Riots? Looting? Breakdown of society?

[YgritteSnow]

This was confidently predicted by a fairly substantial number of posters on this site. Lots of "you'll see..." type posts, some genuinely frightening theories of how the pandemic would progress and what it would mean for how society would function.

Today it seems people are trickling back to work. I read that a couple of restaurant chains have reopened - Five Guys for example though not sure if that us nationally.

These are genuine questions, do you still expect this to happen? What are your predictions now? Is it too early to tell? Did you genuinely believe it or did you just get caught up in the stress?

[kimlo]

there would have been riots but peple realised how difficult it would be when you have to stay 2 meters apart from other people.

[BakedCam]

The threat of riots and social disruption was detailed through SAGE advisory groups. Their method was, that announcements should be very specific. Recommending messages such as 'we are all in this together' The additional police powers were brought in to mitigate the threat of social unrest.

I don't think there will be looting and riots. The power of social media is the 21st century version of street rioting.

[compassunreliable]

I wasn't aware the legal position had changed on which businesses could operate.

[BakedCam]

B and Q has opened some of its stores as a trialling of social distancing. Fast food outlets with drive thrus are slowly opening up, Compass.

They wont be defying restrictions, these are stealth measures slowly being brought in to kick start the economy, at a very speculative guess.

[feelingverylazytoday]

People won't riot as long as they have enough to eat and drink and pay their basic bills, and aren't locked down too strictly.
I think the government has handled the lockdown quite well, avoiding the need to have a strong police presence of the kind that stirs up resentment.

[TimeForChange123]

B and Q has reopened. Massive queues at my local one.

MNetters also predicted the schools would all be almost full of keyworkers children OP because the list of keyworkers was too long and people would send their children in whether they really needed to or not.

The opposite has happened.

[BakedCam]

I was wondering about the uptake of school places for keyworker children, TimeForChange123. Have very few places been taken up?

[IDefinitelyHaveFriends]

The legal position hasn’t changed. Takeaway food outlets and DIY stores were always allowed to stay open but in practice many of the chain stores felt unable to guarantee good social distancing (and were probably terrified of the litigation potential from infected workers). Many smaller takeaways and DIY stores remained open throughout, and there’s nothing unreasonable about the larger chains shutting for a bit while they work out logistics and reopening now they’ve got a plan they’re comfortable with.

The supermarkets had to stay open and you could see them adapting their plans on the fly day by day which wasn’t ideal.

[BruceAndNosh]

I think a lot of businesses shut when they weren't actually forced to, because they couldn't comply with social distancing.This is shown by how many more applied for furlough than was expected.
Many companies have now revised their business model and are reopening

[stuckindoors77]

In our school, at the moment there's very, very few places filled (as low as four over Easter) but I suspect with the long list of children who "qualify" those hubs will become much busier until about 25% of the school population is attending. Which will give those in charge a chance to assess what happens to the figures then somehow build up attendance gradually.

[YgritteSnow]

Dd has an EHCP so was entitled to a school place. We didn't utilise it. I'm not a key worker so it was unnecessary. Her school closed a week later as there just went enough children going in. It's opening again next week for key worker children and again I received an email to say she could go in but there's just no need.

[TimeForChange123]

@Bakedcam. I don't think there are official figures available but based on my local schools and dozens of teachers on MN, there have been very few using it.

[SuitedandBooted]

I never thought we would be rioting.

Life seems to be slowly picking up again. The business/workplace clousure thing has been misunderstood by many people. Yes, some types were ordered to close, (most shops, pubs etc) but others could carry on if they can work with social distancing & safety measures in place. The company I work for (niche manufacturer) never shut fully. WFH is impossible for many, and the whole "Only Keyworkers can go to work" thing was Facebook frothing, not official rules.

[BakedCam]

Thanks @TimeForChange123

I find that quite interesting. I read on a SAGE advisory document that it would be considered how school closure measures would marry up with absence from school penalties. Obviously, no parent would be penalised for not sending in the climate, and those facing penalties previously were primarily parents under children services, it makes me wonder now, how this will pan out when schools do open. Just musing aloud here.

Apologies, OP for drifting off topic.

[FredaFrogspawn]

I have been wondering about that. Some families will have far more reason to be worried about going back than others.

[buttermilkwaffles]

Five Guys Edinburgh, open for takeaway, not much social distancing going on there:
www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/edinburgh-news/crowds-gather-edinburgh-five-guys-18136721

[yerawizadari]

This was confidently predicted by a fairly substantial number of posters on this site Was it really?

I'm not so sure about that. I read a heck of a lot of threads and don't recall anything like that. What do you mean by 'substantial number' anyway - how many people?

In answer to your questions:

I never expected it to happen in the first place. Not in the UK anyway. The US is another matter.

[cupcakehurricane101]

I think if people find out the government over reacted and millions of people have lost their jobs and businesses they'll flip.

[BakedCam]

I doubt it, cupcake. I'd be very surprised if we see a return of rioting. As someone who witnessed riots in the 70s and 80s, there is a very different culture today of people securing their rights. Social media bringing about a culture of armchair rioters.

[P1nkHeartLovesCake]

I think too many business closed too soon and now see this situation is going to be on going and you can’t keep staff furloughed indefinitely. So they are starting to open up and seeing if they can somehow social distance and make money.

I’ve seen on costa Facebook page, that Costa have opened a couple of drive thru stores they say they are going to see how it goes and I imagine if it goes ok they will open more. They say they have things in place like staff hand washing every 30 minutes, card payments only, collection window cleaned after every customer etc etc

The economy needs business open, making money.

I feel this whole lockdown is way over the top and I think many people are starting to agree with that point of view as this virus is going nowhere and a vaccine is ages off being found! I think a lot of places could open even restaurants imo, you set them up with less tables and make sure 2m is between them, you do reservations only, no waiting at bar areas, card payment only. Any business open and not complying risks fines or being closed down permanently.

If I see on Facebook “only keyworkers can work” one more time 🙄 that is never what the government said and many jobs its not possible to work from home.

[PicsInRed]

There has been rioting and looting in developing countries and also in western countries whose lockdown has gone on longer. Wuhan residents also rebelled. USA, nuff said. The above is nightly news. The UK has put up with it only because our lockdown wasnt as strict and the police backed off when the people determined they were going too far. I'm that respect, I believe we've found the right balance.

[gingajewel]

But the problem is schools are only letting children in who had at least one (or in some cases two) key worker parents. This then translated in some people’s minds as only key workers were allowed to work/stay open.

[Rosehip10]

No. More people moaning on social media - yes!

[Ohffs66]

I'm a bit confused by B&Q reopening tbh...I appreciate it sells a lot of stuff that is essential for repairs, but surely everything else it sells isn't exactly essential (or could be used for a non-essential purpose). So if I'm on my merry way to B&Q and got stopped, how would they know if my trip was essential or not? I feel like supermarkets are a bit different because the main reason most people go there is for food (essential) whereas a trip to B&Q for most people is for things for improvements rather than repairs (paint, plants etc).

[Goawayquickly]

I’ve been following all the covid threads from the start and never saw substantial numbers of posters predicting riots, it has been mooted as possible. I said on one thread I thought that if lockdown went on too long, the weather turned hot and people ran out of money and food then possibly there could be unrest and I still think it.