigours of a small disposable mask, then it's too risky for you to be anywhere were they are considered mandatory.  Frankly there's far too much pussyfooting around.

The disabilities that prevent people wearing masks are not all physical.

Anxiety based mental illness for example.

This was supposedly a free country once with a presumption of innocence until proved otherwise.

What happened?

LenGlover said:

Stig said:

MuttleyCAFC said:

clb74 said:

Huskaris said:

clb74 said:

Is it that hard.
Our doctors have our records.
Everyone wears a mask or you dont get in the shops those that are exempt they get a proper certificate off the doctor not some Mickey mouse one anyone can knock up on the internet 

I think that's fine in principle but the issue is that most of these people who don't wear masks are narcissistic scum who have never been told no in their life, or have quickly dealt with those who have said no. 

Now tell the poor chap (or chapess) on minimum wage it's their job to police that outside of a Lidl, Poundstretcher or Bargain Booze.

No thanks. 

Also, anything to do with asking people to prove that they are exempt will lead to lazy accusations by people who should know better that "they should all just have numbers tattooed on their forehead/wear badges right?"

Im not expecting those on minimum wage to police it.
Heres the thing though
From monday we are being told they will marshall/police the more than 6 in a group, so police the mask wearing.

Everything has to be policed for the message it sends out. Start actually dishing out a few fines and you will find everybody starts to comply.

Absolutely this. And the message to the myriads claiming exemption should be that if your breathing isn't sufficiently good to withstand the rigours of a small disposable mask, then it's too risky for you to be anywhere were they are considered mandatory.  Frankly there's far too much pussyfooting around.

The disabilities that prevent people wearing masks are not all physical.

Anxiety based mental illness for example.

This was supposedly a free country once with a presumption of innocence until proved otherwise.

What happened?

I want to live in a free country, free to breath in fresh air that is free of other people's germs.

41,608 things happened.

O-Randy-Hunt said:

YTS1978 said:

Just curious, what's the difference between sitting in a pub/restaurant without a mask, or walking round a shopping centre or sitting on a train? Shoppers/commuters seem to be criticized, but it's okay if you're having a pint with mates?

Have just got home from bluewater and was thinking the same.

Me and the mrs are walking around a half empty shopping centre without coming into close contact with anyone with our masks on and would say about 90% of others are too.
Although some members of staff in shops were wearing the mask under the chin.

Restaurants were packed with people not wearing masks as obviously you cant wear your mask in a restaurant while eating and drinking and I'm guessing you cant catch covid in them either.

Find it strange that I go through Tesco’s on a 15 minute shop wearing a mask. Yet within the same store, groups of 3-4 sit in Costa for a longer period without masks. It’s nonsense. 

We need the economy back on track. People, including members of my family, are losing their jobs. Others, again including members of my family, are overdue for important medical reviews. My grandchildren at primary school have fallen months behind because their head teacher refused to support online schooling. 

Two members of my family have been through Covid and had a tough time. But the fact is we can no longer allow this to destroy our economy, schooling and businesses. 

To me it’s a mixture of health and economy and it all contradicts each other.How can you not wear a mask in pub/restaurant but have to in a shop plus the staff don’t have to wear masks in the shop and are there most of the day but customers have too.If it was all about health and nothing else staff should be wearing masks at all times and pubs/restaurants should still be closed.The ones on here saying if you can’t wear a mask stay at home clearly don’t understand mental health issues and disabilities.My Daughter has special needs,
learning difficulties,autism plus many other issues to list so am I meant to keep her locked away because she can’t wear a mask?! I’ve gone to the shops with my Daughter just to get essential shopping only since Covid started and the big change I’ve seen since masks were made mandatory is that social distancing has gone out the window for most.Because of my Daughters issues I have to go and shop with her as I’m on my own with her and have no help or other options.Plus I can’t get shopping delivered because if the front door is opened my Daughter believes we are either going out or someone is visiting and when neither happens she has a complete meltdown.So it really isn’t as easy as some of you make it out to be............Walk A Mile In My Shoes!

My Italian cousin thinks a big reason Italy are doing so well is the 100% acceptance of mask wearing. Schoolkids have to wear a mask and can only take them off at their desks, if you are eating or drinking you take them off at your table. The rest of the time, you have to have your mask on and people are complying. Apart from the wearing of the masks everything has reached a normality there far beyond what we and other countries are experiencing.  

stonemuse said:

killer kish said:

To me it’s a mixture of health and economy and it all contradicts each other.How can you not wear a mask in pub/restaurant but have to in a shop plus the staff don’t have to wear masks in the shop and are there most of the day but customers have too.If it was all about health and nothing else staff should be wearing masks at all times and pubs/restaurants should still be closed.The ones on here saying if you can’t wear a mask stay at home clearly don’t understand mental health issues and disabilities.My Daughter has special needs,
learning difficulties,autism plus many other issues to list so am I meant to keep her locked away because she can’t wear a mask?! I’ve gone to the shops with my Daughter just to get essential shopping only since Covid started and the big change I’ve seen since masks were made mandatory is that social distancing has gone out the window for most.Because of my Daughters issues I have to go and shop with her as I’m on my own with her and have no help or other options.Plus I can’t get shopping delivered because if the front door is opened my Daughter believes we are either going out or someone is visiting and when neither happens she has a complete meltdown.So it really isn’t as easy as some of you make it out to be............Walk A Mile In My Shoes!

Absolutely right ... too many people are ignoring the new real issues. 

We cannot carry on like this ... deaths from non-Covid ailments will go through the roof over the next 12 months ...far more than the Covid deaths we have experienced thus far. 

And this is not my evaluation ... it has been stated by many senior cancer and heart practitioners for quite a while now. 

We cannot allow the virus to spread unchecked, that would overwhelm the NHS and people suffering from other illnesses would be even less likely to get the treatment they need. More people were starting to get their treatment when the virus was under control.

Obviously we need to be able to look after everyone who becomes ill, but our NHS hasn't got that ability and it needs a lot more resources to be able to do that.

MuttleyCAFC said:

My Italian cousin thinks a big reason Italy are doing so well is the 100% acceptance of mask wearing. Schoolkids have to wear a mask and can only take them off at their desks, if you are eating or drinking you take them off at your table. The rest of the time, you have to have your mask on and people are complying. Apart from the wearing of the masks everything has reached a normality there far beyond what we and other countries are experiencing.  

That’s good knowledge @MuttleyCAFC, I booked a weekend away with gf a while ago to Florence next weekend and hadn’t realised the level of mask wearing going on in Italy.

We’ll take a lot more with us now so we can easily comply.

A few months ago it was suggested that not wearing a face mask in public should be considered to be in the same way as drink driving.

I agree with that. There will always be a small minority who drink drive, there would have been a minority who refused or could not wear a mask.

Unfortunately the opportunity to build that level of belief in any covid rules has been consistently undermined by high profile avoidance of rules or guidance and conflicting views. 

stonemuse said:

ME14addick said:

stonemuse said:

killer kish said:

To me it’s a mixture of health and economy and it all contradicts each other.How can you not wear a mask in pub/restaurant but have to in a shop plus the staff don’t have to wear masks in the shop and are there most of the day but customers have too.If it was all about health and nothing else staff should be wearing masks at all times and pubs/restaurants should still be closed.The ones on here saying if you can’t wear a mask stay at home clearly don’t understand mental health issues and disabilities.My Daughter has special needs,
learning difficulties,autism plus many other issues to list so am I meant to keep her locked away because she can’t wear a mask?! I’ve gone to the shops with my Daughter just to get essential shopping only since Covid started and the big change I’ve seen since masks were made mandatory is that social distancing has gone out the window for most.Because of my Daughters issues I have to go and shop with her as I’m on my own with her and have no help or other options.Plus I can’t get shopping delivered because if the front door is opened my Daughter believes we are either going out or someone is visiting and when neither happens she has a complete meltdown.So it really isn’t as easy as some of you make it out to be............Walk A Mile In My Shoes!

Absolutely right ... too many people are ignoring the new real issues. 

We cannot carry on like this ... deaths from non-Covid ailments will go through the roof over the next 12 months ...far more than the Covid deaths we have experienced thus far. 

And this is not my evaluation ... it has been stated by many senior cancer and heart practitioners for quite a while now. 

We cannot allow the virus to spread unchecked, that would overwhelm the NHS and people suffering from other illnesses would be even less likely to get the treatment they need. More people were starting to get their treatment when the virus was under control.

Obviously we need to be able to look after everyone who becomes ill, but our NHS hasn't got that ability and it needs a lot more resources to be able to do that.

But the NHS was not overwhelmed ... and when the second wave occurs, we are far more prepared ... plus, at this stage, the signs are that deaths and hospitalisations are likely to be far less. 

Covid has displaced everything else. Waiting lists are at an all time high, many people are too scared to get treatments, we are sitting on a health timebomb that will be massively worse then Covid. 

It wasn't overwhelmed because of the 'lockdown', however there were many reports of NHS staff being very stretched and we saw pictures on tv of the struggles that staff had. We even had people clapping every Thursday to thank those overworked staff for the work they were doing.