It became compulsory to wear face masks in public buildings and shops on 27 April in Germany. Yes, there are some idiots who don't like it here, but the overwhelming majority of the people here comply with the rules. Even when walking through the main station in this town, people wear a face mask as requested. And I am always pleasantly surprised to see that people you would not expect to comply with the rules actually do.
I was on a train last Sunday and a young family got on board. The father looked like a thug. Tall, shaven-headed, muscular and heavily tattooed. He didn't sit down but just stood next to the train door and I supposed that he would be too belligerent a character to put a face mask on - but he did.
Whenever I go into a shop - especially a small shop - I quickly whip a face mask on. After all, I don't want to pass on anything to the shopkeeper because, should he or she fall ill, then they will have to close the shop and won't have any income whatsoever. The shop will close and the high street will look desolate with all the empty shops. I don't want to live in that kind of place so... I wear a face mask. You could say, that I'm doing it for very selfish reasons.
Another selfish reason for wearing a face mask is the fact that I want these strange times to be over as quickly as possible. I'm willing to be patient until September. But that's as far as my patience will stretch. I want to start earning money again. I want to start teaching again. I want to start enjoying my evening classes again and to be able to sit in the English library with a coffee and the latest papers and journals. I want my life back again. I'm selfish that way.
In the UK, face masks have only been compulsory in supermarkets. Bozo and his minions have, until now, stated that face masks are not effective. And now...they are in the process of doing a U-turn and people will have to wear masks in all shops - but only as of 24 July.
You should hear the outcry this has invoked in the UK. The objections are legion.
The most jaw-dropping objection is the claim that wearing a face mask could cause brain damage as it will starve the brain of oxygen. Seriously.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-8513191/Will-Covid-mask-starve-brain-oxygen.html
I quote from the article: "The claims, often made in widely shared social media posts, sound alarming. Face masks increase the risk of catching Covid-19; they suppress the immune system; wear one long enough and they’ll push up your blood pressure, starve the body of oxygen and allow carbon dioxide to build to toxic levels."
But the same article does point this out: "After a study found that face coverings reduce the risk of coronavirus transmission by a third, president of the Royal Society, Professor Venki Ramakrishnan, suggested that failing to wear one is as ‘anti-social’ as drink-driving or not putting on a seatbelt. ‘If all of us wear one, we protect each other and thereby ourselves,’ he says.""
What's even more amusing than reading the articles in the Daily Mail is reading the comments of the readers. Here is a typical example:
I live in Scotland and our Dear Leader has forced us to wear masks in shops. My mask is already covered in snot and spit. I can hardly breath with it on so I am always pulling it out from my face. My hands get covered and then touch things in the shop . The shop workers are also forced to wear masks and I see them fiddling about with theirs. They then go on to stack the shelves and handle your purchases at the check out with their contaminated hands. Lovely.
Well, I live in Germany and have sewn 7 cloth face masks and strangely enough, they have stayed clean. No mucus, no spit. No problems breathing. I don't see anyone fiddling with a face mask. Not even the children.
My view coincides with that of another person commenting on the same article:
Chris Holmes, london, United Kingdom, 3 days ago
I think the people on the Internet that think that already have brain damage
Here is today's article about the need to wear face masks in shops as of next Friday:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8523273/Shoppers-refuse-wear-face-mask-turned-away-ministers-reveal.html#reader-comments
Face masks are said to reduce the risk of infection by one third. And yet the 'expert' readers of the Daily Mail are furious about the need to wear a face mask for the 10 or 15 minutes that they may find themselves in a shop.
Here is a selection of indignant comments:
Any shops that try to enforce that on me will find I turn round and replace them with an alternative shop that doesnt or do online shopping. If I have no option but to use a particular shop - they will be told they WILL be delivering my shopping to me (rather than me fetching it as normal) and I do not expect to have a delivery charge imposed on me for THEIR decision to be awkward.
I work in a shop and if you think I am going to tell someone to wear a mask you are sadly mistaken enough shop staff are attack@@ as it is
What are they doing about the massive litter problem already being caused by covidiot mask wearers abandoning their germ-filled masks on the streets rather than taking them home? If you have to wear a mark to more places, the problem will get even worse.
I won't wear a mask, and i'll walk in anywhere and give a business a chance, and if they wish to ask me to leave, then i will, and therefore their business will make less money, when i do.
Comply, or stay at home if you don't like it. You Don't have the right to spread a dangerous infection.
Boris looks like he is wearing a pair of blue knickers on his face. This whole mask business just creeps me out, everyone with their little fetishist symbols on their mask, its like some kind weird elitist occult ritual. I will never wear one!
1940s Germany
OK bye bye stores if you don't want customers.
"Shoppers refused entry to the shop"... Given that the Chancellor is throwing money at all and sundry... if a shop keeper refuses a customer under the instructions and reasons given to him by the government......... Can the shopkeeper claim as a revenue loss, the 1.15p for milk that I was preparing to spend.? Between the shop keeper and I, we were quite content to trade, whether I was wearing fancy dress or not.... Government officials & the Virus Police however say "English citizens are not allowed purchase milk from a trading store....unless they are wearing a mask" Monty Python should sue for plagiarism.... Boris & Co must have found a box of old scripts.....
And so the comments go on. Other protests include "I'm claustrophobic", "I'd feel too self-conscious wearing one" and "wearing a mask steams up my glasses". I've not had any problem with fogged-up glasses while reading the papers in the main municipal library for an hour or two.
Here in Germany, we can go to the cinema, wearing masks while moving through the building. No need to wear it when sitting in our spaced-out seats.
We can go into cafes and restaurants, wearing masks while moving through the building. No need to wear one when seated at our table. Staff do have to wear a mask at all times. in the UK, you can go to these places no, but there's no need for anyone to wear a face mask.
We can go to the library, wearing masks all the time, even when seated at a table reading. Staff are behind perspex screens; they don't need to wear one when seated behind the screen.
We can go swimming, wearing a mask while showing our ticket and moving through the building. No need to wear one poolside.
We were allowed to go and get our hair cut over a month ago. Both the hairdresser and the customer have to wear face masks. Not in the UK, though. Oh, no.
We can go to museums, wearing a mask while moving through the building.
We can go shopping as normal, wearing a mask inside the building and complying with the rules of the shop that might limit the number of people in the shop at any one time.
By complying with these rules, we have more freedom.
And you have to look at the daily figures of new confirmed cases of the virus and the death toll. The basic rule, I have found, over the last few months, is that the number of new cases every day in Germany was about one quarter of that in the UK and the number of deaths one tenth. For the last 10 days, the death toll in Germany has generally been in single figures, apart from one day when it was 12.
Overall, the figures are more impressive. These are the figures for Germany:
- 200.736
bestätigteFälle
seit Beginn der PandemieConfirmed cases since the start of the pandemie - 5.518aktive Fälle
Active cases - 11.352freie Betten (free beds)
- 9.242gestorben
Died - 185.976genesen (recovered)
And for the UK:
The only reason it seems that the UK hasn't had so many more cases of the virus than Germany is simply because the country hasn't managed to test so many people. In fact, the failure of the UK to be able to carry out tests is another story that is just as sorry as the face mask fiasco.
Many people around the world cannot understand British people's recalcitrance when it comes to wearing a simple cloth mask (even bandannas worn like a bandit or cowboy are accepted). As can be seen in some of the readers of the Daily Mail who live in Asia, where wearing a face mask in winter when you have a cold is a common courtesy to your fellow human beings.
But not in the UK. Oh, no. They'd rather not put up with a bit of cloth over their mouths for the time they spend in a public building for the sake of getting all the restrictions behind them as soon as possible. They'd rather have everything shut than comply with a simple rule that would allow them to have more options opened to them.
It seems that despite free education until the age of 18, there are many people still unable to think.
I despair for the future.
Update from The Guardian of today:
Update from The Guardian of today:
I am dismayed.
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