Face covering with the words 'Stop the Damnpanic', designed by an anonymous anti-lockdown protester and worn during the COVID-19 pandemic, printed by Contrado Imaging Ltd, 2020

Face coverings are one way of protecting ourselves and each other from COVID-19. Many people have made and created face coverings to reflect their personalities or views. Lockdowns to control the pandemic were an unprecedented government intervention into people’s daily lives. Opinions on the use of lockdowns ranged from acceptance to protest.

The donor and designer of this face covering said it was “used day in and day out for months in order to both comply with legal requirements during lockdown and at the same time make a visible political point: that lockdown is the result less of pandemic, and more of mass hysteria underpinned by a politics of panic. Voluntary measures and a more moderate tone would have better safeguarded civil liberties, democracy and health.”

In England face coverings were first advised in May 2020, followed by mandatory wearing in June 2020 on public transport, unless exempt. Face covering rules were widened to most public places by August 2020.