Get ready

Michael Gove talking about the compulsory wearing of face masks on Marr yesterday:

“I don’t think mandatory, no, but I would encourage people to wear face masks when they are inside, in an environment where they are likely to be mixing with others and where the ventilation may not be as good as it might.

“I think that it is basic good manners, courtesy and consideration, to wear a face mask if you are, for example, in a shop.”

Boris Johnson today:

“It’s very important to wear a face covering. We should do that”.

“We’ll be saying more in the next few days.”

Is the mixed-messaging from government an accident, or is it, as I suspect, quite deliberate? The mixed-messaging equals chaos equals disruption. It’s how Dominic Cummings works, keeping people on their toes, fearful almost. Who knows? It doesn’t matter. Anyway, what it does mean is that the wearing of face masks in confined places like shops, perhaps even workplaces, is about to become compulsory.

Johnson added:

“The scientific evaluation of face coverings and their importance on stopping aerosol droplets, that’s been growing, so I do think that in shops it is very important to wear a face covering if you’re going to be in a confined space and you want to protect other people and receive protection in turn.”

I’d certainly like to see these scientific evaluations as soon as possible when the government makes its announcement and particularly how the science has changed. I am not interested in Johnson’s considered view: I want to know what Professor Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance have to say. How come face coverings weren’t of any use when the virus was running wild but they will be now?

I’m afraid this is how politics works. The government has decided to impose the wearing of face coverings but is giving us a few days to get ready for it. Get ready for face coverings: this is how things will be now for years to come.