Will you continue using a face mask after 19 July?

[l'Otters]

I went into a branch of Boots to get some medical masks yesterday. They’ve got buy one get one free on the boxes of 20s and 50s. Blue pleated medical ones. Shifting the stock in anticipation of no more demand?

I was looking for new N95s but they’ve sold out everywhere I’ve looked so far.

 

[Leafster]

I went into a branch of Boots to get some medical masks yesterday. They’ve got buy one get one free on the boxes of 20s and 50s. Blue pleated medical ones. Shifting the stock in anticipation of no more demand?

I was looking for new N95s but they’ve sold out everywhere I’ve looked so far.

Lloyds Pharmacy had N95 masks online - I ordered some last week.

 

[glitch hiker]

can you get ffp3 in non disposable form?

 

[gentlegreen]

I just bought some of these - I haven't quite made up my mind about them ...
My informal non-certified cloth mask is so convenient - though in retrospect I'm very embarrassed I went for my MRI only wearing that and didn't switch to one of the free ones they were giving out.

FFP2 Masks x 20

Recommended Medical masks for primary / outpatient / community and social care settings. Omnitex premium unvalved FFP2 face masks. EN149 Compliant and CE Certified. Individually Wrapped. Each Box Contains 20 masks + 5 Mask extenders. Meets FFP2 European Regulation Standards EN149:2001+A1:2009...

www.medisave.co.uk

As for "non-reusable" - that's going to mostly be about not damaging the nose wire - so I managed to find a spare bum bag.

 

[girasol]

First visit to pub last night! Wore a mask when ordering from the bar, then sat outside (without mask) - it was busy, and there was a pub quiz. It felt almost normal, but bar staff were wearing masks - not the quiz master though.

 

[Riklet]

Most people are wearing them round here on buses and in shops from what I can tell. Basically no one wearing them outdoors cos it's a village. Some people wearing them to go to the big pub with a big garden where you have to queue up first. There's a new mini supermarket just opened and have a feeling they won't be bothering there as the staff don't see to be... but at least they have the door open.

Have yet to see a single builder/roofer/scaffolder wearing a mask (lots of building stuff round here). Double points if I spot one of them. Unlikely because fragile masculinity.

 

[gentlegreen]

Most people are wearing them round here on buses and in shops from what I can tell. Basically no one wearing them outdoors cos it's a village. Some people wearing them to go to the big pub with a big garden where you have to queue up first. There's a new mini supermarket just opened and have a feeling they won't be bothering there as the staff don't see to be... but at least they have the door open.

Have yet to see a single builder/roofer/scaffolder wearing a mask (lots of building stuff round here). Double points if I spot one of them. Unlikely because fragile masculinity.

Bigger construction firms insist their staff self-test regularly - my BIL works for Lafarge and that's the case there.
And I imagine the same is true for a lot of delivery workers etc - though that doesn't stop them catching and spreading virus between tests ... I don't know how long it takes for someone to get infected and start spreading - especially with at least one vaccination ...

 

[gentlegreen]

15.45 Aldi - moderately busy maybe 20 percent maskless - mostly 20-somethings ...

 

[Badgers]

Bigger construction firms insist their staff self-test regularly - my BIL works for Lafarge and that's the case there.
And I imagine the same is true for a lot of delivery workers etc - though that doesn't stop them catching and spreading virus between tests ... I don't know how long it takes for someone to get infected and start spreading - especially with at least one vaccination ...

Hope that is the same now the big firms are forced to pay for their staff's tests

 

[FridgeMagnet]

I went one stop on the Hammersmith & City line earlier today and the no-mask proportion was higher than I'd have guessed - around 30%. Having said that, it's an open train, people were waiting for it to depart from Hammersmith, and it was very uncrowded, so I didn't find it a problem personally.

 

[Epona]

Went to the supermarket (Iceland) earlier - I was the only one in there wearing a mask.

 

[Elpenor]

First time out of house since July 19th. Mask observance in this first class train carriage approx 75%
Sat opposite a small school age child who I expect will give me covid

Train seems very full with people taking a weekend away in London. More carriages just been attached thankfully. Glad I am in first class as more space and hopefully less busy.

Family of 4 with 2 adult on table behind me none of them wearing a mask.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Half the staff in Sainsbury's this morning not wearing masks, nearly all the punters wearing them though.

 

[StoneRoad]

Early part of this past week I was working away from home (in Wiltshire) and the %age mask wearing was about the same as a month / six weeks ago. ie 85 to 95% in several shops and almost 100% in the hotel [apart from a member of staff behind a screen and one housekeeper who had a sunflower lanyard but still had a mask available] 100% on the site where I was working but that was just me and my OH.
This end of the week I'm back in home area, mask wearing still in excess of 75% [all ages - not children] and even some outside, despite the heat - the pavements are very narrow and the main street quite busy with traffic passing. Some queues outside the smaller shops. The number of cases has dropped slightly, but then the schools have broken up for summer - and there's a local testing station again.
I have heard an advert from Te5c0 several times recently, basically saying nothing has changed. They still want you in a mask if you can, and screens, sanitising, traffic lights, quiet times for vulnerable etc all still in place ...
[we are still on-line/delivery for groceries and click/collect for other things]

We are still masking up when needed and trying to avoid indoor / crowded spaces ...

At least this mini-heat-wave makes being outside a pleasure !

 

[Steel Icarus]

Local opticians still implementing a locked door full mask policy, which was reassuring

 

[Numbers]

Went to the supermarket (Iceland) earlier - I was the only one in there wearing a mask.

It's awful around our ends isn't it, been like it since the start.
I've been to the local shop a cpl of times since Monday, I was the only one wearing a mask.
Been to the local CoOp too, at most 40% wearing masks and most of the staff weren't.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Had a dreaded trip to the big Tesco's this morning, a conservative estimate - mask wearing down from over 99% to about 95% plus, so not a big difference.

Did over hear one young couple as they entered, her saying, 'I think we should put on facemasks', him, 'But, we don't have too', her, 'Look around, everyone else is', him, 'I'll get them from the car'.

 

[scalyboy]

Had a dreaded trip to the big Tesco's this morning, a conservative estimate - mask wearing down from over 99% to about 95% plus, so not a big difference.

Did over hear one young couple as they entered, her saying, 'I think we should put on facemasks', him, 'But, we don't have too', her, 'Look around, everyone else is', him, 'I'll get them from the car'.

Yes, peer pressure, conforming to the majority/not wishing to stand out is powerful.
I do think this is another reason to keep wearing masks - aside from protecting others and the wearer - the more people who continue to do so, the less unusual it will seem.

 

[editor]

On the tube yesterday - only about 50% masked, FFS.

 

[Supine]

About to go Kent > Lakes via trains and tubes. Will be masked

 

[miss direct]

I volunteered last night and there were some young children. At first I was staying well away but I might have got a bit over excited during pond dipping and was rather close without a mask in an attempt to see the newtlets (is that a word?) I feel as though catching covid is now inevitable at some point this summer unless I just stay at home all the time.

 

[gentlegreen]

I volunteered last night and there were some young children. At first I was staying well away but I might have got a bit over excited during pond dipping and was rather close without a mask in an attempt to see the newtlets (is that a word?) I feel as though catching covid is now inevitable at some point this summer unless I just stay at home all the time.

I confess it's making me wonder how I will respond if my sister invites me over for a meal any time soon where there would be 3 generations in the house and they keep posting photos of my niece's boy with his great-grandmother - and if not covid, he had a horrible vomiting stomach bug that kept him off school.

A couple of months ago I was fairly happy to meet at their house where most of us were vaccinated and my BIL does regular LFTs - though we were mostly outside.
I now have a different perspective on the meaning of being double-vaccinated ... especially as time moves on past my last dose ...

 

[xenon]

Sheffield city centre, on a blazing hot day. Notable decrease in people wearing masks on the street - a bit over 10% I’d say. Pretty much everyone in Sainsbury’s, cex & on the buses tho.

Wearing masks in the street, hardly anyone does that in the UK and it's never been a thing. I only do that if I'm between a couple of nearby shops.

I know it's the law in some other countries but fuck that.

 

[scalyboy]

I feel as though catching covid is now inevitable at some point this summer unless I just stay at home all the time.

I was just thinking this exact same thing.

With the UK infection rate set to match and exceed January’s peak, with the relaxation of regulations and the Delta variant being more transmittable, getting Covid at some stage does now seem highly likely.
I’ve been very careful up till now (designated extremely vulnerable) and will continue to do so, but the isolation of being cooped up at home alone is not at all good for my mental state!
Just have to hope that being double-jabbed will offset the worst effects of it (as seems to be happening so far, given the comparatively lower rate of hospital admissions)

 

[elbows]

I understand that defeatism but I reject it. 'Freedom day' has been described as 'surrender day' in some quarters, and I have no intention of being part of that surrender.

 

[scalyboy]

I now have a different perspective on the meaning of being double-vaccinated ... especially as time moves on past my last dose ...

Completely agree. I think quite a few of us are recalibrating what it means to have been double-vaccinated - the initial sense of relief and freedom I felt after the second jab no longer applies.

I guess we have to hope that vaccination still means that if we contract Covid, the symptoms will be less severe than they would otherwise have been (as seems to be borne out by the much lower rate of hospital admissions at the moment)

 

[scalyboy]

I understand that defeatism but I reject it. 'Freedom day' has been described as 'surrender day' in some quarters, and I have no intention of being part of that surrender.

I'm certainly not advocating being less careful than before, in fact I'm personally being more careful now in terms of avoiding crowds, wearing a mask outdoors in some circumstances, limiting my exposure to indoor venues (shops etc)... it's just that whereas I've hitherto managed to avoid contracting it (I'm on an ONS survey whereby I get tested every few weeks, and have also been self-testing), I am beginning to think I can't assume I will avoid infection as I had before.

Of course, if this recklessly irresponsible government hadn't caved in to Covid-minimisers and deniers, restrictions would still be in place and feelings of inevitable infection wouldn't necessarily arise...

 

[elbows]

Sure, I understand how perceptions of personal risk will change during a wave, I just felt like ranting about surrender and senses of the inevitable when no such inevitability actually exists, just increased risk.

Since hospitalisation was mentioned, here is the current picture of hospital admissions/diagnoses in England.

Unfortunately there is the absurdly broad 18-64 age group which rather obscured a more detailed look at how old most of the patients in this group have been this time. I suspect there will have been a lot more people at the younger end of this group than the older end compared to previous waves, but I cannot prove it with this dataset.

Anyway what we can see is that admissions in the 18-64 group are approaching the same level seen in the autumn wave (but still far below the winter Alpha (Kent) wave peak). The 0-5 and 6-17 age groups have admissions as high as they've ever been. Admissions in the 65-84 and 85+ age groups being so much lower than in previous waves are the main thing that has so far prevented this wave from having the same burden on hospitals as previous waves. I wait nervously to see how high the green line representing 65-84 year old will climb in this wave.

 

[Epona]

It's awful around our ends isn't it, been like it since the start.
I've been to the local shop a cpl of times since Monday, I was the only one wearing a mask.
Been to the local CoOp too, at most 40% wearing masks and most of the staff weren't.

Yeah quite, mask-wearing has been on the decline for quite a while round here so I'm not particularly surprised that so few are wearing them now.

 

[scalyboy]

Sure, I understand how perceptions of personal risk will change during a wave, I just felt like ranting about surrender and senses of the inevitable when no such inevitability actually exists, just increased risk.

Since hospitalisation was mentioned, here is the current picture of hospital admissions/diagnoses in England.

Unfortunately there is the absurdly broad 18-64 age group which rather obscured a more detailed look at how old most of the patients in this group have been this time. I suspect there will have been a lot more people at the younger end of this group than the older end compared to previous waves, but I cannot prove it with this dataset.

Anyway what we can see is that admissions in the 18-64 group are approaching the same level seen in the autumn wave (but still far below the winter Alpha (Kent) wave peak). The 0-5 and 6-17 age groups have admissions as high as they've ever been. Admissions in the 65-84 and 85+ age groups being so much lower than in previous waves are the main thing that has so far prevented this wave from having the same burden on hospitals as previous waves. I wait nervously to see how high the green line representing 65-84 year old will climb in this wave.

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Thanks, useful to see this. It's a pity, as you say, that the 18-64 category isn't broken down into smaller groups though. I imagine the UK must have a fair number of unvaccinated 18-20 year olds still.
Would be interesting to see how many double-vaccinated persons have been admitted to hospital in the last few weeks compared to non-vaccinated or single-jab people.