WECA mayor Dan Norris has pleaded with Bristolians to continue wearing face coverings, saying they are "completely sensible" and have "helped save lives".
As of yesterday, face masks are no longer legally mandatory on public transport or in shops, as they were previously. However, Norris says he wants people to continue wearing them "whilst the pandemic is still with us".
Mr Norris told Bristol Live: "Mask wearing is a completely sensible measure to help keep you and your neighbours safer. I would like to thank everyone in the west of England who has been wearing a mask. Undoubtedly you have helped save lives and kept pressure off our NHS."
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"We do not appear to have the powers to mandate mask wearing on public transport in the West of England as we do not own or operate public transport services in our own right. In the meantime, whilst the pandemic is still with us, I am asking everyone who can, to wear a mask on public transport.
"We’ve all got masks now so let’s keep wearing them for a while longer so people travelling by rail and bus can do so with more confidence."
Norris, the Labour metro mayor for the west of England, said when the government first relaxed mask laws last summer that he wanted to make them mandatory on public transport - but admitted he lacked the power to do so. Mayors' powers differ across the country, which is why Sadiq Khan, for example, was able to make masks compulsory on the London underground.
Masks once again became mandatory in indoor public settings late last year, before once again becoming just advisory this week after the government dropped its winter coronavirus plan B, going back to plan A despite still-high Covid case rates.
Face masks will continue to be compulsory in some limited settings, such as in hospitals and other healthcare environments.
Sajid Javid, the Conservatives' health secretary, said last week that despite the change in laws, he will continue wearing a face covering in shops and on public transport. “Will I be wearing a face mask? Yeah, I think I probably would be in a week’s time,” he told BBC Breakfast.
“Because prevalence is still high and there will be people there, especially if I am going to my local shop which is small and enclosed and can have quite a few people in there at one time in quite a small space, I don’t know most of those people, I think that would be sensible.
“I think it will be sensible on the tube in London, for example – quite an enclosed space."
Face masks have been proven to help stem the spread of Sars-Cov-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. Depending on the type of mask used, they cut the amount of particle transmission by between 62 per cent and 99 per cent. They give some protection to the wearer, but are primarily effective at stopping the wearer from spreading coronavirus to other people.
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