Masking the issue

Isn't it odd how wearing masks has become the defining political issue of the day? All over the news, a constant discussion topic on social media - I find myself getting drawn in too. If you wear a mask when out and about you are a noble citizen doing your bit. If you don't you are a clown, a cretin, a selfish sonofa... It's funny, I remember back when all this started that masks were essentially laughed at, sneered at even, for doing no good whatsoever, virus particles being far smaller than the strands of fabric - they would simply pass through. 

Of course face masks have been a feature of travel in the Far East for ages. Walk around Hong Kong or Singapore and you cannot have failed to notice that many of the residents are wearing masks as they go about their daily lives. At global hub airports like Helsinki or Doha it was the same, with predominantly Asian passengers all wearing masks. I remember being amazed at seeing people in downtown Helsinki all masked up with the temperature substantially below zero, my thinking back then being that airborne viruses couldn't possibly survive or be transmitted in that kind of weather. How little I knew probably.

Here is my favourite one.

Fast forward to 2021 and masks are here in Europe, and here to stay. Last weekend I was in Madrid where mask wearing was at 100%. In the airport, on public transport, in the supermarket, everyone had a mask on, including young people and kids. In these environments there were no dissenters. None. Outside, walking along the pavement, in parks, waiting for buses, stopping for a chat, a good 80% of people still had masks on, and of those that didn't many had them on their chins or hanging from one ear. It is a fact of life now supported by science. You're not wearing a mask to protect yourself from inhaling COVID, you're wearing a mask to limit the amount and distance of what you exhale. You're protecting others, and when they are also wearing a mask so much the better. Spain was one of the first European countries to really suffer in the pandemic, and so in Spain the benefit of wearing masks is understood and people comply.

Which brings me to this country. This ridiculous country. My intention here was not to preach, but honestly how hard is wearing a mask? When I landed back at Heathrow and got on the tube mask-wearing was basically at 100%. As the Piccadilly rattled eastwards this gradually declined and by the time we reached central London I'd estimate it was at less than 50%. Switching to the Central Line the proportion fell yet further, and on my home turf of Leytonstone I reckon it was down to a quarter, perhaps less. One morning a couple of weeks ago I was almost the sole person in my carriage wearing one. I simply don't understand it. There are signs everywhere. When you enter the station, on the platform, plastered all over the carriages. Walking along concourses tannoy announcements regularly state that the wearing of masks on London's transport network is mandatory. And yet this ignored. Not by a few people, not by a small cadre of the particularly militant, but by almost everyone. There are so many people not bothering that challenging this is pointless, and so it goes entirely unenforced. I have never seen anyone ask anyone to put one on, or ask why they're not wearing one. I've never seen an official stop anyone, nobody says anything. I don't know why this annoys me quite as much as it does. I don't like wearing a mask either, it hurts my ears and it makes it harder to breathe heavily, for instance after going up steps, particularly as I continue to recover. Remembering to take one everywhere I go is also a pain, and many is the time I have had to turn around and go home to fetch one. But I do it. And I just don't understand the attitude of those that don't. Surely there cannot be this many conspiracy theorists living amongst us? Is it two fingers up to the authorities, an act of defiance? If so it is a pretty stupid one. Or is it that wearing masks is a sign of weakness in some way, and in order to show how tough you are you don't wear one? Hah, I am not scared of this puny virus, it is just another little flu! I am so virile I will resist it! Perhaps it might be cosmetic? My perception is that there is definitely a correlation between pouty instagram types and a lack of masks. Messes with their makeup perhaps? I think there are also demographic correlations but to try and explain that with the delicacy that 2021 requires is more than I am prepared to do for a blog post that very few people will ever read. There are many reasons no doubt, all of them irrational. Suffice it to say that I am disappointed each and every time that I get on public transport at the behaviour of many of my fellow citizens, and until I actually caught COVID it limited the number of times per week I was prepared to risk it. I am considerably less nervous at the moment of course, and I'm participating in an NHS antibody study whereby I send off small vials of blood from time to time and they then tell me if I have any or not. So far so good, and so for now the Central Line holds less fear for me.

I've not been to Germany, Holland, Austria or Russia, countries currently in the grip of a massive new wave of COVID cases, and so have no idea what their wearing of masks is like and if it is comparable to Spain or not? Ie does it actually make a difference in the real world?  Everything points to a low uptake of vaccines, but presumably those that refuse vaccines are not big mask-wearers either? I know I said I wouldn't preach but I keep coming back to one salient fact. This virus kills people. It destroys families and doesn't discriminate based on what you think about it, what you read on Facebook, or what you think about the Government. The people dying are mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, grandmas and grandpas, and even some children. The person sitting opposite you on the tube is unlikely to be all alone in this world, they will have family and a social network. If something as incredibly simple as wearing a mask for a short while means that person stands a lower chance of getting it and of passing it on, I cannot think of a single reason why you would not. 

Easing the piss

Today is Wednesday, the start of the new easing of restrictions announced with such stunning clarity by the Prime Minister at the weekend. Some people can go to work, although how they get there safely is less clear. Footage of today's morning communte in London suggests that they simply can't and have to brave it regardless which is just awful. Meanwhile those with more time on their hands can go to garden centres, and can drive to beaches, hills and other scenic spots for 'unlimited exercise' which is now back on the menu. Sunbathing in parks is also fine and dandy, as are tennis and golf, although rather surprisingly second homes remain out of bounds. Poor show. I think it is early but then again I am a big scaredy-cat and I am also not a scientist. So what will happen? Well, the moronic behaviour of people at the VE Day celebrations last Friday was an indication, but the return to work and other easings is whole new level of stupidity and I think we can look forward to another upward trend, as is already happening in other countries. But hey, don't ask me, ask the experts that guide us. What I can confidently say is that appealing to the common sense of the British public is an exercise in futility. But what about the common sense of a particular subset of which I am a part? 

Birders.  

From a birding perspective I expect that many of us are wondering what this means. Specifically, how can the new rules be read to ensure that we can go birding whenever and wherever we want, just like we used to. To be honest I don't have much of an insight into the second home and sunbathing masses, but birding I do know a little bit about. Personal freedom is an emotive subject. My thoughts are these; give a birder - especially a twitcher - an inch and it is likely that they will take a foot. Be sensible we are told. We won't be, many of us will be very selfish. The desperate need to see a bird no matter what brings out the worst in people in normal circumstances, and I can't see that the trifling matter of a pandemic will change that. From the very beginning of this whole sorry state of affairs much of the commentary I have seen, on various chat groups, twitter and so on, is about how the guidelines on social distancing can be interpreted - and by interpreted I mean bent - to allow minimal disruption to birding. Let's face it birders are not very good at being cooped up indoors are they? Even before this recent easing I've heard of 90 mile round trips for year-listing purposes. I've heard of photography expeditions of far further for something as innocuous as Short-eared Owls. I've read multiple reports of full days out birding, and whilst I accept that I must sound highly sanctimonious I do find myself wondering why all of these things were deemed to be OK. Sure, birding is a hobby that lends itself well to social distancing, and in some locations you may very well see nobody at all, but surely it just has to be more risky - for you and potentially for other people - than simply staying at home. You could get run over, you could run somebody else over. Your car could break down. You could slip and fall, you could get bitten, charged, stung, mugged - all manner of unexpected events can and do happen. While you were out year-listing something preventable could happen at home, who knows, like your shed burning down or something. All of these occurrences, however fanciful or unlikely, could put somebody else in harm's way. You could argue that all of these things are normal and everyday risks, and of course you would be right. But at the moment we need to try and minimise all of them so that the teams of people who would normally help us out can focus their efforts where they are really needed, and that is not on birders getting into difficulty whilst making unnecessary journeys.

But I'm not convinced all birders think of that when they set out. They think about lists, about ticks, and about a diary that has suddenly and unexpectedly been emptied at the prime time of year. Combine that with some vague instructions on isolating and guess what? As I mentioned in my last post I have done pretty well, but I could have done better. I have not been to work, I have not been shopping, I have not attended any parties or barbeques, I have not danced the conga and I have not met up with anyone. But I have been out birding under the guise of 'essential exercise'. Not to the coast, not to photograph Colin the Cuckoo, but nonetheless I have potentially put myself and others in harm's way. I have on occasion felt uncomfortable on Wanstead Flats, and I am pleased that I have. It has meant that I have gone home when it starts to feel busy and more likely that social distancing will fail. I re-timed my visits accordingly, but I need to stay the course and not crack under this new-found and seemingly legitimized freedom.

On the other hand I hear that quite a lot of birders been very good, and happily I know of plenty of them. And with the advent of these new rules they intend to keep on being good, and to essentially remain in lockdown mode. Good on them. But I am deeply worried that for those for whom listing and rarities are the be all and end all of birding, the relaxation of the stipulations on exercise will be taken to mean that twitching and year-listing are back on. Cornwall here we come! North Norfolk coast for the day, lovely stuff! A day on the south coast seeing Black Kites and Hoopoes, yes please! But here's the rub. None of these places want to see birders at the moment. None of the infrastructure that supports birding or indeed any other social activity or leisure pursuit is going to be open. So don't go. Most of the birds will be there next year for you, and getting a big year list in 2020 will simply mark you out as a, well, you know. 

Personally I am largely going to be ignoring the latest "advice" and carrying on exactly as before. I know I can do it, the family know they can do it. Certainly we are all fairly sick of it, but we think we can continue to live like this for a good while. Or at least until the wine runs out. Call me a pessimist but I expect a renewed clobbering from COVID-19 in about three weeks time following the absurd bank holiday scenes and now the daily commute, which combined with further lax behaviour from birders and non-birders alike should ensure we remain throttled by this virus well into the autumn and probably beyond. Look at New Zealand and some other countries who had decent leadership and whose citizens took this seriously. They are out of the other side and looking forward. We remain mired whether we choose to believe it or not, and whilst at best birding won't have any negative impact, its all out resumption definitely won't help get us out of it.