And about time, too!

Best wishes from me too for a speedy recovery maddyone
What a scary time you must have had.

Thank you Lucca This is my first post in a long time as I’ve been so ill. But thank you for your good wishes, I’m gradually getting better. I’ve been told at least six weeks and maybe more to get back to something more normal. Take care ladies, I only got this because my mother was discharged from hospital after a fall and she had picked up Covid in the hospital. She was in a support bubble with us and that’s how we got it. We weren’t careless, actually we were very careful. Take care ladies, it’s a terrible disease which ravages your body. Keep safe everyone.

Good post Maddyone and best wishes for a really good recovery

I agree with vegansrock that if people can’t, that actually means won’t, wear a mask then they shouldn’t shop. They should stay at home and let responsible people use the shops. When did this ludicrous idea of personal freedom without personal responsibility take hold. Too many rights and not enough responsibilities.

Doodledog
I’m sorry but it’s NOT the mask that leaves you unable to breathe, it’s your medical breathing problems that leave you unable to breathe, not the mask. By pedalling rubbish you are adding to the problem. I’m in hospital right now with Covid and have been here now since 1st January. I’m improving gradually but cannot go home until I’m able to breathe without oxygen support. I’m on a mountain of drugs which thankfully are beginning to make me better. I was very seriously ill when I was admitted I thought it a real possibility I might die. I have asthma and now I have Covid scarring on my lungs which my consultant tells me is unlikely to go but may improve a bit. It really annoys me when people peddle myths. Masks do not stop your breathing, your medical condition causes the problem. Be honest.

I read that Morrisons and Sainsburys are going to refuse entry to anyone not wearing a mask - I wonder how they will enforce this? Will they expect a young woman to stop an aggressive man from entering or will they be employing experienced "doormen"?

I see no reason why supermarkets can't enforce mask wearing. They challenge on alcohol because otherwise they'd lose the alcohol licence for that store, so perhaps government should legislate to suit. Supermarkets usually have plenty of security staff.

If people can’t/won’t wear a mask they shouldn’t shop. They will have to get deliveries or get someone else to shop for them. They can spread the virus just the same as anyone else.

nexus63 & others, could you wear the perspex shield type of mask?
That would give some protection and also show that you are willing to wear a mask.

confronting recalcitrant rule-breakers and escorting them out of the shop if necessary perhaps isn’t part of the job description.

It absolutely isn't in the job description for general assistants.
Someone pointed out, tho, that there will be nightclub bouncers in need of work, just now, and that supermarkets could easily afford to employ them as security guards.

Saetana

My husband is exempt (COPD) but still manages to wear a mask for brief periods if he has to travel on the bus or go in a shop for a few minutes. Masks do NOT affect your breathing - NHS staff would not be able to wear them all day long if that
was the case. I believe that no mask should equal no entry - exempt or not. Too many people are claiming to be exempt when they are not and this needs to be clamped down on stat!

This is easy to say if you don't suffer from breathing issues (and with respect, your husband's are not relevant to your understanding, as you can't feel what he feels).

I have undiagnosed breathing problems, as well as asthma, and I can assure you that wearing a mask does affect my breathing. I don't leave the house other than for medial appointments, but walking from the car park to the relevant room in the hospital with a mask on invariably leaves me unable to breathe within minutes.

As I've said, I don't go out (which is not as easy as those who are going out shopping or for exercise seem to think), and I am lucky enough to be able to get food delivered, so I am no risk to anyone; but I do get fed up with people insisting that others are able to do this or that, when they can't possibly have any idea of what they are experiencing. Even two asthmatics will have different experiences, as asthma is brought on by different triggers.

I am not saying that everyone who claims to be exempt from mask-wearing is necessarily telling the truth, but I really wish people would stop jumping to the conclusion that they are all telling lies.

Should have said on Day One that one of the effects of the virus is that it causes impotence, especially in younger men. Watch the take-up then of protections in 3D.

My husband is exempt (COPD) but still manages to wear a mask for brief periods if he has to travel on the bus or go in a shop for a few minutes. Masks do NOT affect your breathing - NHS staff would not be able to wear them all day long if that
was the case. I believe that no mask should equal no entry - exempt or not. Too many people are claiming to be exempt when they are not and this needs to be clamped down on stat!

Juana

Also Spain isn’t so fantastic. Their last lockdown was so strict no one could move. Restrictions lifted and cases surged again mostly young people getting together partying then passing it on to family. Madrid was dire. Talk of more restrictions and people mostly youngsters again started rebelling, big demonstrations the police couldn’t handle. Covid cases sweeping the country despite some ridiculous timed curfews , even in the small villages ,as of course they all got together over Xmas , new year and Three kings.

Oh good
It’s been a few days since we’d last blamed “youngsters”

i don't wear a mask, not because i don't want to but because i can't, i tried for a few months but got so worked up and anxious having something over my face that is was bringing on epileptic seizures, after collapsing on the floor of my regular supermarket more than once my doctor told me to get a lanyard, i had never heard of them before. i am very careful, i keep my distance and sanitize going in and coming out, i carry a hankie in my hand just in case i cough...but i have still been shouted at by people and told it would serve me right if i got covid and died, i live on my own so i have to get shopping, i go to the supermarket once a week, since march last year the only person that has been in my house is my partner that i see at the weekend...we have the extended household and since september i am his weekend carer to give his daughter a break as he now has heart failure and only goes out to come to my house. some people who do not wear a mask have a genuine reason, we are not all selfish people wanting to put others at risk.

GrannyRose15

Blossoming

GrannyRose15. No, I don’t want to live in a country such as you describe. That is why I believe we should all follow the rules, wear masks outside and do everything we can to help stop the spread of this awful disease.

Freedoms once lost are very difficult to regain.

Life once lost is impossible to regain.

This mask wearing thing really gets my goat, as my old mum would say. If people really, really can’t wear a mask for a few minutes then they probably shouldn’t be out and about anyway. I also don’t believe that these people don’t have absolutely anyone at all to shop for them. Most communities are drowning in volunteers. Someone in the Guardian this morning hit the nail on the head - if you’re blind you don’t drive, if you can’t wear a mask you don’t shop. My daughter is an ICU nurse - if people only knew what it was really like wearing full PPE they wouldn’t think twice about wearing a tiddly face mask to do a bit of shopping.

Paperbackwriter I fully agree with the sentiments you expressed earlier.

I too get very irritated by the automatic assumption that any wrongdoing in Cornwall must of course be down to the tourists, with no proof of that whatsoever.

Cornwall is a poor county which relies heavily on it’s tourist industry. If visitors and second home owners feel resented then we may take our business elsewhere, which would create even more poverty in the county.

We also have a holiday home there and whilst most people are fine and welcoming, I have also come across some anti tourist comments.

Why don't shops play over the tannoy a reminder to wear a mask? This would surely help the situation.
I have asthma requiring daily medication but I can wear a mask and as others have indicated should wear one to protect against infection. People who wear visors unfortunately believe them to offer protection however they provide very little benefit and should only be used in conjunction with a mask. I would not go into a shop where the staff only wore a visor as it is ineffective.
Re folk wearing mask under nose. My DD was waiting outside a kiosk for a coffee and the man in front complained to her about the staff not wearing gloves. She said that they were using sanitiser which was better and if he didn't like that than he didn't need to buy coffee there. He started to get close to her to further discuss this and she told him to stay back as he wasn't wearing a mask. He pointed to his mask which was under his nose to which she replied that he may as well not be wearing it as it was of no use like that. He didn't seem to have any understanding that what he was doing was nonsensical. I am proud that DD is able to say these things as I feel I wouldn't have as much courage.

Tweedle24 I hadn't known that!!! That makes his complaint even more outrageous.

Lizbethan . The further irony of that story is that he had been SCUBA diving while on holiday! Can you do that without a mask? ?

Harmonypuss. I don’t intend to be rude but, I do worry about people who are exempt from wearing masks. Surely, they are just as likely to pass on the virus, should they carry it, than anyone? I don’t have an answer but, it is something that concerns me.

Sawsage2 Visors only protect the wearer, not others around them. I steer very clear if visor wearers.

What I have noticed in my local Tesco is that ever since mask wearing was introduced very few people clean the handles of trolleys or baskets and sanitise their hands. Masks make people think they are invincible. I do most of my shopping on line because my claustrophobia kicks in if I have to wear a mask too long. Two major panic attacks stopped me shopping and I've never had a panic attack in my life before. Papers and milk are my limit as long as the queues not too long.

Blossoming

*GrannyRose15*. No, I don’t want to live in a country such as you describe. That is why I believe we should all follow the rules, wear masks outside and do everything we can to help stop the spread of this awful disease.

Freedoms once lost are very difficult to regain.

Morrison’s are to ban all customers not wearing a face covering, I wonder if others will follow?