London Mayor shows up Boris’s apathy

LONDON Mayor Sadiq Khan is asking that face masks are worn routinely outside the home, including in crowded places and supermarket queues (“Virus in London is out of control”, Post January 9). Close proximity spreads the virus so the Mayor’s timely call makes a lot of sense.

What doesn’t is the Government’s general apathy over face masks ever since the start. Even now it seems that Boris Johnson cannot bring himself to say “face mask” and publicly recognise their usefulness at breaking the route of virus transmission when he appears at the Downing Street briefings and whilst being interviewed by the media.

The PM has also missed many chances of being seen wearing one which, along with his unhygienic and unnecessary elbow-bumping stunt, does not set a good example, I suggest.

Over 32,000 fines being handed out (Post, January 9) for breaches of the Covid-19 laws is not a good indication that the Government has got the core (hands face space) health message across to all as isn’t one fine during a pandemic one too many? Arguably there could have been a lot more, taking into account those that deliberately go unmasked into shops and those that attend dangerously overcrowded events.

Interestingly the latest NHS poster (Post, January 9) states “If it is essential to go out, remember to wash your hands, cover your face and make space”. It does not state where you should mask up so could this be the run-up to the Government making face masks mandatory in all outdoor settings?

In the meanwhile, we should all do so anyway. The simulated exhaled breath NHS adverts are certainly a good incentive.