Relaxation of Restrictions, Part XII *Read OP For Mod Warnings*

If masks stop being mandatory and if I ran a shop I'd be tempted to ban mask wearing on the premises.

Masks are of great benefit to shoplifters and for hold-ups. Imagine two years someone if someone came in masked—the staff would be wary and suspicious and on their guard.

Also, the normalisation of mask wearing is troubling and should be discouraged. If you want to come into my (fictional) shop take off that mask and if you won't you can take your business elsewhere!

given that isn't happening, and simply wearing a mask in crowded situations technically wouldn't constitute expecting the rest of society to cater to mythical people's mythical fears, then your point doesn't work here really.

Masks will be no longer mandatory at the end of February by the looks of it. The fearful people can decide to wear them them if they want. 👍

This thread has been a great read from start to finish. So many emotions. Mostly frustration. Sometimes that was down to certain posters but more recently (since about the 22nd of October mostly) it's been the restrictions. There was a lot of admiration too. This forum is a great place and has some very articulate, intelligent posters on both sides...if you could truly say there were two sides. I've always maintained that everyone wanted the same thing - for the restrictions to ease. Some wanted to do it one way and some another. It was down to the pacing. Last summer was a bit of a joke. There's caution...and there's an over abundance of caution. The government were the latter obviously. The buzz in here since yesterday has been great. Long may it continue. I'm currently looking at buying a few gig tickets south of the border! That fúcking vaccine pass was the worst restriction of all for me. I had one (up until the start of January) due to having caught Covid but I refused to use it. Anyway...rambling drunk posting. Uppa restrictions thread!

I dunno, I have seen episodes of crime call recently and the absolute dopes are not wearing masks. If you're going in to shoplift, wear a mask FFS 😂

Maybe you should have another read of some of the posts. Some of these people are still living in total fear of something that is no more dangerous than the sniffles to the vast majority of people at this stage and lashing out at anyone who tries to inject a bit of objectivity and reality into the conversation.

I could totally imagine such people running to a store manager if they spotted someone in the local Tesco not wearing a mask.

It's these sort of people that have partly led to the hyper cautious approach to the "crisis" that has been taken in this country.

All I can say in return is that I wore a mask during 2021 as instructed, got covid. Passed it onto my uncle despite wearing one in his house when visiting him before xmas. No sneezing. No coughing. The margins are tiny in terms of protection. In fact, it is a dangerous thing to expect to be protected when wearing one, so people should be aware of this rather than going into situations thinking they are potentially going to spread or pick up coronavirus. I think that if people wore N95 masks they would have better protection v virtually no protection from the ones we are all wearing.

Tool, Spiritualized, All Together Now festival for starters.

Did you wear a seatbelt when you didn't drive a car?

I’ve been told to travel to Spain(lanzarote) anyone in family 12+ requires a vaccine, and booster(last dose) required within 9 months.

would love this to be incorrect

Again, how will those people be prevented from doing so once all restrictions are lifted?