Face mask requirements to stay for ‘certain settings’, Welsh Government announces
The mandatory wearing of face masks for ‘certain settings’ will stay in place, the Welsh Government has announced.
They say the face-covering requirements will remain while the coronavirus continues to pose a threat to the public.
It means that face-covering rules will stay even if a decision is made next week to relax restrictions with a move from an alert level one to zero.
First Minister Mark Drakeford said: “We will need everyone’s help to keep coronavirus under control as we continue to respond to the pandemic – this virus has quite certainly not gone away.
“We know many people are still worried and anxious about going out. We will maintain the requirement to wear face coverings in certain places – on public transport and health and social care settings, and others where necessary – to help keep us all safe.”
The announcement refers to the laws remaining in place for ‘certain settings’ which it describes as ‘including public transport and taxis, and health and social care, as a minimum.’
Retail
The Welsh Government say that further consideration is being given as to whether face masks will be required in other settings such as retail.
The UK Government has adopted a different approach with most face mask requirements in England set to end on July 19th, referred to as ‘Freedom Day’.
The Scottish government has also targeted July 19th but say the date is not ‘set in stone’.
Health Minister Eluned Morgan said: “Wearing face masks is an effective way of reducing the transmission of coronavirus.
“We all have a duty to help to protect each other. Keeping everyone safe has been the Welsh Government’s priority through the pandemic and will continue to be the priority in future.”
Wales is currently at alert level one with face coverings mandatory in all indoor public places but Mark Drakeford will make a statement on Wednesday about plans to move to a new alert level zero.
On Friday, Education Minister Jeremy Miles announced that face coverings in classrooms will no longer be recommended when schools return from the summer break in September.
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Good. Will it be policed?
A sensible precaution for a while. I went into our town centre yesterday for the only useful thing you can get there: Key cutting. (I already have a mobile phone, I don’t want to pawn anything, I don’t vape and I don’t want to buy the secondhand possessions of dead old people). I have to say I was amongst people around whom I’d rather wear a mask even if there wasn’t a global pandemic.
sounds like Brecon 😉
..or any town in South Wales ! Apart from the risk of catching something the proliferation of yobs is becoming quite alarming, a bit of freedom and it’s licence to guzzle the booze or snort some substance. And not a copper in sight. Probably away on a D&I course !
That is a very interesting comment. A Finnish engineer(uni.dip.) I know, must often travel, and he told me that he much prefers “the autocratic countries to the so called liberal west”, as he feels so much safer there. A viewpoint I haven’t come across before, and, let’s face it, won’t be aired on any media in the west? Normally, they say “the police were on every street, giving the feeling of the regime’s oppression”. When I first visited Finland in the eighties it felt a bit stiff, but you got used to it, whereas it has gradually become more western,… Read more »
Spare a thought for those of us on the Costa del Cymru locked in tight!
There is only one reason for wearing masks. Many people now feel anxious if you don’t. The problem is that this is a terrible basis on which to run a country. I would like to live in a Land of the Free (not micromanaged conformist) and a home of the Brave (not the timid). So I’m looking forward to being in the USA for a while. Somebody give me a shout when Wales wakes up to freedom and is brave enough to do something about actually getting Indy. In the meantime I will breathe free
Bye. Enjoy. Don’t rush back. No seriously. Stay there if you want
So, you are going there to buy a sub-machine gun for protection!!
Take Boris with you and RT and Simon Hart…how big is your suitcase?
Will you be protesting the policing bill then?
Having to wear a mask has placed me in greater lockdown than the actual lockdowns. When I put on a mask, I feel suffocated, I panic and my blood pressure rises to silly heights. I can sort of tolerate wearing one in a shop for 10-15 minutes, but need to go to bed for 2-3 hours afterwards to recover once I’m home. I only survived several hours travelling by train by surreptitiously holding the mask away from my mouth and going to the toilet where I could take the mask off and stay for a while. Yes, I know there… Read more »
If you can’t breathe properly do not wear one….thousands of people can’t.Wearing them outside according to the science is almost pointless anyway.