Easing of Coronavirus restrictions in Scotland

[Scotrail314209]

Even though I quit masks 9 months ago, it is so good to finally see people’s faces. Communication feels much easier, particularly since I don’t have the best hearing.

Keeping my eye out for which businesses are wearing mask and which aren’t. Seems like Sainsburys still are, Cineworld not.

Santander bank branch in Ayr were masked. Tesco Express wasn’t.

 

[185143]

Quite frankly, it's a blessing we can get rid of this absolute nonsense from tomorrow.

Those who are genuinely wanting to mitigate against the spread of this virus can wear an effective FFP2 or FFP3 mask ans ensure their personal protection, and the rest of us can get on as normal without worrying about the police or staff moaning at us for not following a stupid, completely unscientific law which has no epidemiological basis (but could have a political one... hmmm...)


Technically they were optional from the Sark Viaduct after Gretna Junction. I've had words with 2 TM's about that

In fairness, I've been on several cross border trains, only Northbound mind(!), where the TM has waited until after here to announce "we are now in Scotland so face coverings are mandatory unless exempt".

Last time I was on Lumo they announced after leaving Morpeth that face coverings were mandatory once we crossed the border. Very few complied. A "reminder" was issued near Dunbar, to no effect whatsoever!

 

[nlogax]

I wore a mask on a LCY - Glasgow flight yesterday, partially out of habit and partially because I'd only just started testing negative after having had Covid. Must have been one of only a dozen onboard with a face covering.

Meanwhile I'm looking forward to being completely mask free for the southbound flight, first time since February 2020 for me.

 

[Bikeman78]

I don't know how long it took to tail off in England, given there was of course the split in removal of mandate, restoration and then removal again.

Did it sort of tail off over a period of time the first instance it was removed as a mandate and then practically overnight the second time round or was there a tail off both times or not at all and just a huge drop?

(In some other European countries there seems to have been pretty much a huge drop bssically overnight, from total compliance to about 5-10% or less.)

It had certainly dropped off a lot around London before the Omicron restrictions kicked in.

Regarding your last sentence, I think that is quite strange. Covid is no different now compared with two or four weeks ago. If people were really worried it and/or believe that masks make any meaningful difference, wouldn't they carry on wearing them?

 

[hexagon789]

Regarding your last sentence, I think that is quite strange. Covid is no different now compared with two or four weeks ago. If people were really worried it and/or believe that masks make any meaningful difference, wouldn't they carry on wearing them?

You would think so, but presumably in those countries they felt that if their government decided it wasn't legally necessary to require them, they weren't really needing to wear them anymore.

Don't know if those countries continued with a "recommended" mantra afterwards, perhaps they didn't.

It came up in one of the other threads.

 

[Berliner]

I went in a few shops yesterday in Edinburgh and noticed mask use was still fairly high in shops (one bookshop was universally compliant, other than myself). My train in each direction was more or less totally maskless though.

I've noticed some big shops still have dedicated exit and entry doors. Not even sure if they had those before all of this. One of the larger Tesco in my area has a huge entrance, with very wide doors, but still has temporary signs in the window saying exit and entry, yet they have removed the hand gel and mask signs. The annoying thing is if you're approaching the store from the car park, the exit is the closest logical door to enter the supermarket. There used to be a wall of produce artificially placed to prevent you from entering the store from the exit side and vice versa, but that's been removed, meaning they have a wide open entrance which you can use either side of, but with tatty, long past their prime, signs stating otherwise. I got bawled at by someone (not staff) today who crossed into my path deliberately to tell me I was entering the store through the exit. I said yes, this is the door closest to the trolley park and my car and then continued on my way. No one said anything to the people crossing over and exiting through the entrance.

 

[Butts]

Currently at Nuremberg Airport awaiting a BA Flight back to LHR - pleased to report masks don't have to be worn at the Airport so that's a good omen for the flight.

One downside the Lounge closes before the BA Check In opens and you can't check in online here - "Vorsprung Durch Technik" sadly lacking

 

[Baxenden Bank]

I went in a few shops yesterday in Edinburgh and noticed mask use was still fairly high in shops (one bookshop was universally compliant, other than myself). My train in each direction was more or less totally maskless though.

I've noticed some big shops still have dedicated exit and entry doors. Not even sure if they had those before all of this. One of the larger Tesco in my area has a huge entrance, with very wide doors, but still has temporary signs in the window saying exit and entry, yet they have removed the hand gel and mask signs. The annoying thing is if you're approaching the store from the car park, the exit is the closest logical door to enter the supermarket. There used to be a wall of produce artificially placed to prevent you from entering the store from the exit side and vice versa, but that's been removed, meaning they have a wide open entrance which you can use either side of, but with tatty, long past their prime, signs stating otherwise. I got bawled at by someone (not staff) today who crossed into my path deliberately to tell me I was entering the store through the exit. I said yes, this is the door closest to the trolley park and my car and then continued on my way. No one said anything to the people crossing over and exiting through the entrance.

I only speak for my local Tesco in England, but the entry/exit partition took a long time to be removed and the entry/exit signs went in the last couple of weeks.

 

[Bikeman78]

I've noticed some big shops still have dedicated exit and entry doors. Not even sure if they had those before all of this. One of the larger Tesco in my area has a huge entrance, with very wide doors, but still has temporary signs in the window saying exit and entry, yet they have removed the hand gel and mask signs. The annoying thing is if you're approaching the store from the car park, the exit is the closest logical door to enter the supermarket.

Same at my local supermarket. Designated entry and exit doors but the entrance was furthest away from the trolley park. Their brilliant solution was to fill up the cycle racks with trolleys rendering them useless for cycle parking. The entry/exit system and all barriers have long since gone but inexplicably the cycle parking area is still filled with trolleys.

 

[43301]

I only speak for my local Tesco in England, but the entry/exit partition took a long time to be removed and the entry/exit signs went in the last couple of weeks.

Likewise with my local Tesco. M&S only removed the plastic screens across the checkouts a month or so ago too.

 

[Berliner]

I don't mind the plastic screens and feel they do protect staff from viruses, but also from angry customers who may get physical.

It's the rest of it that needs to go. Trying to keep a dedicated entry/exit door is stupid when there was always more than enough space for people to come and go through the same door in the first place.

 

[danm14]

I don't mind the plastic screens and feel they do protect staff from viruses, but also from angry customers who may get physical.

They also protect the hard of hearing from being able to communicate effectively.

 

[Berliner]

They also protect the hard of hearing from being able to communicate effectively.

I am sure we could list many positives and negatives, but out of all the corona measures and mitigations we saw, I would consider plastic screens in shops to be the least offensive thing.

 

[VauxhallandI]

I am sure we could list many positives and negatives, but out of all the corona measures and mitigations we saw, I would consider plastic screens in shops to be the least offensive thing.

And arguably the most pointless

 

[Huntergreed]

And arguably the most pointless

I would say the Scottish “takeaways can serve through a window only” trumps the plastic screens in terms of pointlessness

 

[danm14]

I am sure we could list many positives and negatives, but out of all the corona measures and mitigations we saw, I would consider plastic screens in shops to be the least offensive thing.

As someone who is hard of hearing, plastic screens in shops were the most offensive thing personally, second only to masks of course.

If we had to keep any restriction permanently, I'd take all the one-way systems and social distancing in the world over having my ability to communicate removed.

Different people will have been affected by different restrictions and mitigations in different ways - which is why it's so important that we remove all of them, and not just the most offensive.

 

[Berliner]

I guess it comes down to how much you value public facing staff. Does your hearing ability trump someone's safety or the security of a person's work place? I argued for years in a previous role that we should have had a physical divide between us and the customers. It took a theft from over our desk, a spitting incident and a colleague being physically assaulted before our employer agreed to put a plastic barrier up and this was a good decade before Covid was even heard of. They never looked back and we never once had a complaint. The hard of hearing could still hear through the small holes in the screen, which I've seen in plenty of places. There are also mitigations in place for those with hearing aids.

 

[takno]

I guess it comes down to how much you value public facing staff. Does your hearing ability trump someone's safety or the security of a person's work place? I argued for years in a previous role that we should have had a physical divide between us and the customers. It took a theft from over our desk, a spitting incident and a colleague being physically assaulted before our employer agreed to put a plastic barrier up and this was a good decade before Covid was even heard of. They never looked back and we never once had a complaint. The hard of hearing could still hear through the small holes in the screen, which I've seen in plenty of places. There are also mitigations in place for those with hearing aids.

There are a few shops, mostly garages and off-licenses which had this problem in certain parts of Scotland. Most of them already had screens. FWIW I'm not aware of any cases of spitting, theft or assault ever at my local Tesco. Making this a general solution to a very geographically-specific problem would be ridiculous

 

[Scotrail12]

I'm not a fan of plastic screens but there was one time where I thought they were useful. I was at a Dominos about 6 weeks ago and there was a very aggressive customer, shouting, frantically pointing etc. Had there not been a screen, I reckon she'd have hit the guy at the counter.

 

[VauxhallandI]

I guess it comes down to how much you value public facing staff. Does your hearing ability trump someone's safety or the security of a person's work place? I argued for years in a previous role that we should have had a physical divide between us and the customers. It took a theft from over our desk, a spitting incident and a colleague being physically assaulted before our employer agreed to put a plastic barrier up and this was a good decade before Covid was even heard of. They never looked back and we never once had a complaint. The hard of hearing could still hear through the small holes in the screen, which I've seen in plenty of places. There are also mitigations in place for those with hearing aids.

I’m guessing as soon as you ask for funding for mics and hearing loops this facility would be revoked.

 

[Berliner]

I’m guessing as soon as you ask for funding for mics and hearing loops this facility would be revoked.

Not necessarily as it would make a place fully accessible and also ensure the staff have an additional layer of protection.

There are a few shops, mostly garages and off-licenses which had this problem in certain parts of Scotland. Most of them already had screens. FWIW I'm not aware of any cases of spitting, theft or assault ever at my local Tesco. Making this a general solution to a very geographically-specific problem would be ridiculous

I didn't work in Scotland when these events happened or even in a shop. Violence towards customer-facing staff is a worldwide problem and could potentially happen anywhere. It is not specific to some Scottish postcodes. I am not sure (but not at all surprised) why people on this forum seem to loathe the idea that customer-facing staff are protected against these possibilities. Dos your local Tesco even make it public information when staff are spat at? There are multiple solutions for those hard of hearing, but at the end of the day a plastic screen is going to stop any potential violence towards staff, is that not a good thing? Or do shop staff etc not deserve to have an extra layer of protection that is afforded to say, bookies, bank staff, train station staff, etc?

I'm not a fan of plastic screens but there was one time where I thought they were useful. I was at a Dominos about 6 weeks ago and there was a very aggressive customer, shouting, frantically pointing etc. Had there not been a screen, I reckon she'd have hit the guy at the counter.

Some people cannot control their anger and take it out on staff, this is a problem for any customer-facing industry.

 

[VauxhallandI]

I think the counter plastic stands may in fact encourage more people to act the hard one.

 

[danm14]

Or do shop staff etc not deserve to have an extra layer of protection that is afforded to say, bookies, bank staff, train station staff, etc?

Given the speed at which those plastic screens were removed in the majority of businesses - and indeed moreso in those businesses where their removal would have been a local decision rather than a corporate/managerial decision - I'm not so sure shop staff want an "extra layer of protection".

 

[Hadders]

Many of the covid screens installed in shops were rather flimsy and cannot really be considered security screens.

There is a time and a place for security screens but these should be properly designed and installed.

 

[43301]

I don't mind the plastic screens and feel they do protect staff from viruses,

As with most of the Covidian rituals, there's no evidence that they do any such thing - aerosol particules will have no trouble at all going above or round a plastic screen.

 

[Berliner]

As with most of the Covidian rituals, there's no evidence that they do any such thing - aerosol particules will have no trouble at all going above or round a plastic screen.

Surely having a plastic screen in front of you, running from the counter to above your head and in some cases, completely sealing you off from the person in front, is going to protect you more than absolutely nothing?

 

[Tezza1978]

Was at an NHS medical procurement conference today in Edinburgh, arrived in the city late Sunday afternoon. Mask use around 10-20% on public transport and in shops and <5% in hospitality venues in the area. Even in the conference was <20% for attendees although among the venue staff was about 60-70% which didn't seem fair to me. Considering its only a week or so since the indoor mask mandate was scrapped I was pleasantly surprised. Attendees seemed to be delighted to be there to face to face and of the view that it was time to move on ......

 

[12C]

Surely having a plastic screen in front of you, running from the counter to above your head and in some cases, completely sealing you off from the person in front, is going to protect you more than absolutely nothing?

Most supermarkets round here have the screen roughly in line with where the till is, which you walk past in a split second then stand at the packing area at the end of the checkout, now more or less facing the member of staff, without any screen between yourselves. Seems completely pointless to me.

 

[VauxhallandI]

Most supermarkets round here have the screen roughly in line with where the till is, which you walk past in a split second then stand at the packing area at the end of the checkout, now more or less facing the member of staff, without any screen between yourselves. Seems completely pointless to me.

Or like me you are taller than most of these things

 

[Bikeman78]

Most supermarkets round here have the screen roughly in line with where the till is, which you walk past in a split second then stand at the packing area at the end of the checkout, now more or less facing the member of staff, without any screen between yourselves. Seems completely pointless to me.

Agreed. The amount of plastic that has been wasted during the past two years is outrageous. Where has it all gone now? Has it been stored somewhere pending future use or simply gone in a skip somewhere?