Surge in islanders buying masks

Co-operative Pharmacy Locale pharmacist Folarin Akinyemi said they had definitely seen a rise.

‘We definitely noticed more people were buying masks and hand sanitiser, and this was even before the briefing – the Guernsey grapevine was in full flow,’ he said.

‘People have to be respectable of the situation, as some people have the tendency to hoard.’

He said the pharmacy was managing the packs sold to each person. ‘This is in case lots of elderly people can’t get one in the first rush like last time,’ he said.

‘Most are disposable masks from what we have been seeing so people will definitely keep replenishing them, but I think an equilibrium will be reached after and we will reach a plateau of people buying them.’

Boots assistant manager Mladen Stolinchev said it had sold out of masks, however the shop had only had limited stock at the time.

‘We had enough for people who were travelling and this morning they disappeared because people are panicking.’

Despite there currently being no masks left in stock, Mr Stolinchev said there were more on the way.

‘They will send more over,’ he said.

Marks & Spencer staff said following the briefing, more hygiene measures were being put in place.

‘A lot of people have been coming in wearing masks and from tomorrow we are going to start washing everything again,’ M&S sale assistant James Jones said.

Fellow assistant Ana Figueira added: ‘It made me surprised today that more people were wearing masks. Even if you’re vaccinated, you’re not 100% safe so it’s quite good to protect ourselves.’

At the press conference Dr Brink said face coverings were relevant because the situation was changing.

‘Most of our transmission is coming from within the island,’ she said.

‘So we’ve got to then look at what mitigations we have within the island.’

Dr Brink said this was not a mask mandate.

‘But we are asking you to think,’ she said.

‘Covid-19 infections are going to originate mostly from people’s mouths and noses and through that aerosol transmission.’

She said she expected some businesses to ask people to wear face coverings.

Dr Brink also said there were some people who could not wear face masks and people should respect that.