There are permanent public health measures that could reduce the Covid-19 worries of vulnerable people as infection-control measures are removed, as highlighted in your article (‘I don’t want to die’: the shielders who fear the end of Covid restrictions, 2 February). A proportion of train carriages could be reserved for people wearing masks, as in the era of smoking and non-smoking carriages. Downstairs on buses could serve passengers with masks, upstairs for those without. At supermarkets some tills could be reserved for queues of customers with masks. Cinemas and theatres could reserve a block of seats for those with masks. And so on.
These could be permanent measures that benefit people who are keen to avoid infection and provide a safety option for others at times of heightened infection. This would also benefit the economy, since there are plenty of at-risk people, not least among Britain’s large pensioner population, who will withhold their spending from businesses unless such commonsense safety options are offered.
Charles Patmore
York
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