A Bristol bus driver slammed "selfish" people for not wearing masks when he phoned into a national radio station today (March 18). LBC's Eddie Mair was taking calls from the public on the topic of Covid-19 this afternoon, when a bus driver called Ian from Bristol rang in to share his views.
Ian said that he drives a hospital shuttle bus in the city which has strict rules on wearing a mask to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. But many of the city's public buses do not have any rules on face coverings, after the English government removed the requirement to wear them on public transport on January 27.
And in the radio segment, Ian called bus passengers who don't wear masks "selfish", and said that buses are essentially "petri dishes on wheels" for the virus to spread. He said: "When you look at the people that are on buses, it's people that actually need them, working class (people), elderly people.
Read more: Covid-19 case rise explained and what it means for us
"And it's heartbreaking to see an elderly lady sat on the bus with her mask on, and then to see someone sat in a seat behind her without their mask on. I just think it's incredibly selfish." It comes as coronavirus cases are beginning to rise again, with around 79,000 cases currently being announced each day in the UK, compared to 57,000 a week ago, and 36,500 the week before that.
Sajid Javid, the health secretary, explained this week that the rise in covid cases was "expected". He told Sky News: "Whilst the rate [of cases] has gone up modestly in the last few days, that's to be expected as we are now open as a country and there's more social mixing."
