As you will probably already be aware, the government announced earlier this week that from 24 July, face coverings will become mandatory when visiting shops in England.

Great news. Although, why has it taken the authorities such a lengthy time to introduce this law? How many lives could have been saved if this regulation had been made in May or June?

Indeed, Scotland and many of the other major European countries have had this law since mid-May! I find it no coincidence that on Wednesday, Scotland marked a significant milestone by not registering a single COVID-19 related death for seven days.

The news of compulsory face coverings in England was met with the predictable backlash from a vocal minority, refusing to wear any form of PPE.

Claire and I recently watched an episode of The Three Day Nanny. A recurring theme throughout this series involves a stroppy toddler, refusing to do anything asked of them by their exhausted mum and dad. The reason behind the child’s behaviour is often revealed to be an act of defiance, against one or both parents, meaning that whatever the toddler is told to do, they would refuse.

It certainly feels like many of the adults refusing to wear face coverings are doing so because they don’t like being told to do by those in authority. Sound familiar?

By wearing a face covering, you are not showing support for Boris Johnson and his colleagues. You would struggle to find anyone who dislikes the Conservative Party more than me. Just because I intend to wear PPE when I eventually leave the house, and continue to follow the laws surrounding COVID-19, it doesn’t mean I will be changing my alligence and voting for the Tories in the next election.

The use of face coverings save lives. Simple as that. It shouldn’t matter if The Conservatives, Labour, or Monster Raving Loony Party are asking us to use them. Just do it.

I didn’t really want to go down this route, but if just one person decides to wear PPE because of what I post on here, resulting in one less person contracting the deadly virus, it’ll be the most important thing I have ever written on my blog…

If you won’t wear face covering for Boris, yourself, your family, friends, or the general public, please do so for people like me.

I am classified by the government as “extremely vulnerable”. This means that if I was to catch COVID-19, there is a high chance of me developing serious complications, or even dying.

Roughly two million individuals in the UK are considered vulnerable. The population of the country is 66 million. This means that potentially one in 33 people you encounter in a supermarket are at significant risk.

Two years ago, I was admitted into Intensive Care. I came very close to death. Obviously this was unrelated to coronavirus, but the respiratory problems I suffered could easily have been as a result of the virus.

By not wearing face covering, because it is uncomfortable, doesn’t look fashionable, or just because you don’t want to, you are putting over 2,000,000 people at risk of this…

PLEASE WEAR FACE COVERING.
DON’T FORCE ME TO WEAR A VENTILATOR.