Originally Posted by
Flem
(This is a post from me free of both sarcasm and satire.)
I spent yesterday walking in the Brecon Beacons. On my way home I stopped for petrol at a petrol station with a Spar shop attached. It was on the outskirts of Cardiff, just before I joined the M4. Quite a busy little place, cars continually departing and arriving, people going into and out of the shop. (The pumps were 'pay in the shop' only.) There was not a single face mask in sight (apart from mine). Not one. It felt really quite weird, as though I'd gone back in time. I didn't realise at the time, but I checked it later at home, that face masks are not compulsory in shops in Wales (in general). They will be from Monday, though, because cases have been going up. Why on earth wait until cases are already increasing before implementing such a simple mitigation measure?
Even now that I know that masks aren't compulsory in Wales, I still find it quite incredible that, of all the people there (and there were quite a few), I was the only one wearing a mask. I said this shop/petrol station is on the outskirts of Cardiff, but, actually, it's closer to the centre of Caerphilly than it is to the centre of Cardiff. It must be really quite close (probably less than a mile) to the Caerphilly County Borough boundary within which, as I understand it, various restrictions, including the requirement to wear a face mask in shops, etc., were introduced a few days ago. The reason the restrictions were introduced, of course, is that there has been "a sharp and rapid increase in the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus" in the Caerphilly region. And yet, less than a mile away, not a single person was wearing a mask in that shop/petrol station. Furthermore, even though the shop had implemented a form of one-way system for people entering and leaving, the people there when I was there seemed to be paying no heed whatsoever to the concept of social distancing. None.
Wasn't it only a few weeks ago that Boris Johnson was talking about a significant return to normality in time for Christmas, and saying that we (i.e., in the UK) should all be "looking ahead with optimism"? I wish I had access to whatever substances he's on. And as for those people who say that everything would be fine if it was all left to individual responsibility - say what!?