Pre mask shopping - will you?

Exemption not exception (wretched Spellcheck!)

BlueSky

I agree Jennifer about the future of our town centres. A lot of shops were dying before all this, so I'm not very hopeful. Must be very disheartening, especially for the small independent shops.

If they are shutting at this point because people are refusing to wear masks, I think that’s ridiculous if those people then turn around and complain that all of the stores are closing.

Friend in her 90s masked up a few days ago and braved bus to outdoor market. She reports that using the bus was fine, people respecting sensible precautions. The outdoor market however was ‘shoulder to shoulder as usual’!

Thanks NikDumpling. Good idea with scarves - I'll try that.

Ok so I just went into town. In m and s food bit there was ONE person not wearing a mask. A man in his SEVENTIES at a rough guess. And I don’t think he was exempt at all, as I saw a blue mask in his jacket pocket.
There’s a bit of illogicality going on. In one shop you could try things on, not that I did, in another where I collected some shoes I’d ordered I couldn’t even try them on and had to bring them home to try....

We must be a pretty flawless lot, here.
On the buses, and in the shops, a lot of people try to just walk in and only take the mask out of their pocket when and if asked.

Just come back from shopping at Waitrose and afterwards picking up a coffee. I must say it was wonderful to see everyone, even staff wearing masks in the store and outside but the down side is I am now hopping mad that this awful government did not bring in this rule in March. It would have have saved many from the virus but I suppose better late than never.

Saw an article in an online paper today (sorry can’t find it again) saying that staff at a restaurant who wore only face shields had contracted Covid while others who wore masks hadn’t.

Now unless I dreamed this, surely this is just a little more evidence that masks protect the wearer too?

#justwonderingaloud

That makes sense to me.
The shield is just that - a shield to stop spray or droplets from going onto the front of your face.

There's a video online showing the abuse doled out to a deaf blind young woman travelling with a guide dog, whose sister lifted her mask briefly so that she could lip read. Even after the situation was explained, the abuse continued.

Richard Kramer, chief executive of the disability charity Sense, said his organisation had received “lots” of reports of disabled people being challenged for not wearing a covering. He said: “These experiences cause distress and anxiety, and lead many disabled people to feel they have to stay at home, where they become isolated. We welcome the government’s introduction of ‘exemption cards’, but more must be done to raise public awareness of who is exempt from wearing face coverings, so the public are on board and disabled people feel supported.

After reading some comments on here, I can only agree.

Maggiemaybe whilst I was in Sainsbury's today, they had a tannoy announcement asking customers to please be aware that some staff and customers had hidden disabilities and could have valid reasons for not wearing a masks. A member of staff told me that there had already been a couple of arguments between customers who had taken it upon themselves to challenge other customers.

A man was photographed in Oxford St yesterday wearing his mask. Unfortunately it wasn’t covering his nose ?

Just been to Waitrose where everyone was masked. The staff (sorry, 'partners') on the shop floor were all wearing either masks or visors and the checkout operators were, as they have been throughout, behind perspex shields. I'll try Aldi tomorrow.
It's quite entertaining to see the variety of masks being worn. Apart from the standard surgical type, many customers had evidently made their own. I was wearing a candy-striped one.

Whats all the fuss about, its only wearing a mask for a few minutes.
Where I live, in Sweden, there are conflicting interests, the scientists, two day ago, have said the wearing of masks does no good at all, where as most countries have wearing of masks compulsory, why do scientists have to disagree, they arent politicians!

Maybe scientists are doing their research on differing data, hence differing outcomes? But it's very frustrating when scientists and politicians are giving conflicting advice and no one seems to know what to do for the best.