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The Manc Asked: Do you agree with the mandatory face covering rule from July 24?
Face coverings in shops will be a mandatory requirement in England from 24th July, but the announcement has got a lot of people talking.
The Manc -
14th July 2020 
The UK government has published guidelines today which will make the wearing of face masks and coverings in shops a mandatory requirement in England from 24th July, but the announcement has got a lot of people talking.
Under these new regulations, it is stated that fines of up to £100 will be enforced by police officers for those whole fail to comply.
This fine will be reduced to £50 if paid within 14 days.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said earlier this week that members of the public “should be wearing masks” in England and confirmed that compulsory guidance would follow shortly after.
Since mid-May, the public have been advised to wear face coverings in enclosed public spaces where they may encounter people they would not usually meet, and face masks/coverings have been mandatory for passengers travelling by bus, train, ferry or plane in England – as well as in Uber vehicles too – from 15th June, but today’s announcement is the first compulsory requirement of its kind in shops and supermarkets.
Following this announcement, there has been mass public debate online.
The topic has continuously trended on social media platforms throughout the day and including quite prominently in the Facebook comment section of the article we posted yesterday evening to report on this story.
Here at The Manc, we always want to know where you stand.
After observing the discussion on Facebook yesterday, it was brought quite significantly to our attention that our audience across Greater Manchester had strong views on this topic and we wanted to give them a platform to continue this debate further, so we decided to put this to our over 500,000+ followers on Facebook to ask – ‘Do you agree with the mandatory face covering rule from July 24?
This is how you reacted:
We received an overwhelmingly active response from our audience to this question, with opinions expressed on both sides, and therefore haven’t been able to include every single comment in this article. Instead, we chose to feature a range of responses which seemed to resonate best with others and amass the most interactions overall.
If you are keen to have a read of the rest of the responses and have your say on the matter, then you can head on over to the post on our Facebook page here.
For more information and guidance amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, do refer to official sources via gov.uk/coronavirus.
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