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

Good point MayBee70
Probably!

growstuff

I have a box of FFP3 masks, which I shall be wearing if most people give up wearing masks. Up to now, I haven't used them because they're expensive and I've felt comfortable wearing washable ones with filters, which reduce transmission from me to others. However, if most people aren't bothering to stop themselves transmitting infection, I feel I need to protect myself better, which is what FFP3 masks do. Incidentally, FFP3 masks are standard in Germany.

This is exactly what my daughter suggested. We agree growstuff and with redsmudgy it’s a simple thing to do now we are used to them so I will feel where is the care and consideration for others if people just stop. On the other hand it will definitely make me spend less. Is this really what the government want or are they trying to make it a case of well you chose to be the guinea pigs in this next stage.

I think you just need to read some of the comments to see that some people do care. Talk about living in fear, about not being compliant, it's really clear that people do care about others mask wearing.

Bossyrossy What do you consider a high level of vaccination. Over 80% of the population have had the first jab and wellover 60% the second jab and that figure is rising fast. Someone who has had both vaccinations is no danger to anyone else, nor themselves, You are far more likely to pick up a cold, flu, or cough from them than COVID.

Continuing to wear masks, when it is not necessary, is playing into the hands of the Antivaxxers and conspiracy theory activists who believe that COVID is a devious plan by government to chip away at our freedoms and by ramping up our fear to induce a permanent feeling of fear in us so that governments can manipulate us.

By returning to normal life, with its minimal risk of COVID we are are thwarting these strange beliefs.

User7777, why would anyone care if you choose to wear a mask? It doesn't affect anyone else. I can't understand why anyone would care if you are wearing one if they choose not to.

I live in a rural area, but travel for shopping and seeing family too. I will be continuing to wear a fresh mask everyday until I feel the variants have stopped taking hold. My choice, not interested in others view that I can stop wearing one

nanna8

We have to wear them in shopping centres and on public transport but not outdoors just now. Massive fines if not so everyone does, basically. I don’t mind. Where we live there are zero cases just now except for those coming in from overseas who are all in hotel quarantine. We are severely reducing the numbers flying in because most have not been vaccinated here. You wouldn’t want our government for quids.

Isn't the fine only $200 for not wearing a mask?

We have to wear them in shopping centres and on public transport but not outdoors just now. Massive fines if not so everyone does, basically. I don’t mind. Where we live there are zero cases just now except for those coming in from overseas who are all in hotel quarantine. We are severely reducing the numbers flying in because most have not been vaccinated here. You wouldn’t want our government for quids.

And the less people being treated for covid the more people that can be treated for other conditions.

CafeAuLait

Missedout, I judge no one who chooses to wear a mask, even if it's not required. I just assume they have their own reasons. You do what you need to do. Hopefully a good treatment will exist for Covid soon, so you can be reassured by that.

Meanwhile, the best treatment for Covid is not to catch it.

Missedout, I judge no one who chooses to wear a mask, even if it's not required. I just assume they have their own reasons. You do what you need to do. Hopefully a good treatment will exist for Covid soon, so you can be reassured by that.

MayBee70

What’s an elementary occupation?

Elementary occupations

Occupations classified at this level will usually require a minimum general level of education (that is, that which is acquired by the end of the period of compulsory education). Some occupations at this level will also have short periods of work-related training in areas such as health and safety, food hygiene, and customer service requirements.

There more details here:

www.ons.gov.uk/methodology/classificationsandstandards/standardoccupationalclassificationsoc/soc2010/soc2010volume2thestructureandcodingindex

I have had both vaccinations but, owing to my underlying health condition, I have developed no antibodies. I am still at risk from Covid. While others on here believe that, even if they contract Covid, they will not be too poorly, for me, being seriously ill is a possibility that I cannot afford to ignore.

Like many CEV, I have been shielding for such a long time but medication keeps me relatively well. I am fit and active, I take exercise but away from others. I want to see family and get away from my house and meet other people out and about. Family and close friends understand and take precautions on my behalf when we visit each other. I don't feel able to eat inside a restaurant (but am thoroughly fed up with my own food). I also dislike using public toilets too which is restricting if I want to travel.

I will have to continue to wear a mask when I go out - apart from scrupulous hygiene, it is all I have to protect myself. Also, I am a risk to others because I could be carrying Covid.

I think far too many have suffered during the pandemic and only want them to be able to get on with their lives. However, I'm worried that I will be ridiculed for continuing to wear a mask and taking precautions if restrictions are lifted completely. I would make a plea to those who say they will stop wearing masks as if is an affront to them and a bar to their freedom, to consider that it is not cowardice that keeps me masked, just a desire to stay alive and perhaps find my own 'normal' as treatments improve with time.

Well, at least we now know why that picture of Hancock was released. He was far more cautious about the lifting of restrictions whereas the new health minister seems happy to go along with what Johnson and the Covid Recovery Group want.

This article fom last weekend’s Guardian/Observer:

www.theguardian.com/theobserver/commentisfree/2021/jun/27/why-most-people-who-now-die-with-covid-have-been-vaccinated

If I were 80 or over, I’d still be exercising caution until we reach peak vaccination and infection numbers from Delta start to come down.

I'm a long way from that age but shall continue to wear a mask in indoor spaces until those two things are achieved. It's no hardship to do so just like friends who have worked all the way though the pandemic in customer-facing roles and say they now regard mask-wearing as second nature.

Those friends who work in shops and other service roles, for example, the Royal Mail, have seen a high incidence of infections among their colleagues but it's unclear whether they became infected by contact with customers or from family members and other social interactions.

It seems to me that making mask wearing a matter of personal discretion can be looked at as being in the same way of thinking as saying leaving it to personal discretion whether to have one's car checked with an MOT test.

I'll continue to wear a mask, I tend to double mask if I'm going somewhere enclosed, but also wear a mask if I'm outside, although not in my own garden.

What’s an elementary occupation?

CafeAuLait

One one hand, I think masks are great for preventing all manner of disease transmission in enclosed spaces. If it stops me getting colds and flus, I think that's great. On the other, most people wear disposable masks and this is terrible for the environment. It will be good when that ends or reduces for this reason. I also feel that if you're fully vaccinated, at some point you're going to have to trust that. I don't think anyone wants to live under pandemic conditions forever.

I'm sure they don't want live like this forever either.

However, even disposable masks offer people some degree of protection and reduce the level of transmission.

Secondly, the UK population has nowhere near the total percentage of the population vaccinated to be able to rely on population immunity.

Why can't people understand that continuing with mitigation measures such as mask wearing and keeping a safe distance makes returning to a form of lockdown less likely?

JaneJudge

Baggs

JaneJudge

if you work in a shop or supermarket that choice is taken anyway, they are low paid and have no choice.

This is an important point but I have yet to see any statistics about the percentage of shop workers who have even contracted Covid., never mind been hospitalised or who died from it. I think there would have been a media noise about shop worker infections if the numbers had been in any way worthy of attention. No?

Please correct my ignorance if such (well backed up) information exists.

there is some information here

Thanks for that JaneJudge. The latest version of that data is here:

www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/causesofdeath/datasets/coronaviruscovid19relateddeathsbyoccupationenglandandwales

It's a bit tricky navigating to the correct dataset, so I looked it up and this is the summary:

For deaths registered to 20-64 year olds between 9th March and 28th December 2020:

40.3 in 100,000 males working in sales and customer service occupations died. That was the fifth highest for all occupation groups.
For females, the figure is 18.6 in 100,000, which was also the fifth highest for all occupation groups.

In both cases, the rate of Covid deaths per 100,000 was higher than it was for other other non-Covid deaths.

For both males and females, working people in the following occupational groups were more likely to die from Covid:

elementary occupations
process, plant and machine operatives
caring, leisure and other service occupations
skilled trades occupations

People in the following occupations were less likely to die:

managers, directors and senior officials
professional occupations
associate professional and technical occupations
administrative and secretarial occupations

I’m not advocating that we wear masks forever, just that we wear them until a higher percentage of the population have been vaccinated, especially teens and young adults.
The behaviour at recent football matches leaves much to be desired and to use that as a reason for not wearing a mask is incomprehensible. The latest increasing infection rates in men in Scotland has been put down to their attendance and behaviour watching the football matches in large, unmasked groups and with no social distancing.

One one hand, I think masks are great for preventing all manner of disease transmission in enclosed spaces. If it stops me getting colds and flus, I think that's great. On the other, most people wear disposable masks and this is terrible for the environment. It will be good when that ends or reduces for this reason. I also feel that if you're fully vaccinated, at some point you're going to have to trust that. I don't think anyone wants to live under pandemic conditions forever.

If you choose not to wear a mask you are being inconsiderate because you do not know who is vulnerable and who is not. That young person standing in front of you in the supermarket might have asthma, that woman on the bus might be going home to a vulnerable elderly parent. Vulnerable people do not wear labels. Masks protect others and looking out for others is what being considerate means.

Grow stuff I too have ordered a few respirators that I know fit me to protect myself ( an ex shielder) if needed on public transport if needed.

Where there is a risk of infection, masks work best to reduce transmission if almost every one wears one. ( yours protects me, mine protects you alongside space etc) . I do think we should continue to use effective face masks in certain circumstances such as in medical settings (to protect the staff and the already unwell) and anywhere crowded indoors in areas of high infection.I do hope we will be encouraged to take sensible precautions where they are needed.
I can’t help wondering if the plan is to allow the young ( young adults and children) to be exposed and catch Covid and gain natural immunity! My concern is that some of the vulnerable who are still not fully vaccinated ( as some cannot be vaccinated and some are still a waiting for their second jabs) will become very unwell - or go back to the extreme restrictions of shielding.