Wednesday 3rd November 2021 – To mask or not to mask?
The default position of mask wearing is changing. Since the date when it was no longer mandatory, the mask-habit has evolved from generally wearing one in shops, through to entering a shop wearing a mask but maybe removing it if the shop was quiet, and then now, it seems, entering a shop facially-naked, but donning a mask if the shop is busy (provided that the mask is not at home or in the car glove-box).
Yesterday I entered a coffee shop without a mask – although the tables were busy, few were at the counter and the queue short. And, to be honest, my decision was influenced by the fact that no-one else was masked. By the time that the young lady had announced to her colleague who was in charge of the hissing squirting coffee machine “One Med Am White One Med Cap Oat” (work it out for yourself – note that my wife is lactose free) the queue had grown and I was surrounded by those awaiting their own beverages. Later I returned from our outside table for another Med Cap Oat and discovered that the counter was busy, and the queue long. I was one of only three wearing a mask.
Friday 26th November 2021 – Face to face greeting with colleagues
After 2 years of a nomadic existence, combining home working with time in a temporary office, my Team has moved into what will now be our permanent office. It is a large office, shared with other Teams, all of which we have connections with, and over the last week or so folk have been drifting sporadically back into the office, although many are still mostly working at home. It has been great to see colleagues from other teams again, some of whom I haven’t seen for almost 2 years.
Tuesday 30th November 2021 – As you were
A new Omicron Covid variant has been identified in South Africa, and once again in the UK stable doors were promptly closed as the horse bolted, although to be honest I am sure that domestic cases were already fermenting at the time that the variant was identified and subsequently named.
And so here we are again, checking that we have a mask in our pocket when going out, with mask wearing compulsory in most indoor premises. Visitors to larger venues must prove vaccination or a negative test, and there are further restrictions in the other “home nations”. And having just moved back into our permanent office, joyously greeting colleagues that we haven’t seen for 18 months, working from the office is once again discouraged.
We are not in the same scenario that we were in 2020, or even early 2021. Vaccinations have given us all confidence that, whatever the risk of Covid infection, for most the consequences are low. Masks are readily available in most venues, with security staff often offering one to anyone who has left theirs at home. The NHS app means that proving vaccination/test status is easy, without preparation before a visit.
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More people known personally to us contract Covid. Looking back at 2021 and forward to 2022
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Life in the UK changed for everyone in March 2020