The Great Unmasking? Commuters ride the Tubes WITHOUT face-coverings

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Commuters, shoppers and diners were seen without face masks today while others continued wearing them as ‘Freedom Day’ finally dawned and brought in a confusing jumble of new rules governing their use. 

Face coverings are no longer required by law, although official national guidance is to continue wearing them in crowded public places.

There was a mixed picture across the country this morning, with pictures from the Tube, Waterloo Station and a Greggs in Bradford showing several people going maskless.    

Contrasting reports came in from social media users, with journalist Kevin Maguire tweeting: ‘The counter screens are down in the Pret I use in my patch of London. Everybody still wearing masks though didn’t see a sign..’

Sally Whittle, from Lytham St Annes in Lancashire, wrote: ‘About 90% of people still wearing masks when I did an emergency B&Q run at 8am. Lovely lady at the door offering masks to those without. Every one of the people who refused were men in their 20s.’

There were some signs of tension, with the author Ann Cleeves saying she was shouted at by an anti-masker in her home town of Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear. 

She tweeted: ‘In Whitley, putting on my mask and a car drives past, window open. Guy shouts: ”Freedom day. Get off those masks”. This is NE England, more cases than anywhere. And my daughter’s doing chemo. No freedom for her!’ 

Meanwhile, people opposed to wearing masks took to Twitter to declare a boycott of shops still enforcing the requirement, which includes all major supermarkets. 

Masks are still compulsory on the Tube thanks to a decision by London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who said he did not want to put transport users ‘at risk’ by allowing them to go unmasked. Passengers can be thrown off services if they refuse to cooperate, although fines will no longer be issued, Transport for London confirmed to MailOnline. 

Airlines still mandate mask wearing, while pubs, visitor attractions and local travel companies have all come up with their own rules. Meanwhile, fitness chain PureGym asks they still be worn in communal areas. 

This weekend, Uber became the latest transport company to confirm it would continue to require drivers and passengers to wear face coverings. 

They will also remain compulsory on trams in Greater Manchester and Tyne and Wear, and in bus stations operated by the combined authorities in West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire.

Cross-Channel train firm Eurostar, airlines such as British Airways, easyJet and Ryanair, plus Heathrow Airport will continue to require passengers to wear face coverings.

Heathrow Express, which operates services to London Paddington, said face coverings will remain mandatory.

But all other train companies such as Avanti West Coast, TransPennine Express and Southeastern, plus major bus and coach companies including National Express and Megabus, will not demand mask-wearing. 

Mr Johnson has told Britons to ‘take personal responsibility’ and continue using face coverings them in ‘crowded’ spaces, as a spike in Covid cases led him to add a note of caution to his previously triumphant rhetoric. 

A recent YouGov survey suggested 71% of people believe face coverings should continue to be mandatory on public transport after Monday. 

Today commuters slammed the new rules as ‘mixed and confusing’ – claiming that many passengers would not be sure about when and where to wear them.

Simon Barker, 38 who was entering South Ealing underground station on his way to work said: ‘I think the whole country is confused and it doesn’t make sense. If you are on the tube you have to wear a mask but if you are on a train in London, you don’t.

‘And what happens when you are going through a station which shares underground and rail services? There are a lot of those in London?’

Denise Sweeney, 44, who had just emerged from the station said: ‘The majority of people on the tube were wearing masks so that’s a good thing.

‘But in general, the rules are not clear. Some business are demanding them, others are not. I can just envisage this whole thing leading to a lot of problems because there is no clarity.’

Most commuters entering and leaving the station were wearing masks, although some feared that might change over the coming weeks.

Rowan Fernandes, 28 said: ‘I travel on the tube every day but those who don’t might not be sure what the rules are. Most people are wearing them today, but I’m not convinced that it’s going to stay that way because there is no consistency in the rules. And that always leads to a lot of problems.’

Brian Palmer, 52 added: ‘From what I’ve seen, many people have stopped wearing masks in general. I really noticed that over the weekend when I went to the shops. That’s even been happening on the underground and the buses for a while now and the staff are not really enforcing the rules.

‘The Government should have been firm about this and laid down the rules, but they’ve just left it up to individual businesses and the public are confused. That’s just going to get worse as time goes on.’

Gurmeet Singh fumed: ‘The whole thing is a joke, and nobody is sure what’s going on. I think the rules for going on the tube and buses in London are quite clear but that’s not the case everywhere else.

‘People are going to have to continually put their masks on or off, depending on where they are and there’s going to be a lot of arguing about what they’re supposed to do.’    

Anthony Smith, chief executive of watchdog Transport Focus, echoed the passengers’ concerns. 

He said: ‘We know people are divided between not wanting to wear face coverings, and not wanting to travel if they aren’t worn.

‘The lack of consistency on rules is going to cause some uncertainty and confusion. It could also make enforcement trickier. Clear information before and during journeys will be key.’   

Today the NHS launched a new scheme to encourage people to continue wearing face coverings despite it no longer being law. 

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said the new campaign was not about being ‘pious’.

He told Times Radio today that the Not Too Much To Mask initiative was about people taking ‘sensible measures’ to reduce transmission such as wearing face coverings, meeting outdoors, keeping indoor areas well ventilated and getting vaccinated.

He added: ‘This campaign is not about calling people out or being pious, it’s just about saying to people ‘you are not alone, there are other people who are doing this’.

‘One of the most powerful things about a mask is it is a signal to fellow citizens you are showing concern for them.’ 

Polls have found that 60% of Britons are ‘nervous’ about final lockdown restrictions being lifted as cases soared 52% in a week to 48,161 and 25 more people died. 

Yet today business leaders today urged Boris Johnson to go one step further and tackle the wave of NHS app notifications – branded the ‘pingdemic’ – which is bringing some businesses to the brink of collapse. 

Experts estimated that around 1.8million people are still self-isolating after being notified by the Covid app or Test and Trace, although from today NHS workers will be exempted to tackle staff shortages.

The PM had yesterday declared he and Chancellor Rishi Sunak would take part in a pilot scheme to avoid quarantine after coming into contact with Health Secretary Sajid Javid, who has tested positive for Covid. 

Yet they will now go into self-isolation after being forced into a humiliating U-turn within just three hours following furious accusations of ‘one rule for them and another rule for everybody else’.  

The row over cast a shadow over today’s Freedom Day relaxation, with Mike Cherry, of the Federation of Small Businesses, questioning why a system to avoid self-isolation was open to politicians.

‘Small firms have been struggling to get across mixed messaging regarding the reopening for weeks now, and this is no different,’ he said.

‘Thousands of small businesses will now be left wondering why the testing pilot is only open to those at the top of government and a handful of big corporates and organisations but not them.’

The CBI said there was an urgent need ‘to allow double-jabbed individuals not to self-isolate if they have been informed by NHS Test and Trace that they have come into contact with a Covid positive individual’.

The British Retail Consortium called for pinged store staff to be able to continue to work if they had a negative test result.

James Bielby of the Federation of Wholesale Distributors said: ‘Food supply chain workers are key workers and, unlike Mr Johnson and Mr Sunak, their workplace doesn’t close down for the summer.

‘They’re needed not only to keep shelves and storerooms stocked, but also to drive the economic recovery of the hospitality sector which the Prime Minister and Chancellor are depending on.’

Writing in the Daily Mail, Tony Blair said the self-isolation system was ‘not rational’. Its chaotic results have led to hospitals postponing operations, factories cancelling shifts, disruption to rail services and fears of food shortages.

The boss of Marks and Spencer, Steve Rowe, warned a staff exodus could force the chain to reduce opening hours.

Last night the Government said that from today fully vaccinated frontline NHS and social care workers who are a contact of a positive case would be allowed to work in exceptional circumstances.

They will have to take a PCR test and daily lateral flow tests for the duration of the period they would otherwise have been in isolation. 

It came as revellers packed into nightclubs for the first time since March 2020, without being required to provide Covid passports or negative test results. 

And with social distancing rules shelved, there are no limits on people attending.

Venues including Fabric, E1, Ministry of Sound and Egg nightclubs in London, Pryzm in Bristol, Powerhouse Night Club in Newcastle and Moon Acre in Dorset re-opened on the stroke of midnight – the very second that most legal restrictions on social contact were removed.

It’s ‘the moment we’ve been waiting for, that our customers have been waiting for,’ said Tristan Moffat, operations director of London music venue The Piano Works, ahead of the deadline.

The business had been keen to open its doors again after losing about £40,000 a month during the pandemic, he said.

Its ‘Freedom Day’ bash started on Sunday with a countdown to midnight when staff members cut a ribbon to the dance floor and served customers free prosecco.

But while entertainment businesses and ravers are now jubilant, many others are deeply worried about the British government’s decision to go ahead with fully reopening the economy and no longer mandating masks at a time when Covid-19 cases are on a rapid upswing.

In a study carried out by YouGov, which questioned 3,659 adults between July 5 and July 15, 73 per cent of English people who used to go to nightclubs in pre-pandemic times said that they would not currently feel comfortable returning after the restrictions lifted.

The grand re-opening has come as Covid cases across the UK soared by 52 per cent week-on-week after yesterday recording 48,161 new cases – up from the 31,772 cases recorded last Sunday – with a further 25 deaths..

However, Prime Minister Boris Johnson defended the move in a video message on Sunday during which he said: ‘If we don’t do it now, we have to ask ourselves, when will we ever do it. So this is the right moment.

‘But we’ve got to do it cautiously. We’ve got to remember that this virus is sadly still out there. Cases are rising, we can see the extreme contagiousness of the Delta variant.

‘But we have this immense consolation and satisfaction that there is no doubt at all that the vaccine programme – the massive vaccination programme – has very severely weakened the link between infection and hospitalisation, and between infection and serious illness and death.

‘So please, please, please be cautious and go forward tomorrow into the next step with all the right prudence and respect for other people and the risks that the disease continues to present.’

The easing of restrictions coincides with a dramatic update in the number of people self-isolating at home after being pinged by the Covid app.   

The Adam Smith Institute yesterday estimated more than 1.7million people were being forced to stay at home across the UK and warned the figure could reach 5.2 million in a month.

A senior Tory said: ‘They ought to have said last week that ‘We’re bringing the August 16 date [on easing the isolation rules] forward so that people who are double vaccinated and have a negative test can go out and do as they please’.

‘If they’d done that, the Prime Minister wouldn’t be having to self-isolate now.’

Mr Johnson yesterday admitted in a video posted from isolation at his official country residence Chequers that it was ‘far more important that everybody sticks to the same rules’.

And he begged for caution amid warnings from scientists that cases could reach 200,000 a day before the current wave of the virus peaks.

Dominic Cummings, the PM’s former adviser, suggested he had been ‘forced to U-turn’ on self-isolation by the Chancellor. Downing Street denied the claims, but came under friendly fire from insiders.

A well-placed source said: ‘This has been a classic shambolic situation where decisions are taken without being properly discussed or considered, so we just lurch from one plan to another.

‘I’m a little bit worried we’re just blindly walking into a very similar situation that saw the PM end up in hospital last year because people think they’re too important or invincible for the rules to apply.’

A senior Tory MP said: ‘It is appalling that such basic mistakes are being made which simply serve to send out the message of one rule for the public and another rule for us. They need to start looking at themselves rather than everyone else.’ 

Social distancing, working from home, masks in shops and on public transport: What IS and what IS NOT changing on Freedom Day

By William Cole for MailOnline

People in England emerge from lockdown today with the government’s final major easing of restrictions.

Here, MailOnline looks at the rules that are changing  and what guidance has been issued to replace it in some areas:

FACE MASKS

Legal rules mandating the wearing of face masks will be axed.

However, despite ministers previously saying they want to ditch coverings as soon as they are voluntary, guidance will state that they are ‘expected and recommended’ in crowded spaces.

Guidance published last night said: ‘Government expects and recommends that people wear face coverings in crowded areas such as public transport.’ 

London‘s Mayor Sadiq Khan has broken rank to ordered they be kept compulsory on the Tube, buses and taxis. He was backed by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps who said he had ‘expected’ operators to put in place ‘conditions of carriage’ to ensure that passengers were safe on public transport.

Regional leaders such as Manchester mayor Andy Burnham have also said the restrictions would stay on transport in his city.

Private companies will be allowed to make them a requirement for entry, as Ryanair has already announced on its flights.

An ONS survey this week found that nearly two thirds of adults will continue to wear masks in shops and on public transport.

GOING TO PUBS

It will no longer be a legal requirement to scan a QR code on entry to a venue as part of the test and trace system. However, venues will be allowed to make use of the codes a requirement for entry if they choose.

It will also no longer be a legal requirement for pubs to require customers to order drinks at their tables.

However, some pub chains may continue this – meaning that people will still not be able to go to the bar if an individual pub bans it.

SOCIAL DISTANCING RULES

The one-metre rule will be scrapped in law – meaning fewer Perspex screens in offices.

It also means hospitality businesses like pubs and restaurants won’t have to limit customers to ensure they are spaced apart. 

But people are now being strongly advised to ‘minimise the number, proximity and duration of social contacts’.

Chris Whitty even suggested that people should avoid ‘unnecessary meetings’ – and said everyone should continue to abide by ‘hands, face, space’.

However, the one-metre rule will continue to be enforced at borders, such as in airports, amid concern over people coming into the country with variants. 

SELF-ISOLATION RULES

There had been hopes that the requirement for the double-jabbed to self-isolate for up to 10 days when they are ‘pinged’ for coming in contact with a positive case would be dropped from July 19.

However, that date was pushed back to August 16 by Health Secretary Sajid Javid amid concerns about fueling rising infection numbers.

The rules on self-isolation for those who have not had two doses are staying in place for the time being.

However, officials are working on ways of making the NHS app less sensitive to avoid millions of people being doomed to house arrest.

And ministers have said work is ongoing on a system of daily testing that could potentially replace the self-isolation regime.   

WORKING FROM HOME

The Government’s ‘work from home’ message will end and employers will be able to start to plan a return to workplaces, some having been empty since last March.

But the decision of course is still be up to individual employers.

Some may decide to continue with working from home for the foreseeable future, although city centre businesses such as cafes and retail have been hugely affected by the lack of office workers.

Government advice will also be that any return to offices should be ‘gradual’ over the summer while cases are high. 

The guidance states: ‘Whilst government is no longer instructing people to work from home if they can, government would expect and recommend a gradual return over the summer.’ 

Although guidance to employers will be slimmed down, it will still encourage them to ensure rooms are properly ventilated to minimise risk.

CAP ON CARE HOME VISITS

The current restriction that people can only be seen by five named visitors will be scrapped.

But strict infection-control measures – such as the wearing of PPE and regular cleaning – will continue, with more detail to be announced later. 

COVID PASSPORTS

Covid status certification – so-called vaccine passports – will not be legally required within England.

It is being left up to individual venues to decide themselves whether to demand Covid status certification through the NHS App as a condition of entry.

The government is ‘encouraging’ the use of Covid certification for large events. 

Owners of busy indoor venues such as nightclubs and busy city-centre bars have been told to consider bringing in the passports.

The government will ‘encourage’ businesses and large events to use the NHS Covid Pass in ‘high risk settings’ – that is, where people are likely to be in ‘close proximity to others outside their household’.

Few details have been given, but the guidance could cover theatres, cinemas, indoor concerts and exhibitions. The government many consider mandating certification in certain venues at a later date. 

TRAVEL 

A new system to allow double-jabbed people to avoid quarantine after returning from amber-list countries will come into force from July 19 – with one big exception. 

A government U-turn announced on Friday night now means that even vaccinated Brits returning from France will have to quarantine – sparking fury as families were forced to cancel trips to France at the last-minute. 

RULE OF SIX

There will be no legal limits on social contact, meaning groups will not have to limit themselves to six people or two households if they are mixing indoors. 

Groups outdoors can be as large as people want them to be.

WEDDING AND FUNERAL CAP

The limits on attendance at weddings, funerals and other major life events are being scrapped.

ART AND SPORT VENUE LIMITS

There will be no more restrictions on the size of an audience at a concert or a show, or a crowd at a sports fixture, which means theatres and stadiums can run at full capacity.

NIGHTCLUBS

All other legal requirements for venues to close will be lifted, allowing night-time industries – including nightclubs – to reopen for the first time since the pandemic began.

SINGING CURBS

No restrictions on singing, or even guidance to restrict it. It means singing by church choirs can continue – as can karaoke nights.