Express & Star comment: Everyone's responsibility to wear a mask

But today is the day that will see one of the most profound changes of all as it governs not our habits, but what we actually wear. To go out shopping, unless it’s window shopping, you will need a face mask when entering the store.

The orders have come late in the day in the trajectory of the pandemic.

In Britain, cases are now under control to such an extent that we are being encouraged to take safe steps towards rebuilding a form on normality in the way we live and go about our business. There has always been that balance to be struck between the lockdown, and the need for the economy, which generates the wealth for the nation and supports our livelihoods, to be able to function.

As Britain emerges from its enforced deep sleep, everything reasonably possible must be done to avoid the nightmare of winding the clock backwards and suffering a resurgence of the virus.

And while we are in the summer now, every day takes us closer to the darkening days of winter, a time when the old and vulnerable are already at heightened risk. A second wave of the pandemic in Britain on top of the existing dangers would be a disaster, claiming thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, more lives, and plunging the economy into a yet deeper crisis.

Scientific opinion about face masks has been on a journey, but we are where we are, and where we are is that the scientists now definitely want us to wear them to reduce the chances of spreading infection.

In the Far East people have for a long while been familiar with the idea of wearing face masks, but for Britons this is a new habit and some are going to find it difficult to get used to.

For shops, it means customers who have stayed away through fear will now have a measure of reassurance, although the other side of the coin is that customers who find masks burdensome, or simply forget to take them, may shy away.

It is now the law, and everybody has a responsibility to comply to help beat this thing for the good of all.