Bare-faced cheek
THE SCIENCE SUGGESTS WEARING THEM IN PUBLIC CAN CUT VIRUS SPREAD, SO WHY DO ANTI-MASK PROTESTERS THINK THEIR COMFORT OUTWEIGHS THE SAFETY OF OTHERS?
ISN’T it strange how quickly the abnormal becomes the norm?
Take foreign holidays. Time was – well, last year to be exact – that a break in the sun was taken as read as being an integral part of many people’s summers.
Now, even a week away in a caravan in the rain feels exotic. Same with nipping to the supermarket for a few bits or simply to have a mooch around the fashion rails. These days, there’s no ‘nipping’ anywhere, what with the queues and the one way systems. And mooching is a thing of the past.
Online has become dominant and folk who would never have dreamed of using a computer to buy a loaf of bread are now logging on like pros.
We have our temperatures taken outside pubs, we stand metres away from each other to chat, offices are closed, our hairdressers wear visors.
It would have been madness to suggest any of these things only a few months ago. Now, we’ve all come to accept that this is the way it is. What was odd and outlandish is simply the norm thanks to the amazing adaptability of the human race.
Adaptable except, it seems, when it comes to face masks. The Government has announced that the wearing of masks in shops in England will be mandatory from July 24. Other areas of the UK are debating whether to follow suit.
It feels sensible to me yet there have been howls of protest from some, hostile in the extreme to what they see as an infringement of their rights.
Of course, back in the day – by which I mean May – if you wore one out and about people thought you a bit odd.
Wasn’t sporting a mask – no matter how fashionable the fabric – a bit of an over-reaction?
Now we know the answer is no. All the evidence suggests masks help to prevent the spread of the virus. They protect you and they protect others.
Of course, it doesn’t help that the Government has dithered as usual. By the time other countries in Europe were making face coverings compulsory, our lot were still squabbling among themselves. No wonder some are not sure if they really have to wear one. But really, if you can you should. They’re uncomfortable and your glasses steam up and people struggle to hear you speak. And yes, nobody likes to be told what to do, least of all by Boris Johnson. But masks are crucial in helping to control the virus.
And if that means they have to become the norm, then so be it.
Nobody likes to be told what to do, least of all by Boris Johnson. But masks are crucial in helping to control the virus.