Huge confusion over face masks

■ SO, from July 24 it will be mandatory to wear face masks in shops (Mirror, July 14). How is this going to be policed? What’s more, will the Government provide training sessions on how to wear face masks and, more importantly, how to remove and dispose of them safely?

More than anyone I appreciate the need to minimise the spread of infection – we lost Mum to this awful virus at the end of April – but a badly used face covering and careless disposal will not help to prevent the spread.

I often see people pulling the mask down to talk but is that not defeating the object as not only are particles being released into the air, the mask is also being touched and, in turn, the mouth and nose?

People need to realise a mask slapped across the face is not a protective suit of armour. Patricia Withers Southport, Merseyside

■ To all those people questioning the need to wear a face mask, I say just look at the numbers. Back in March, I was in Thailand when lockdown kicked in. Over there you had to wear a face mask and have your temperature checked to enter shopping malls, use public transport or enter hotels. Now four months on, they are slowly easing lockdown rules with only 3,227 Covid-19 cases and just 58 deaths since the beginning of the year. If our Government had pulled its finger out and been clear from the start, we wouldn’t have had anywhere like 291,000-plus cases and around 45,000 deaths.

J R Williams, East London

■ For four months we’ve been told by experts that it wasn’t necessary to wear face masks, then the Government told us to wear them on public transport and in shops.

I feel the information given out by Boris Johnson is deliberately ambiguous so that if there is another spike he can blame the public. It seems there’s no end to this Government’s prevarications. Jim Temlett, Dursley, Glos

■ If you look at evidence and what other countries have done to get this thing under control, they all wear masks.

My mum lives in Spain where the mayor of her province provided them free and they now have zero cases. I’m a nurse and the sooner we get transmission under control the sooner we can go out safely without a mask.

Martine Molson, Derby

■ I fully support the mandatory use of face masks in shops but as an ex-police officer I ask how are the police to enforce this? Since the Conservatives took power in 2010 we have 20,000 fewer police so it will be impossible to have an officer in every shop. You can’t expect shopkeepers to deal with it. The Government must clarify who is responsible for what.

Clive John, Neath, South Wales

■ The Government’s new rule for mandatory wearing of face masks in shops is yet another dictatorial measure, more suited to North Korea or China, removing our individual freedoms and choice.

Far from encouraging people to use shops, this legislation will discourage many, myself included.

So much for saving high streets and getting the economy moving. Ian Bentley, Pudsey, West Yorks

■ With the news that the wearing of face masks in shops is to be compulsory, has anyone thought about the amount of contaminated waste these single-use masks are creating and what damage is being done to the environment?

Surely some consideration needs to be given to this.

C Pegg, South London