“It is inescapable that the facts are changing and we must change our response,” Boris Johnson told the Commons last week (Boris Johnson ‘extremely cautious’ on when England’s schools will reopen, 6 January), so I am surprised this changed response doesn’t include making masks compulsory outside. Masks were considered last spring, and rejected as not being effective. And while it is true that if only some people are wearing them sometimes, they are not protecting themselves, only others from catching it from them, surely if everyone wears them everywhere, everyone is protected?
I have a brother living in Spain and a son living in Turkey. In both these countries, mask-wearing everywhere has been compulsory for some time and is strictly adhered to. In March 2020 I could understand a reluctance to go from nothing to compulsory mask-wearing everywhere, as it would have met with public resistance. But with the figures as they now are, isn’t it time to reconsider and look at anything that might slow down the spread?
Christine Whatford
Beckenham, London
• I am fed up with walking to the shops and having joggers running inches from my face huffing, puffing and sweating. Their behaviour is completely selfish. This is not a question of whether someone fancies going for a run. This is about a deadly pandemic that has killed more than 80,000 people in this country. We are now at more than 1,000 deaths a day.
Joggers, if you must run around the streets then please wear a mask. If you breathe in and out so heavily that a mask interferes then perhaps you shouldn’t be doing this around others.
Michael Weedy
London
