THE POSITIVE PROFESSOR
SOCIAL media’s voice of calm Karol Sikora has been signed up by the Daily Express. Readers can now enjoy his soothing advice in these troubled times that have won him hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter. If you need reassuring everything’s going to be all right read Professor Positivity.
OF ALL of the draconian restrictions we’ve had on our way of life in the past few months, the compulsory wearing of a mask on a train or in a shop is easily not the worst.
Families have been kept apart, medical treatment missed, the country under virtual house arrest… we have to keep things in perspective.
I’ve worn a mask periodically for half a century and I’m still here.
I understand there has been a lively debate about the usefulness of masks but I spent an afternoon going through various scientific analyses and there does seem to be a small but significant benefit of wearing them in enclosed spaces where there is only imperfect social distancing.
If you’re in the park, on a clifftop or on the beach then they make no difference.
But when you are in an enclosed environment for a prolonged period of time there is a benefit in it protecting others.
Honestly, I don’t see what the fuss is. Whether it should be mandatory is a question for the politicians, I would be quite happy to wear one without the threat of a fine but I understand society doesn’t always work like that.
This is another example, though, of where the Government’s messaging has been poor and inconsistent.
Other countries have been encouraging mask-wearing for some time, why are we only doing it now and even waiting 10 days to implement the policy?
And ministers have all been saying different things the past few days.
People don’t listen to politicians at the best of times, so it’s never been more important for them all to be singing off the same hymn sheet.
I know it’s a pain and I understand that having a burly police officer telling you to wear a mask at the entrance of a railway station doesn’t feel very British but wearing a mask for a small period of time a day is not the end of the world.