Sammy Wilson MP for East Antrim in Northern Ireland has criticised suggestions that face masks could be made compulsory in shops in Northern Ireland. His comments were in yesterday's Newsletter which is a newspaper in Northern Ireland. I have copied the article here and there is a link to the Newsletter site at the end:
NI face-mask row - Sammy Wilson questions scientific evidence and accuses pro-maskers of ‘blackmail’ and scaremongering - Health Minister Robin Swann says wearing a mask shows NI people emerging from shielding that we care.
East Antrim MP, Sammy Wilson, says he doubts the scientific evidence that is being used by Health Minister, Robin Swann, to introduce the mandatory wearing of face-coverings in shops and other public places in Northern Ireland.
Wednesday, 29th July 2020
In a hard-hitting statement issued on Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Wilson said politicians who want to make face-coverings compulsory were “irresponsible” and playing “on the fears of the public.
“With the number of patients in hospital suffering from Covid-19 now in single figures and the number of new infections throughout July not totalling more than 20 a day, it is absurd for politicians to blackmail the public into wearing face masks,” said Mr. Wilson.
He continued: “Throughout the whole month of July, when face masks were not mandatory in shops, there were five deaths related to, not caused by, Covid-19.