Yahoo News Matt Hancock insists face masks WON'T be compulsory in offices amid further confusion on Government guidance
Matt Hancock today ruled out making office workers wear face masks because they do not “make much difference” in combating coronavirus in such settings.
“We will not be recommending masks in the office,” the Health Secretary, said, arguing that they were appropriate only in settings such as trains and shops where strangers mix in close proximity.
However, the British Medical Association said masks should be worn in any office where two-metre social distancing or other mitigation is not possible, and a business expert said masks in offices could help give people more confidence to go back to work.
Dr Chaand Nagpaul, BMA council chairman and a north London GP, said: “The BMA believes that face coverings should be worn whenever physical distancing is not possible to prevent spread of infection — this includes situations in the workplace in which people cannot keep two metres apart, unless other mitigating action is taken, for example the installation of effective plastic screens.”
Jonathan Ratcliffe, senior broker at serviced office provider Offices.co.uk, said: “Making face masks compulsory in all common areas of offices and workspaces would increase employee confidence and help convince staff it is safe to return to our cities and get back to work.
“We desperately need everyone back at work, and the confusion about whether it’s safe or not is not helpful at all. Including compulsory face masks in offices and workplaces sends a strong message that this is the new normal, and we need everyone back in the cities — even if they are wearing masks.”
Josh Hardie, deputy director-general of the Confederation of British Industry, said: “Firms will do all they can and continued transparency on the health evidence will drive behaviour change.”
But City commentator David Buik, of London-based trading platform Aquis Exchange, said: “It’s a totally useless idea. I respect the need to wear masks when you go into a shop but the thought of everyone having to wear a mask all day in an office is ludicrous. It’s not going to happen.”
Mr Hancock said that face coverings will have to be worn “for the foreseeable future” in shops and public transport. He did not rule out making people wear them until a vaccine is available, possibly next year.
He told BBC Breakfast: “The virus exists only to multiply and without any measures we know that each person infects another two to three people so we do have to have these measures in place.”
The Health Secretary said office workers could remove masks because they tended to spend their days with the same group of people.
“When you are in close proximity with somebody who you have to work closely to then if you are there for a long time with them then a mask does not offer that protection,” he said. “It’s something that we have looked at and rejected on exactly the grounds that I have just set out. What you need in offices is social distancing, you need to be two metres apart or have other mitigations to make a workplace Covid secure.”
The opposite was true of people working in shops or public transport, he said. “Where the mask benefits is … when you have relatively short interactions with lots of different people, which is why it’s right to have this as mandatory in public transport in shops and in the NHS, but not in offices,” he told Today on Radio 4.
The interventions came as Blackburn council said residents should wear face coverings in all public places to help counter a local upsurge of Covid-19. A report in the Daily Telegraph claimed the Government was discussing bringing in a national ruling that masks should be adopted in all public spaces, including offices and other workplaces.
But Mr Hancock said, emphatically: “No, that isn’t going to happen.” In his warning, Dr Nagpaul added: “A face covering is not an alternative to hand washing and good personal hygiene, but an additional step that should be taken to minimise the virus being passed on where physical distancing cannot occur.” Michael Gove’s decision to buy his lunch from a Westminster Pret A Manger without wearing a mask drew a clipped response from the Health Secretary this morning.
Asked if it showed confusion about the rules, he said he was “not frankly interested” in his colleague’s actions. Mr Gove was seen without a mask yesterday despite saying on Sunday it was good manners to wear one in a shop.
Read more
All you need to know as face masks are made mandatory in shops
PM 'to unveil back to work road map' as VAT boost begins- LIVE
Face masks could be compulsory until 2021 unless vaccine found
Michigan officer shoots man dead after mask dispute leads to stabbing
Hancock: Shop staff should call police if customers won't wear mask
