So masks are to become optional, do you think this is a good idea?

I’ll keep a mask with me and may still wear it on public transport however I do have a mild lung condition and will be very happy not to have to wear one.

Interesting I am in Jersey as I put on another thread Masks are no longer required here apart from public transport Have easily gone back to not wearing one Here you see the odd person wearing one but they are in the minority

I don't mind wearing a visor so will continue with it till I decide when to stop (probably around October}

I think face masks should be mandatary for a while longer.We have got used to them,and I know I feel safer wearing one.The virus isn't suddenly going to go away in 2 weeks time.It 's too soon to lift all restrictions yet,we have a lot more freedom than we had,let's just enjoy that,but feel safe.A lot of us will feel anxious about going out.

I live in a country where wearing face masks has always been optional, yesterday I was surprised when going into Specsavers here,you had to hand sanitise then take a face mask from an individualy wrapped plastic bag.This is the first time I have seen this otherwise not many people have ever used face masks here ,snag is we seem to be in the Amber group and never getting out of it!

Whatever decision is made regarding masks (or anything else) will come in for criticism. I shall continue to wear my mask when going to the newsagents or supermarket - haven’t ventured to any other shops yet.

I’m hoping that most people will continue as before - except of course football supporters!

I can't wait to get rid of face masks. Since it became compulsory I have had 6-7 eye infections. I have yet another at the moment and don't usually suffer from them. I will probably wear one in busy areas but we do need to get back to normality especially for the good of our children who have been born in the last 18-24 months.

Coastalgran good point. I still cringe at the pre-Covid memory of people putting a hand over their mouth when coughing, then picking up and replacing food I was planning to buy.
If you want to wear a mask in certain places, past July 19th, go ahead. I will wear one where I choose, and as I’ve mentioned before, I’ll be watching to see whether lanyards disappear.

I for one will still be wearing my masks in supermarkets and shops even after Boris ‘allows’ us to stop.

nipsmum

As a personal opinion, I think it's time to make them optional. Life is full of risks. Masks have been optional all our lives. We didn't feel the need to wear them before. Germs and viruses have always been with us. They have always been dangerous to people. I trained for 2 years as an Infectious Diseases nurse. Antibiotics and vaccinations have helped a huge amount over many years. Yes masks should be optional until we all learn to go back to normal. Whatever you are comfortable with is fine now.

So, as a nurse did you wear masks to protect others?And shouldn’t people continue to wear masks to do the same now? I don’t understand your logic.

So, a theory, if face masks work , why are numbers rising. A cloth mask, taken on and off, put in your pocket for days on end, not very hygienic, unless you wash it as soon as you get home after one outing with it. Paper masks, discarded anywhere but in a bin. I have worn a mask, not until about two months after this started, gaily wandering about the supermarket, cafe and shops in the first instance, am asthmatic also, after encouragement from SAGE, but have always been careful re hands face space. three grown up DC, all working front line public services , one Grandson, also front line worker, compromised with Asthma, two GC at school. No covid , thank goodness, and only two episodes of self isolation among them. Two reports one from Oxford says masks do protect to certain extent, and one fromDenmark which says they don’t. www.ox.ac.uk/news/2020-07-08-oxford-covid-19-study-face-masks-and-coverings-work-act-now/
www.spectator.co.uk/article/do-masks-stop-the-spread-of-covid-19-
Is it any wonder we are confused, think hands face space has more of an impact, working in the NHS and having to wear a mask working in isolation , with a non aerosol spread infection, hand washing was the most important. I wonder how many really adhere to that?
Garble over.

@chattykathy Sorry, I meant my comment at 11:58 today.

@chattykathy Please see my comment at 12:04 today.

I think it would be a good thing to keep wearing masks in supermarkets and larger shops for customers and staff. It is quite a pleasure now to shop and not find someone sneezing and coughing all over the food, veg and customers.

I'm listening to the radio a lot today. Jeremy Vine just read out a comment from somebody saying we shouldn't complain because during the War people had to carry gas masks.

Buttonjugs
Please can we ditch the words 'selfish' and also 'safe'. They have been over used during this Pandemic and are meaningless now. If people feel that unsafe even after vaccination then they can always walk round in a hamzat suit and full PPE but let the rest of us get on with our lives and running our businesses!

YES!!!

Stop wearing masks because the government says it’s fine. Like letting in flights from China and Italy was fine at the start of the pandemic. Oh, and letting children return to school was fine before the second wave. Then it was fine to keep India from the red travel list before the Delta variant took hold. Let’s be honest there are a lot of selfish people who don’t like wearing masks so this is going to be yet another bad decision from an incompetent self serving government.

I'm very unure of what next from a personal point of view. I know we have to get used to the fact that Covid is here to stay and is the new normal. On the other hand with cases of the Delta variant rising and having spent so long shielding with my CEV son, I am not sure I am ready yet. But the longer it goes on the harder it will be.

I don’t think masks should be optional in public indoor venues just yet while there are increasing rates of infection with the delta mutation in this country and so much of the world is unvaccinated. While the virus is circulating widely, it will continue to mutate here and elsewhere and new mutations may be more problematic. Wearing a mask is only a minor inconvenience. It does not prevent activities, close businesses, and so on. I will be reluctant to go into indoor venues such as shops if everybody else is unmasked. So it will definitely limit my life and others like me who are older or ill and can contract covid and still be quite sick even if we are vaccinated. Luckily I believe this is to be delayed a bit in Scotland. The new Health Secretary seems to be going down the road of ignoring scientific advice again which has not worked well for us in this country in the past. I have some PP2 masks and am thinking of investing in PP3 masks which I think give some protection to the wearer.

aggie

I’ve just ordered more washable masks , I’ll keep wearing them , might stop me getting Flu as well as Covid

Buy FFP2/KN95 which filter the air you breathe in. You wearing a face covering protects others, not yourself

For the past fortnight or three weeks, it has no longer been a legal requirement to wear a mask in shops or when seated in public transport here in Denmark.

Obviously, anyone who wants still to wear one, does so.

There hasn't been an increase in cases of covid 19 since the restrictions were changed.

OP, how much contact do you actually have with customers?

If it is only a matter of standing at the till, surely you already have a perpex screen in place there?

If not, one would obviously make you safer.

Good points.

growstuff

I wish I had 5p for every time I've read "learn to live with Covid" and "get back to normality". I think they're meaningless soundbites and I really wonder if people have thought through the implications or even agree what they mean. They make good tabloid copy, along with numerous inclusions of "freedom" (as though we've all been captured and a blonde knight is going to save us ).

They're not meaningless to me growstuff

We need to learn to live with COVID because we need to realise that its here to stay. Somewhere this morning I read on here that even one hospital case of COVID is too much. Well that's unrealistic, isn't it? So at some point we are going to have to realise that people are going to go into hospital and some are going to get very ill.

Get back to normality? Well I posted about that this morning as well. Why would anyone not want to get back to normality? If normality means that we have a life that isn't constrained unnecessarily by government rules, often put in place for unrealistic reasons, and where we don't have to be worried about every personal interaction.

That's what it means.

'variant running wild' you say but that is the nature of viruses, hundreds of them including flu. Variants are part of viruses. Coronavirus is here to stay like the flu virus and hundreds of other viruses. We. have effective vaccinations now and boosters so we have to return to normal and learn to live with this virus. The trouble is, the Government have been scare mongering the whole population of the UK 24/7 for a year and a half so that everyone complied with their draconian restrictions at huge detriment to the economy, millions of people's livelihoods, children's and young people's education, mental health and an increase in anxiety. Young babies and toddlers social and speech development has been affected too. Lets get back to normality. Life is not without risk and nothing is perfectly safe in this world!