Thread by @petermbenglish

1/ The guidance on respiratory protection for Covid-19 is very poor; and, in the UK at least, it is extremely poorly enforced.

It is a condition of travel on Transport for London, for example, that passengers must wear a mask; yet I'm told that only a minority do so.

2/ I have seen reports of people being escorted off trains and buses in Germany for failing to do so. Why not here?

It made me wonder if there would be easier ways to enforce this.

3/ I thought about ANPR - automated number plate recognitions - and how this is used to issue fines for speeding, and charges for entering ULEZ and congestion zones.

Why could we not do something similar for face-masks?

Let's say you visit a shop, theatre or night-club.

4/ They take a photo of you before you enter. Then they have video cameras in the stairwells, on the stairs to and from seats...

It would be very easy to identify the people not wearing a mask and fine them.

Identifying people on public transport would be harder.

5/ There would be civil liberties issues with facial recognition software. But in principle it could be done.

Fining people - along the lines of speeding tickets and parking fines - would provide an incentive to follow the rules.

6/ And it would avoid confrontation with antimaskers.

And it would make people who have strong reasons to be fearful of the consequences if they were to catch Covid-19 feel much more confident about venturing out in public.

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