UK retailers call for police help to enforce mask rules

[mood]

UK retailers call for police help to enforce mask rules

 

Customers wearing protective face masks shop at a Sainsbury's supermarket, amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in London, Britain January 11, 2021. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

 

With infection numbers rising sharply, the UK government has expressed concern about the spread of the virus in supermarkets, with people breaching rules by not wearing masks while shopping in them.

 

Non-essential retail, restaurants and bars are shut across Britain, leading to a high level of demand for supermarkets and other food stores.

“People have got to follow the guidance in supermarkets, people need to be keeping their distance, making sure that they’re wearing masks, doing the right thing,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson told reporters.

 

Morrisons Chief Executive David Potts said the supermarket was tightening the rules.

“Those who are offered a face covering and decline to wear one won’t be allowed to shop at Morrisons unless they are medically exempt,” he said. “Our store colleagues are working hard to feed you and your family, please be kind.”

 

Sainsbury’s later took similar action, saying it would deploy security guards to challenge people who were not wearing masks and ensure that people do not shop in groups.

 

The British Retail Consortium (BRC), which represents more than 170 major retailers including the big supermarket groups, called for the police to do more after interventions by staff led to a sharp rise in incidents of abuse.

“While enforcement of face coverings is the responsibility of the police, retailers continue to do what they can to encourage their use throughout stores,” Andrew Opie, the BRC’s director of food & sustainability, said.

“Sadly, this has led to a sharp rise in incidents of violence and abuse against shop workers, which is why it is essential police support the work being done by retailers.”

 

Opie also said that data from the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) had highlighted that retail was a safe environment, and noted that firms had spent hundreds of millions of pounds on safety measures including perspex screens, additional cleaning and social distancing.

“Supermarkets continue to follow all safety guidance and customers should be reassured that supermarkets are COVID-secure and safe to visit during lockdown and beyond,” he said.

 

 

Source: UK retailers call for police help to enforce mask rules

[Mutton]

They need to enforce more than just wearing them, if they subscribe to mask-wearing being essential (I personally think it helps a bit, which is good enough reason.)

 

From experience here, even in full lockdown, people in supermarkets are still just as pushy and impatient to get to what they want, even if someone else is stood right in front of it. I've been pushed, leaned on, surrounded... it's not that I'm invisible, slow or little, it's just the way these people shop especially (for some reason) in the posher supermarkets. I would have expected a bit more decorum there compared to, say, Lidl, but no. Quite the opposite. It's like they think they are the only ones in there - they drive the same way.

 

Add to that the fact that many people are still not wearing the masks properly, and even those that try, those simple masks rarely fit well enough to be effective at close range.

 

I'm so tempted to wear my full head gear powered respirator next time I go to M&S. As it is I always wear proper FFP3 anyway.