I'm not really sure why the government have chosen to take the stance that they have on face masks. My first thought is maybe it is too much hassle to continue to enforce it to be worn, or more so the hassle it causes the police or front line employee's in businesses.
I think to say though, it should be personal choice is open to argument, as I've said before what's the point in wearing a mask, in an enclosed public space, if no one else is wearing one, because you are not protected, so it defeats the object.
In regards to protected, protected from what, so I should clairfy, that I am led to believe via the media it reduces transmission by 25%. Why would I not want to do that.
Now on to the topic of masks restricting breathing, my personal experience is they do. But I'm still happy to wear one to protect others. I saw written above the difference between face makes and a crash helmet, I've worn both, to me there is a massive difference, but that's from when I had a motorbike in my younger days, so maybe I've just forgotten how restrictive a motorcylce helmet was.
One last thing, I found worth noting, in guantanamo bay, prisoners were forcibly made to wear masks, along with other stuff that was deemed as toture to intefere with sensory perception, or something like that anyway.
So I do see all sides of the argument.