Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul
What exactly do you fear ?
Its been largely maskless for 2.5 months, and the world didnt end.
If people want to wear one, fine, go for it, as long as they stop being preachy a-holes trying to tell everyone else they 'need' to.
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The point a lot of them probably miss is that in most places it is now simply a recommendation to do it if it's crowded.
Although I still think it's a legal requirement on TfL services, and in hospitals and medical practices (which makes sense as there are sick people there) in most places you're neither legally compelled to nor is it enforceable, though I suppose a place could in principle refuse entry to someone who isn't if they want to make it a condition of entry.
In any case, even when it was backed up with a legal instrument, there were still exemptions, and there was no requirement to have your exemption officially certified by a doctor, literally you could not wear one, and they weren't really supposed to challenge someone who wasn't, this was actually explicitly against the law, some form of disability discrimination as well to bar people because they weren't, there are plenty of examples where people have unlawfully challenged someone for not wearing a face covering because they are exempt. And not all disabilities are visible, for example, it can be if it causes you distress, which could be if you were assaulted and someone grabbed you over the face to stop you crying out for help...
I do think some of it was a visual cue or even a confidence booster, we did get rid of covid in March-July 2020 to levels much lower than now, and get most of the economy open albeit with social distancing in pubs etc, before it was mandatory to wear masks basically in indoor areas. Whilst some of it makes sense, for example if you're close to a lot of people for a long time period, in something like a supermarket where you're not in close contact with anyone for any sustained period, it doesn't. And the way they ended up in pubs where you had table service anyway, had to wear one going in and out and when going into the toilet, but not when you were sat at your table (and presumably in a toilet, though no-one's going to bang down the door and check you're wearing one there) is a bit silly because the virus is still out there, they may as well not bother and say you don't need to for the amount of time you're wearing one.
Plus a lot of people forget they don't really protect the wearer but others, which presumably only applies if you have covid (or anything else like a cold) and don't realise it.