English people want to bring back mask wearing and social distancing

I tend just to avoid the places where I feel I would have to put on a mask so enjoyable shopping trips with my daughter are out for now
Ok to pop it on for two mins for the local shop or garage but that’s about it
I certainly would not bother with one if I went out to a restaurant
I tend to wear one if I am honest to appease others

I put a link in the OP. Scroll to the bottom of the article. There you can click on a link to see the full results of the poll. I would have thought by now we would all be a little more educated on how polling works.

You need reliable sampling methods not to know just who the 'English people"are. You need to know how credible the company carrying it out is not to bear in mind that any poll is only a small percentage of the population.

A credible company will tell you who employed them to carry out the poll. They will explain what their target population was and its sampling methods. The company or researcher will also tell you if the results are weighted and what questions they asked.

This knowledge is so readily available, yet we continue to get the sort of comments above.

As in every town their are idiots but I must say that in my town people are still social distancing, wearing masks and there is no noticeable difference today as prior to "Freedom Day".

I do not understand why people seem to have a real problem with wearing a face mask in crowded public spaces - most public spaces are crowded, cramped, and with poor airflow - especially on transport.

Is this just a case of "what about me' my freedom, my view of democracy", or has the Thatcher mentality of 'there is no society anymore' really taken hold, and we are less sociable and secure in our communities?

LtEve

I’m not sure why people see masks as the holy grail of covid prevention. Many of the masks the general public wear do not afford the protection that people think. www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/07/17/cloth-face-masks-comfort-blankets-do-little-curb-covid-spread/amp/
Social distancing is far more effective and tends to be what people do naturally. I caught covid whilst wearing a proper surgical mask but not socially distanced.
I have no objection if people want to wear masks and I do myself in crowded indoor spaces and wear one all the time at work but I don’t want to be wearing one for the rest of my life everywhere I go inside. Covid is not going to go away so we have to learn to live with it. There hasn’t been the expected surge in cases since the restrictions were lifted and I believe it was the right time to do it.

Hmm - I hear what you're saying about wearing a mask for the rest of your life - but I doubt that will happen. At present we still have the potential for cases to rise, and there is likely to be evidence from other sources to counter your quote from the "Daily Telegraph".

I would tend to take that single source with a pinch of salt, unless there is corroboration from other scientists - the article has been amended more than once after publication, so I wondered if it was simply designed to support the Government's easing of restrictions on 19th July.

I would like to know just who the "English people" are that are being quoted as giving their opinions!

Here you go.

Sorry meant to say hear hear Olive.

I don't agree with the first 2. As for the 3rd statement I suppose we must accept that of those who responded to this poll more elderly folk and Labour voters wanted restrictions but bear in mind any poll is only a small percentage of the population.

I would guess that the 17% are those that have health problems and have a quite natural fear of going out and about after possibly seeing friends or relatives that have possibly caught Covid .
Really can't understand why anyone is surprised at this.
I would like to know just who the "English people" are that are being quoted as giving their opinions!

I agree with LtEve. I have continued with wearing a mask in the supermarket for the sake of my husband, who was awaiting knee replacement surgery (thankfully that took place early this week). However I noticed after 'Freedom day' that most of the younger staff in the supermarket weren't and in fact I remember being sniggered at by supermarket staff for wearing a face covering before they were made compulsory. I am now compromising by keeping the wretched thing round my neck, and pulling it up when in an aisle with other people in, and breathing freely without it when there's no one else near me. I also wear the dratted thing when I go into small shops and other confined public spaces. I use the self scan facility in the supermarkets and pull the mask up if other customers or staff are nearby. I don't use public transport, pubs, restaurants or nightclubs so can't comment on mask wearing for those. As has been said before, it's a matter of risk assessing and common sense, not blanket rules.

Correction: I meant the corridor from New Zealand to Australia has now been closed again. I don’t understand how any government in a democracy think they can get away with this.

Lifting restrictions too early and increasig the number of infections could result in more mutations. Maybe that way it'll pass into the normal rounds of bugs that circulate in our communities without really causing any serious issues for most people... but the risk is that the opposite could occur, there could be a mutation that is more damaging, more lethal, bypasses vaccinations and prior immunity etc....

If the figures are to be believed and the virus is as contagious as stated, then we have probably all had it at some stage anyway. And if so, we have the antibodies, which is exactly what the vaccines are supposed to do.
Yet still there is this fear mongering that continues unabated by supermarkets and government departments. Shopkeepers continue to wear masks simply to appease those still living in fear and believing the mask will actually keep them alive.
Flu has always been something that reduces the power of the immune system and death in the vulnerable often occurs. Covid, whilst more volatile, does the same. we need to live with it, the same as we did with flu. No one was forced to have the flu jab, no passports were necessary and the vaccines were to protect those that took the jab, not those that came into contact with them.
And let's not forget that all cases of flu have been added to the covid figures. It is time to get rid of the fear element stop the sensationalism from the media.

me too FarNorth, lack of ventilation in many small places are slow on this.. I wonder what it will be like the winter, ie cold weather.. we tend not to like fresh air.. I suggest we just wrap up more and less reliant on central heating.

now these Polls, I have never, ever been asked my opinion! LOL

My view, in disagreement with all of them!

My daughter is in New Zealand. She’s told me that people are getting very fed up with the closed borders, primarily because of the lack of tourism which is very important for the economy there. There are people who are in danger of losing their businesses, and probably some have already lost their businesses. I imagine that people are also fed up of being unable to see their families who live elsewhere too, and being unable to travel anywhere. The corridor with New Zealand has even been closed, and it hadn’t been open very long. Countries really need to get on with vaccinating their populations because their citizens will not put up with this situation forever.

Victoria has had a horrible time of it. Lockdown after lockdown. Other states not so much. We had zero cases for many months but as soon as they allowed people in from overseas it all started up. We can’t keep the doors shut forever ,though. We are having problems getting people vaccinated. Quite a number of people don’t even believe there is a problem because they haven’t seen it for themselves. Thick is what I would call them.

rosie1959

Australia may be strick but to still have such draconian measures nearly 17 months later with apparently low vacination rates how are they planning to move forward.

Their rates of infection have increased but vaccination rates aren’t apparently that great yet so they don’t want things to get worse. The point is they haven’t had 17 months of much restrictions or kids off school so that starting now.

Still have to wear them on public transport here in London. I do still wear a mask in shops, but more than once I’ve forgotten to put it on until I’m halfway round the supermarket.

They were never anything like enforced anyway - even at the height of the first lockdown lots of people were going into my local corner shop without, and I refuse to believe that they were all exempt. More a case of 95% sticking two fingers up IMO.

Australia may be strick but to still have such draconian measures nearly 17 months later with apparently low vacination rates how are they planning to move forward.

When mask wearing was made compulsory there was much muttering on the media about loss of freedoms, democracy, etc. so repealing the law and making it an individual choice seems right to me. And did they not say that it was only for a year in the first instance?

I live in an area where rates have only gone slightly up with the onset of the holiday season and influx of visitors. In town, nothing has really changed. The vast majority of people don their mask as they enter shops and offices. People stand further apart still, and there's no physical contact when meeting friends. The outside areas of restaurants and pubs are full with only a few people inside. The only difference is we do it out of choice and not compulsion.

I'd like to see more ventilation, also. It seems silly for shops, especially small ones, to provide hand sanitiser but keep their doors firmly shut.
Buses and trains usually don't have any ventilation.

nanna8

Everyone wears them here and we are not allowed to travel more than 5 kms from home. We have to wear them outside and inside and we are not allowed any visitors at all. Stalag 2021.

Good. Australia has been very strict, quite rightly.

Nothing is stopping anyone from wearing face coverings

But my mask doesn't protect me much, it mainly protects others.
If the others are not wearing masks, that creates risk for me.
I don't know why some people seem to think mask wearing is such a dreadful imposition.
What about "We're all in it together"?

England resident - I'm continuing to wear mine in(public)doors and on public transport. I would say it's about 50:50 round here, although we have a high and rising infection rate.