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Wearing Face Masks around university?

I'm due to go to Liverpool Hope (from Northern Ireland) in September but can't tell if face masks are compulsory or not in England yet due to mixed messages on the news. Can anyone currently at uni in England let me know if i'll have to wear a face mask during lectures?
There hasn’t been any guidance regarding masks in university settings yet as far as I know (or at least my uni hasn’t said anything) - it’s likely that lectures will take place online however so just keep that in mind.
Original post by Mesopotamian.
There hasn’t been any guidance regarding masks in university settings yet as far as I know (or at least my uni hasn’t said anything) - it’s likely that lectures will take place online however so just keep that in mind.

thanks for letting me know - it'll be strange moving over to England just to be taking lessons from my uni room
The guidance is changing all the time and pretty well publicised. Just keep a loose eye on the news e.g. BBC.
Original post by nobleevils44
thanks for letting me know - it'll be strange moving over to England just to be taking lessons from my uni room

You can still hope to have in-person small group teaching as well as the opportunity to socialise in person, so hopefully it should be worthwhile moving in.
Reply 5
Original post by nobleevils44
I'm due to go to Liverpool Hope (from Northern Ireland) in September but can't tell if face masks are compulsory or not in England yet due to mixed messages on the news. Can anyone currently at uni in England let me know if i'll have to wear a face mask during lectures?

Yeah, I completely agree that changes to coronavirus guidance in England haven't been made clear. From 24th July, it's mandatory to wear a face mask when shopping in England and since 15th June, face masks have been mandatory on public transport. In short, if I find this confusing, I wouldn't be surprised if others did.

With regards to teaching and learning arrangements for the next academic year (at least autumn term), your lectures are highly likely to be pre-recorded in advance because unis want to avoid a situation where there's a large number of people at any one time. However, you'll probably still get some face-to-face contact in the form of seminars (they're with small groups of people anyway) but they may take place in a lecture theatre where you can spread out or just in a larger seminar room. At least this is what my uni is doing (York) because the gov't hasn't given much guidance to unis to plan for the next academic year and plans need to be put in place now.

Anyways to answer your question, I guess you may wear a face mask if you're in an enclosed space and if you look at English schools, they don't mind if you wear a face mask because they understand that some people may feel more anxious about the situation than others. I would expect English unis to take a similar approach. Hope this helps. :smile:
Original post by CoffeeAndPolitics
Yeah, I completely agree that changes to coronavirus guidance in England haven't been made clear. From 24th July, it's mandatory to wear a face mask when shopping in England and since 15th June, face masks have been mandatory on public transport. In short, if I find this confusing, I wouldn't be surprised if others did.

With regards to teaching and learning arrangements for the next academic year (at least autumn term), your lectures are highly likely to be pre-recorded in advance because unis want to avoid a situation where there's a large number of people at any one time. However, you'll probably still get some face-to-face contact in the form of seminars (they're with small groups of people anyway) but they may take place in a lecture theatre where you can spread out or just in a larger seminar room. At least this is what my uni is doing (York) because the gov't hasn't given much guidance to unis to plan for the next academic year and plans need to be put in place now.

Anyways to answer your question, I guess you may wear a face mask if you're in an enclosed space and if you look at English schools, they don't mind if you wear a face mask because they understand that some people may feel more anxious about the situation than others. I would expect English unis to take a similar approach. Hope this helps. :smile:

Thanks so much for letting me know! I had no idea face masks even had to be worn in shops in England or even on public transport since June. Nobody in my country is wearing them - the only time people seem to wear them here is when going to the GPs or the hospital :/
(edited 3 years ago)
Reply 7
Original post by nobleevils44
Thanks so much for letting me know! I had no idea face masks even had to be worn in shops in England since yesterday! Nobody in my country is wearing them - the time people seem to wear them here is when going to the GPs or the hospital :/

No worries. :smile: The guidance is really confusing because the English, Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish guidance can differ. But yes, in England, wearing face masks will be mandatory in shops from 24th July but obviously this excludes those who can't wear masks due to medical reasons and I believe younger children are exempt.
You should probably be using masks sensibly even when they aren't mandated. If you're smart enough to get into university you're smart enough to learn when it's a good idea to wear a mask and what they're for.

1) There's decent evidence that masks can reduce the risk of transmission of corona virus (and other nasties) in situations where a brief task can't be carried out in a well ventilated space or can't happen with social distancing.

2) Masks have a limited lifespan especially if they aren't fluid resistant, as you use them (if you're infectious) you'll load them with virus carrying droplets which will eventually permiate the mask and be shed from it as you exhale. This takes a while to happen making them very effective at reducing the risk of transmission when used to protect each other during brief encounters.

3) Conversely it makes wearing the same mask for long periods less effective than wearing multiple masks only when needed because you are unable to maintain social distancing. I work in a health care setting and the guidance we are following is that our fluid resistant surgical masks should be changed either when they become wet or soiled, or after one hour of use whichever comes first. Fabric masks will vary but will likely have a shorter effective lifespan.

What does this mean for wearing a mask at uni?

In addition to following any rules your campus may impose you should also wear masks in crowded areas, areas with poor ventilation or during indoor meetings although you should avoid all of these if you can. But you probably shouldn't wear a mask around campus for the hell of it in areas where you don't have to, all you're doing there is degrading your mask for the high risk areas where you'll need it. Take more than one mask with you if possible.
(edited 3 years ago)
Original post by Nefarious
You should probably be using masks sensibly even when they aren't mandated. If you're smart enough to get into university you're smart enough to learn when it's a good idea to wear a mask and what they're for.

1) There's decent evidence that masks can reduce the risk of transmission of corona virus (and other nasties) in situations where a brief task can't be carried out in a well ventilated space or can't happen with social distancing.

2) Masks have a limited lifespan especially if they aren't fluid resistant, as you use them (if you're infectious) you'll load them with virus carrying droplets which will eventually permiate the mask and be shed from it as you exhale. This takes a while to happen making them very effective at reducing the risk of transmission when used to protect each other during brief encounters.

3) Conversely it makes wearing the same mask for long periods less effective than wearing multiple masks only when needed because you are unable to maintain social distancing. I work in a health care setting and the guidance we are following is that our fluid resistant surgical masks should be changed either when they become wet or soiled, or after one hour of use whichever comes first. Fabric masks will vary but will likely have a shorter effective lifespan.

What does this mean for wearing a mask at uni?

In addition to following any rules your campus may impose you should also wear masks in crowded areas, areas with poor ventilation or during indoor meetings although you should avoid all of these if you can. But you probably shouldn't wear a mask around campus for the hell of it in areas where you don't have to, all you're doing there is degrading your mask for the high risk areas where you'll need it. Take more than one mask with you if possible.

Thanks for your advice! The general opinion on masks in northern Ireland for a good few months was that masks were useless and unnecessary. We've been using gloves and hand sanitizer rather than masks, the opinions in them just seemed to change over night in scotland and England so I didn't know what to expect when going over there :smile:

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