The best way to stay safe from Covid in England? Don’t ditch the mask

[Northerner]

On Wednesday, Boris Johnson’s government announced that plan B measures for England, which were put in place in December, will be scrapped. This includes mandates on face coverings, which will no longer be compulsory in indoor public spaces from 27 January or for secondary school classrooms from 20 January. The Department for Education is likely to remove guidance on their use in school communal areas in the coming days.

This is in stark contrast to what other countries are doing in the midst of the Omicron pandemic – and let’s not forget, this is still a pandemic. With daily Covid-19 case numbers in the UK still above 100,000, and a daily average of more than 250 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, our situation is among the worst in the world. Though our case numbers are indeed falling, this may well be partly due to the measures imposed in plan B, such as wearing face masks and working from home. There is a risk that the removal of these measures could reverse this trend.

Scotland is mitigating against this risk by maintaining the face mask mandate when it removes most restrictions from Monday. The US, meanwhile, is an example of a country enacting more stringent measures in order to bring the pandemic under control. Next week, the Biden administration will make 400m N95 (FFP2) masks available for free in the largest deployment of PPE in US history.

The best way to stay safe from Covid in England? Don't ditch the mask | Claire Horwell

Boris Johnson’s easing of restrictions is in stark contrast to what other countries are doing to control Omicron, says Claire Horwell of Durham University

www.theguardian.com

Purely political motive behind this move, it makes no sense until infections are significantly lower. People have already ditched their masks, I noticed yesterday in the Co-op, probably because it really wasn't made clear that the mandate still applies until next Wednesday There are still 16m people in the country who haven't had a booster yet, and 4m who have had no vaccinations at all - still plenty of people to clog up the hospitals

 

[nonethewiser]

Still wearing mask will be for some time yet, especially on public transport, like you Northie surprised mask rule still isnt compulsory, guess Bojo is trying to win back some praise or something.

 

[Windy]

I bought some FFP2 masks to wear in shops as I seem to be the only one wearing one in some places. Lidl was particularly bad, everyone seemed to have brought their children and friends along to shop with them. I understand the joy of the middle aisle with it's scuba diving sets, slippers and powerdrills, but lordy, pandemic's still happening.
I intend to keep masked up in public for the foreseeable future in indoor spaces.
Like you say Northener, It's politically expedient for BJ to remove masks, but it's not a good public health measure. I wish England were as sensible at Scotland and other countries with their dealing of the pandemic.

 

[Deleted member 21371]

In Budapest at Christmas most wore industrial FFP3 masks.
I wore these myself at the start of the pandemic, but did drop down later.
Boris is throwing meat to the crowd for distraction.

 

[grovesy]

Here I have noticed that more people over the last 2 months have been wearing them outside. Not noticed in shops as I only go in the Pharmacy.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

Purely political motive behind this move, it makes no sense until infections are significantly lower.

Yes, we seem to be (in many parts of the country, maybe) on the way down to a lower prevalence. But it's surely not sensible to drop things like masks right now. We're in winter: do we want to encourage more respiratory infections?