Nine in 10 Brits say facemasks are essential to stop virus spread

In a new survey by Ipsos MORI, almost nine in 10 (86%) Britons say it is either essential or important for people to wear a facemask in certain public situations, such as shopping or using public transport, to stop the spread of coronavirus. More than one in three (37%) say it is essential.  Just one in 10 say it is not important.

Two-thirds (67%) of Britons support making it the law to wear a face mask in shops. Just 16% oppose. 13% neither support nor oppose and 3% say they don’t know.

One in four (25%) say that having rules in place making it mandatory to wear a mask while visiting shops will make them more likely to go shopping, 21% say less likely and half (51%) say it will make no difference. 42% of 18 to 24s say these new rules will make the more likely to go shopping but 64% of those aged 65 to 75-years old say it will make no difference.

Three in ten (28%) say they already wear a mask, up from 7% at the end of April. Whilst 55% say they are likely to wear one in the near future, an increase from 34%. 15% say it is unlikely they will wear a mask in the near future (down from 51%).

Those that either wear a mask now or plan to do so cite the following as the main reasons:

• Want to stop the spread of coronavirus to others 59%
• I want to protect myself 52%
• The government has said we should 47%
• The scientific advice says we should 42%

Those that say it is unlikely they will wear a mask tend to give the following reasons:

• I don’t believe facemasks prevent the spread of coronavirus 39%
• It would be uncomfortable 35%
• It goes against my personal freedoms 28%

Ipsos MORI Research Director, Keiran Pedley said, “These numbers show strong public support for the principle of wearing a mask in certain public situations to combat the spread of coronavirus.

“Two-thirds support rules making it mandatory to wear a mask in shops. However, we should be careful about reading too much into the impact such rules will have on behaviour in the short term.

“Although there is no net negative impact on the likelihood of Britons to go shopping as a result of these rules, half currently say it will make no difference rising to almost two-thirds among those aged 65 to 75.”