By next Monday, nearly all remaining Covid restrictions in England will be scrapped.
July 19 will see the removal of the legal requirement to wear a face covering.
However, Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi has said there will still be "an expectation” for people to wear masks in crowded spaces.
Labour has said it is "irresponsible" to drop the legal requirement to wear masks.
A leading scientist has also suggested the government is guilty of sending mixed messages.
Dr Mike Tildesley, an expert in infectious disease modelling who sits on the government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), said it was “actually quite confusing for people to know what the right thing to do is” with regard to the wearing of masks.
The British Medical Association has called for the continued use of face masks, saying the measure is needed to protect the NHS, health and education.
Scientific evidence has shown that mask-wearing reduces the spread of Covid infections.
While Stormont has no plans to drop the requirement to wear masks in public indoor settings, a change in the law in England will spark increased pressure on our devolved administration to drop restrictions.
The success of the vaccination programme has been cited as the main reason behind the scrapping of Covid laws in England.
However, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said he did not accept England’s “let it rip" approach “that we have all of the vulnerable vaccinated and now let's allow people to get Covid.”
Many young people remain unvaccinated. And while vaccines will prevent most of us from being hospitalised with Covid, they do not entirely stop the spread of infection.
Covid is a potentially deadly disease which, even in mild cases, causes distressing symptoms.
With the north already seeing a fourth wave of infections due to the highly-infectious Delta variant, now is not the time to relax rules around mask-wearing.
Dropping the legal requirement may effectively mean handing over public spaces to those who do not exercise responsibility.
The most medically vulnerable people may be forced back into their homes, rather than run the risk of visiting shops and other closed spaces.
The pandemic has shown that clear and consistent public health messaging is key.
While most of us would prefer not to wear masks, they are a small price to pay.
When you wear a mask, you protect others as well as yourself.
