Thanks.

Ok I accept your interpretation as you are much closer to this issue than I am. I think the Government need to make it clearer and indeed if the police have the powers to enforce then they should be. Then again, I am not sure what the police do these days! What is the point of introducing laws if you are not going to make sure people comply?

i agree re the messages from government and that has been pretty consistent all through the pandemic (they have given mixed or confusing messages). in the last update, they said masks needed to be worn in certain places, but also said use your common sense etc

i think the police are in a no win situation (certainly at the minute if you look at the number of people not wearing masks) and i would rather they focussed on real crime, although some will argue that not wearing a mask is breaking the law (given my earlier explanation)

How? Have a cop patrolling Wigan Asda chasing Maureen and Brian up the frozen aisle to give them a fine? Come off it, that’ll cause uproar (rightly bloody so) and in any case no force in the land has the staff to be able to do that. Another reason to add to the “it’s unenforceable and that’s why it shouldn’t be mandated”.

Might as well they do sweet FA unless, that is, they are acting as the 'thought' police.

So what's your solution, just let it rip?

Simple solution - wear a mask or else get someone else to do your shopping.

Shop where my wife works has a sign that says something like "To protect all our customers and staff, face coverings are to be worn. If you dont have one, then do not enter". Its gone down very well with the locals and the staff who all feel a darn sight safer than they are wandering round supermarkets to see heavily tattooed overweight slobs shuffling around with a dozen kids in tow all without masks. Its a small shop so those with "exemptions" can quite easily don a mask for the five minutes it takes to go in, get what you want and get out.

What would your advice be to someone who is exempt due to a Learning Disability and/or autism? Particularly someone who doesn’t have a carer to help?

Should they just stay at home?

I doubt they would find the sign in the shop very helpful.

Sad to see so much ignorance towards people with a legitimate reason not to wear a mask and sad that so many are challenged about this when out and about.

I personally don't have a problem with people who don't wear a mask if they have a genuine reason for not wearing one for instance if you have asthma or some other medical condition but the ones who annoy me are these stupid anti-vaxers like that Piers Corbyn whose telling his minions to blow MP'S meeting places up

Unless they have superhuman powers, then they are just as likely to spread the virus as the rest us. Only problem is because they cant/wont mask up, they increase the risk to everyone else every time they enter somewhere unmasked.

Sad as it may be, it would be better for everyone if they stayed at home or at least stayed outside. I dont particularly want my wife catching covid because someone with autism wanted a trip out.

You've gotta let that obsession with tattoos go pal.

Frank Pritchard currently seriously ill in hospital with covid. https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-pr ... 7552637118

Frank Pritchard currently seriously ill in hospital with covid. https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-pr ... 7552637118

It’s not about wanting a trip out, far from it.

It’s about people who are rightfully exempt being able to go to the shops for food etc.

Not forgetting the fact that many people who are exempt are also employed in shops too, do they suddenly become unemployed to keep your wife safe?

Sticking signs in shops that disregard people who are genuinely exempt is not the answer.

I don't think anybody is complaining about the exempt. The example I gave of twenty two people in a shop within thirty seconds do you believe they were all exempt?
It's the ones who don't give a feck I was on about.

Correct

And the 5,000 I saw in Trafford Centre, or the 100 plus in asda yesterday
95 % of those won't be exempt

In fact in Trafford Centre I saw a guy with an exemption badge, dead straightforward

Either way it's not going to change, the leash has been let loose and a mixture of the conspiracy theorists, those who just don't give a monkeys will take advantage and those who are exempt will be lumped in with them.
Those who are exempt should be more angry at those taking the mi k than those trying to enforce the rules imo, the fact some are not says something to me about those.

That’s not the impression I get from the comments above (not by you).

In fact I’d say they suggest a worrying prejudice against people with a LD/autism who only visit shops ‘for a trip out’….

I hope we get a thread as long as this one next season about how well we're playing

Herd immunity and focused protection.

How long would herd immunity last for?

Then what?

What do you mean?

Stop making unenforceable regulations such as mask wearing. It’s absolutely pointless, proven by yours and many others lived and witnessed experience.

My solution is simple; keep pushing vaccinations until the uptake levels out. After that live with COVID. It’s going nowhere, in a year or so it’ll just be another variant of flu and will be treated as such. Life can’t keep being held back, life goes on. I’ve friends who’ve lost family members (not COVID related) whom they didn’t see for months before because of the restrictions. At the time they were the right thing to do undoubtedly. But lockdowns, masks don’t work. Did the lockdown eradicate covid? Make winter any better? No.

Only one thing does - vaccines. Push them until the uptake levels out and live with it. Time to get on with our lives and not live in fear or bitch about Frank not wearing a mask in the meat aisle. Life’s too short.

And what are you basing these made up facts from?

I wonder if the RFL/SL have drawn up some contingency plans such as delaying the season by a few weeks like they did last year. I guess they would only consider this if new measures were in place at the time but the risk of high case numbers across players and staff may be very disruptive as well and certainly not a good way to start the season.

Looks like there will be a peak in cases sometime in mid January which could mean a peak in hospitalisations in early Feb (pretty much when the season starts). After that there should hopefully be a rapid decline due to the speed if the initial spread.

And what's unenforceable about mask wearing. Wear one if you are not medically exempt, it's not a major inconvenience.

People who get covid aren’t immune forever. I have friends who have caught it twice in around a 12 month period now.

So I’m unsure how herd immunity would work on that basis?