Professor John Robertson OBA

I’m sure BBC Scotland would have only one reaction to the above attack on face mask wearing in hospitals. They’d find a way with their newspaper pals to suggest Nicola Sturgeon had overdone similar requests back in 2022.

She was, of course, correct.

In October 2021, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine had been monitoring behaviour changes in terms of facemask wearing and social mixing.

Notably, for the week-ending 29 September 2021, with rates falling slightly or flat across the UK, they noted in their data:

Self-reported facemask wearing for those who have at least one non-home contact appears to have reduced below 70% in England, though this overall figure masks differences by age. Reported face-covering wearing has stabilised in the over 60s but continues to fall in younger age groups. The use of face-coverings has remained high in both Wales and Scotland (> 85% of participants), where use in certain social settings has remained mandatory.https://cmmid.github.io/topics/covid19/reports/comix/Comix%20Weekly%20Report%2079.pdf

A week later, infection levels begin to climb in England

Then for week-ending 6th October 2021, the researchers reported:

There has been a sharp decline in reported use of facemasks in Wales this week, but this is likely due to a smaller sample size. We will continue to monitor this in the following weeks.https://cmmid.github.io/topics/covid19/reports/comix/Comix%20Weekly%20Report%2081.pdf

And for week-ending 13th October, the latest, they reported:

The decline in face mask usage in Wales noted last week persists at approximately 75%. Face mask usage in England amongst those 18 to 29 years old who have reported contacts outside of the household continues to decrease.https://cmmid.github.io/topics/covid19/reports/comix/Comix%20Weekly%20Report%2081.pdf

On October 16th, the infection rate in Wales surged and continued to climb in England.

Mask-wearing trends in Scotland and Northern Ireland were not mentioned so stable. Rates flatten and appear to stabilise.

Health Warning: Other factors may apply.

For example, latitude? Average minimum temperature? Wind chill? Last winter, walking the dog on a chilly day, I put mine on, though a hundred yards from the nearest human and in a wind that would disperse your aerosols instantly. Joking!

Source: https://cmmid.github.io/topics/covid19/comix-reports.html