Displaying items by tag: mask wearing

Sainsburys, John Lewis and Waitrose will continue to ask customers in England to wear masks in their shops even though Plan B rules have now ended. Rail operators also said passengers would still be expected to wear masks. Those keeping the policy in place said they would encourage, not force, customers to comply. Plan B rules have been lifted because infections have peaked nationally. But the government is still advising people to wear masks in enclosed or crowded spaces and when meeting strangers. Retailers continue to implement many other existing safety measures such as hand sanitiser and perspex screens. The main purpose of wearing masks is to protect others, though there is some evidence they offer protection to wearers.

Airlines reported nearly 6,000 incidents involving unruly passengers last year and 151 in the first two weeks of this year. Most incidents involved passengers refusing to wear masks. The latest incident, on 20 January, involved an American Airlines passenger who refused to wear a mask on a flight to Heathrow from Miami, which forced the Boeing 777 carrying 129 passengers to return to Florida. The American Airlines statement said the diversion was ‘due to a disruptive customer refusing to comply with the federal mask requirement’. See also