So I've been in London for a week now and I'm getting a very clear picture of why cases are spiking in the UK. The weather has turned cold and people are headed inside...in the midst of an airborne pandemic..there's little more than performative mask wearing.

There's hygiene theatre everywhere, including buckets of hand sanitizer, but as this is an airborne pandemic, much of this is beside the point. At the gym, almost nobody was wearing a mask. People are doing cardio without masks. Heavy breathing, confined spaces.

After the gym, I went to brunch with a friend of mine today. The restaurant had no ventilation, they were jam packed, and most of the staff were not wearing masks. After watching this for a few minutes, I headed to the outdoor tables, even though it was very cold.

This evening, I got some takeout. I stood outside the restaurant and looked in the window while they made it. Not a single staff person was wearing a mask properly. All of them sporting the "below the nose" look if they wore any mask at all.

Infections are spiking here already, and based on what I've seen this week, this is just the beginning of what will be an epic spike in the next two weeks.

I don't know if the same level of mis-information exists here as in the US, but the level of masking is much lower than San Francisco or New York.