To think it's pointless children being off school if you're going to take them to the park

[CatherineOfAragonsPomegranate]

So many people were urging the government to shut schools due to fears of children transmitting Corona Virus, even though it was pointed out that this would be very hard for some families, put the elderly at possibly more risk due to child care, force some families to stop working, and place Key Worker's under greater strain. Then there is the disruption to the education of the children themselves and the knock on effect to exams.

However yesterday and today, I see the local parks are full of children socialising and playing together. School aged children are now playing together amongst toddlers and preschool children and are also playing with new children not formerly in their cohort. Add to this groups of teens congregating together.

I also notice that whilst they're not going to the gym many people are jogging in groups, and doing large group fitness in the open.

So what is the point of children being off school? In fact is anyone really taking this self isolation business seriously? It does not seem that way to me (London)

AIBU in thinking they may as well have continued going to school, and Boris's original plan regarding only the immuno-compromised and elderly isolating was a more realistic idea?

The trouble is now parks will be packed as everyone will go there

I think people are being given mixed messages.

First of all told for weeks, its only like a mild cold for nearly everyone.
Then, we are all going to get it, just spreading out the transmission.

So most people don't see any point in all these measures. In reality other countries are eradicating it. Not everyone is getting it.

Lots of school twitter pictures of big groups of children together today and next week they have 60 plus kids in a room so don't think keeping schools open helps. Plus no hand sanitiser and only soap sometimes.

My DD at home has not left the house other than to get one or two food items since her school stopped. Trouble with Italy is when they locked down they left bars and restaurants open and announced the lockdown via leaks to press 1-2 days in advance so people could escape.

Nobody should be mixing with anyone from outside their own household, unless at a medical appt or for essential shopping. No social contact. If you want to go outside for a walk you should not go with anyone from outside your household.

Then, we are all going to get it, just spreading out the transmission

Is this refusal to understand deliberate?

Thankfully we have a decent size garden but if we really want to get out we are also extremely lucky to live in the dales so we will drive to a remote spot and let them run on the moor for 20 mins or so.

I wouldn't take them to a park 😬

Obviously not including contact needed through work, which is hopefully under new guidelines.

Since I caught my child practically licking another child's face in the playground today, I have a feeling these school closures are a case of 'closing the stable door after the horse has bolted' anyway. 4 families from my son's class currently in self isolation and all those kids would have been in school and infectious before any symptoms appeared. Am braced for it hitting us in the next week...

Why don't people understand social distancing

@alloutoffucks I’m in another country and the schools have been closed for over a week. We have been told to observe social distancing. There are tv ads explaining what this is.

In the UK I agree it must be impossible to know what to do when BoJo keeps changing his mind and his initial ‘stratergy’ was herd immunity.

social distancing is the less panic wording of lock down.

selfish people risking the lifes of others by thinking it doesn't apply to them.

I suspect they left it too late to close schools and it had already spread - our school seemed OK, maybe as its rural but old one in London one of DDs old school friends, a very trustworthy girl, said 5 children had tested positive and the school was still open.

@theschoolonthehill Yes it is madness. And even on this thread there are people saying we are all going to get it anyway. So I am not at all surprised that a lot are ignoring what they are supposed to do. The message keeps changing.

This is exactly why they didn’t want to shut a schools down. At least with schools closed child to child transmission was relatively limited to the school community. Now children will be coming into contact with kids from several schools (woth the exception of those who have parents willing to keep them at home). This is what happens when random members of the public think that they know better than government advisors and start signing petitions. Thanks guys.

@theschoolonthehill everyone knows what to do, they just don’t care (and a lot of people a pissed off and deliberately acting out). I can see how this would work in countries with psychological different populations but in Britain you’d have to call in the army to make this work.

The message keeps changing

The message is zero unnecessary social contact Yet people continue to pretend they don't know what that means.....

The senior medical person is just about to tell us what children can and can't do.

Open areas with the people you live with - fine.

Cycle ride with the people you live with - fine.

Anything else. No.

Hopefully people will listen and follow the advice.

We’ve just got home from doing a few laps of the park (me running, kids on bikes, not stopping to touch anything or get close to anything) and was a bit surprised by how many people were in the playground or sitting around in groups like nothing has changed. The drug dealers who hang around in the main gates were all wearing masks and latex gloves though...

The drug dealers who hang around in the main gates were all wearing masks and latex gloves though...
I imagine they have their own stock issues to worry about know you can’t fly round the world.

Lol at the careful drug dealers

Makes no difference, Catherine and Buffalo? Whilst touch with respect to play equipment looks like an element of infection, aerosol and droplet also appears to form a part and that leads to quite a difference between indoors and outdoors. If not, GPs shouldn't have to bother opening the windows of the 'hot' room at the surgery as part of the decontamination process.

I think people would co-operate better if we had a clear message about exactly what to do. There's been too much contradictory information from the government -- they should have been keeping it clear and straightforward.

They're still refusing to do widespread testing, as the World Health Organisation is urging every country to do. So no one who coughs or gets a sore throat has a clue if they should self-isolate for Covid-19, or just take hot drinks for a cold.

No wonder people aren't sure what to do, so they just do what suits them.

No wonder

i wish i'd treasured my Caffe Neros coffee last Friday - it was our one occasional treat out. You never know when it is the last time you will have something nice.

My treat in future will be cup of tea out on the garden chair with the cat.