Masks have no specs appeal

Last week, Denis Edgar-nevill issued a timely reminder of the continuing threat of Covid-19, and highlighted the constant difficulty in determining to what extent one should be concerned about specific details [Letters, Gazette, September 10].

For several weeks now, when I have been out and about in Canterbury, it has seemed that apart from the obvious lack of hordes of foreign tourists, people have generally returned to normal life; the streets are packed with shoppers, and outside tables at cafes, etc, seem to be as closely packed and busy as ever. Whether or not this is - in light of the national rise in rates of infections - cause for concern, one cannot tell. Let us hope that the government and scientists are already working hard on what further advice and restrictions may be needed when we reach the most challenging time, when increasingly wintry weather renders the current advice about ventilation inappropriate. There is one feature to which Mr Edgar-nevill did not allude, that he has possibly missed. Having already experienced at least two visits to supermarkets during which my glasses kept falling off and an occasion when I found it necessary to hand a shopkeeper some coins and ask him if they added up to the amount I thought they did, I understand why people like chefs, who due to using sharp knives need to be able to see exactly what they are doing, do not wear masks at work if they are spectacle wearers. Where people need to accurately read screens or move around their workplaces safely without bumping into customers or stock, this may explain why bespectacled supermarket workers are going unmasked.

If anybody has invented a face covering that does not cause specs to steam up, or worse still fall off, I think we should be told about it, especially if there is a local supplier!

Ian Carmalt

Albion Place, Canterbury