Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
COVID-19 CRISIS: SHOCK OF CARING
O’Neill: Masks new ‘shopping look’
DEPUTY First Minister Michelle O’Neill said face masks are the new “shopping look” to encourage the public to wear coverings in stores.
The Sinn Fein leader in Northern Ireland posted a picture of herself wearing a red mask while shopping.
She posted on Twitter: “The new Friday evening shopping look #FaceCoverings.”
It comes after UUP Health Minister Robin Swann said he is “unconvinced” enough people will cover up in shops without being forced. The Executive will make it mandatory by August 20 if 70-80% of shoppers don’t comply voluntarily.
A public information campaign to encourage their use is to launched.
Mr Swann said: “I remain unconvinced that the necessary level of compliance will be achieved without some element of enforcement.
“That said, I would be delighted to be proved wrong on that front.”
LABOUR has demanded a rise in statutory sick pay to stop Britain sleepwalking into a second wave of Covid-19.
Shadow Chancellor Anneliese Dodds has written to Rishi Sunak, four months after Health Secretary Matt Hancock admitted he could not live on the £94.25 a week paid to those off sick.
Payments have since risen by £1.60 and a three-day wait for payouts scrapped. But two million low-paid workers still do not qualify.
Labour fears some could not afford to self-isolate if told to by the
Government’s test, trace and
Anneliese Dodds isolate scheme. In her letter, seen by the Sunday Mirror, Ms Dodds warns: “People will want to do the right thing.
“But faced with being unable to pay bills or put food on the table, many may face a really hard decision about whether to keep going to work – putting themselves and others at risk.
“This would threaten the second spike that we must do all we can to avoid.”
UK sick pay is one of the lowest in Europe and given only to those on £120-a-week or more. Ms Dodds said: “Some of the lowest paid, like delivery drivers and food workers who have supported us through the crisis, don’t even qualify.”