And about time, too!

My son has told me not to challenge people who are not wearing a mask in shops! It should be the other way round! I am sick of people with so called exemptions flouting the rules, as far as i can see there should be no exemptions apart from people with severe learning disabilities who just wouldn't keep them one. If we all challenged people maybe they would be embarrassed into doing the right thing but maybe I'd get a black eye!

I think the shop keepers are afraid of being attacked and they point out they are not the police. Fair enough.There are still people walking around who think its all 'fake news' and they are in a Big Brother situation and being oppressed by the government!!
I can see that people are beginning to speak out and when I was in the Post Office recently, which has all the 2 metres signs in place ,a man behind the person behind me had no mask. The woman questioned him... he just laughed and said he was still alive. When she pointed out he could potentially be responsible for someone getting very unwell or even dying he just laughed. These people are the problem.

Oh dear, moggie57, that sounds horrible. I hope you recover soon - most people with the virus do recover, as I keep reminding myself.

4allweknow

If teachers can threaten to strike feeling they have unsafe working conditions goodness knows what shop workers would be able to claim. Dealing with idiotic adults not children from whom there is less risk allegedly. There is no social distancing in shops and the lanyards are available to anyone just print one off. My DH has one for his disability but it's nothing to do with breathing, he could abuse it but he doesn't but many will.

The difference is that contact in a supermarket will be very brief , a few minutes at the most whereas in school a teacher will be in a confined space with up to 30 teenagers for at least an hour then move in to another 30
Obviously everyone in a shop should wear a mask though.

I firmly believe it should be " no mask no entry. No exemptions". What are all the nightclub bouncers doing? Why don't supermarkets employ them at the door. Two stories I have put on here before. My DD is a frontline NHS worker. Her friend and colleague is severely asthmatic. The hospital policy is that everyone who works in the hospital in any capacity has to wear a mask, so my DDs friend does. She has to. A lanyard will not keep her safe. Secondly. There was a story in the paper a while ago about a man who got on a plane without a mask. He said he was asthmatic and couldn't wear one for the length of the flight. The other passengers set up such a cacophony of boos and complaints that he had to wear one or get off. So he wore one. He promptly went to the press to tell his tale and complain about his cruel treatment. The irony seemed to completely pass him by. Not only had he worn the mask but he didn't have an asthma attack and he lived to tell the tale.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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”

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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"?