To mask or not to mask: what will Johnson and others do after 19 July?
Boris Johnson has said he will continue to wear a mask in “crowded places” after mandatory requirements are dropped in England on 19 July.
“What we’re trying to do is move from a universal government diktat to relying on people’s personal responsibility,” he told Monday’s Downing Street press conference. “Clearly there’s a big difference between travelling on a crowded Tube train and sitting late at night in a virtually empty carriage on the main railway line. So what we want to do is for people to exercise their personal responsibility but to remember the value of face coverings both in protecting themselves and others.”
He said that he “will obviously wear a mask in crowded places where you are meeting people that you don’t know”.
So how are other politicians and experts interpreting their personal responsibility?
Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, has said that he will stop wearing a mask entirely “as soon as possible” after it is no longer legally required in England.
George Eustice, the environment secretary, has also said that he wants to “shed those masks”.
Robert Jenrick, the housing secretary, is similarly bullish, saying he would no longer wear a mask once the requirement was lifted, admitting, “I don’t particularly want to wear a mask.”
Priti Patel, the home secretary, has made no secret of her desire to stop wearing a mask but hasn’t said exactly when that will be. “I would love to, you know, take the mask off,” she said. “But at the right time. I will do that when we are in the clear.”
Sajid Javid, the new health secretary, has been more specific about what he considers his “personal responsibility” to be. He will, he has said, continue to wear a mask in enclosed spaces and carry one with him “for the foreseeable future”. He said it was the “responsible thing to do”. He added: “If I’m standing next to someone and they for some reason feel uncomfortable with me not wearing a mask, I will wear a mask.”
Helen Whateley, the care minister, has said she is “looking forward to not having to wear a face mask so much” but has said she might not abandon it “entirely” after 19 July. “I anticipate there may be times where it is appropriate to wear it if I am somewhere that’s crowded, that might make sense,” she said. Asked if she would keep wearing a mask on a busy train, she replied: “I think I might.”
Prof Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, been very clear that there are three situations in which he will continue to wear masks. The first is “any situation which was indoors and crowded, or indoors with close proximity to other people”. The second is when “any competent authority” required him to do so. The third was “as a point of common courtesy” when “someone else was uncomfortable if I did not wear a mask”.
Sir Patrick Vallance, the chief scientific adviser, has said he will take “exactly the same” approach as Whitty. “Masks are most effective at preventing somebody else catching the disease from you,” he said.
Adam Finn, a member of the government’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, has also said he will “certainly be continuing to wear a mask if I’ve got any symptoms or if I’m in an enclosed space with lots of other people for a prolonged period of time — indefinitely in fact”.
Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, has said that he has yet to decide because “the wearing of face coverings on public transport helps to reduce the spread of Covid, and crucially gives Londoners confidence to travel on the network”.