Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

'Stay local to exercise' is rubbish

655 replies

ThePants999 · 27/03/2020 18:56

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52062209

Taking public transport to start your exercise is obviously counterproductive.

Driving to somewhere where loads of other people are also going to exercise is not exactly ideal.

Driving to somewhere in the middle of nowhere to go for a walk? Not only is that perfectly safe, I'm going to assert that it's BETTER than walking from your house, especially if you live in a built-up area.

AIBU? And if I'm being U - why? How am I endangering anyone by going out to the countryside by car instead of walking round my town?

OP posts:
ownround · 27/03/2020 21:29

@ThePants999

So you have seen the lack of toilet roll on the shelves....?

The fact that you can't get an online shopping delivery for love nor money?

You can't be so fucking stupid as to not understand that we have to protect our key workers and supply chains right now? This doesn't just mean NHS workers ( who are utter heroes) but also means farmers, factory workers, delivery drivers, postmen, supermarket shelf stackers and oh yes PETROL STATION workers.

You are increasing your risk of spreading virus to them (because if you STAYED AT HOME, you wouldn't need to see them at all)

Also, AND I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DON'T GET THIS - lots of people are off sick at the moment. This is massively affecting supply chains. Like the supply of petrol and diesel.....you saw what happened to loo roll and pasta....

You should feel very, very ashamed of yourself to put lives at risk.

What happens if an ICU nurse can't get to work because there is no petrol/diesel because twats like you decided it was OK to drive to a beauty spot?

Words fail me.

I hope everyone who clapped the NHS also supports them by a) NOT SOCIALISING and also b) PROTECTS THEIR SUPPLY CHAINS.

There will be enough for everyone, for emergencies, for when we need it, if people stop being so fucking selfish.

To put supply chains at risk. Even minutely. When there is absolutely no NEED. It is purely your own selfish want. Shame, shame on you, @ThePants999. Shame on you.

SpruceTree · 27/03/2020 21:31

YABU.
Stay in your own town or village and keep the viruses there. Like Wuhan was under quarantine which effectively contained the virus.
Don't be spreading it to rural areas.

ThePants999 · 27/03/2020 21:32

@GinnyStrupac
Keep your knickers on, Pants. I see you are ignoring and not responding to valid reasons given though, and there have been plenty. I refer you to my own about our local firefighters, for one.

You're right that I haven't yet replied to anyone who's answered in the actual spirit of the thread - I was hoping to first stem the tide of irrelevance in the hope of building a decent body of actual argument to respond to. Yours was welcome, though, I'll reply to yours.

So many reasons not to go and why it is neither essential travel nor is it helpful to the effort to limit viral spread or pressure on emergency services, have already been given on other threads

Indulge me, please. I understand why people shouldn't be out if they don't need to. But the government has already deemed daily exercise to be essential, so we're not comparing "walk in the countryside" to "don't walk at all", we're comparing "walk in the countryside" to "walk locally", and I've not seen anything on other threads to explain why walking locally helps to limit viral threads. If you want to just link me to another thread where that argument has been effectively made, that would be fine.

Your 'middle of nowhere' and 'the countryside' is actually home to some people, including me, my vulnerable family member and many others. Even if you feel healthy and are asymptomatic you could be a carrier and spreader, as could we. We don't want your viral spread risk and we don't want you to get ours either

Two parts to this.

Firstly, the huge area of parkland a few miles away from my house, where I went the other day and saw nobody, isn't home to anyone.

Secondly, my neighbours also don't want my viral spread risk, and I don't want theirs. Nor do the people a few doors down, nor those in the next street, nor the street following that. Why is it more important that I avoid you than it is that I avoid dozens of people in my town? Minimising viral spread risk means minimising the set of people I get close to, so if we're comparing "walk past a hundred houses" with "walk past yours", telling me to do the former sounds like it's just NIMBYism rather than public health advice.

One example is that our volunteer and part-time firefighters, all of whom have other jobs and have to dash from them to answer 999 calls, are now being asked to undertake other emergency tasks, like driving ambulances. As happens sadly too often on our accident blackspot rural roads, if you and your children crash and need a fire engine to cut you out of your car or put out the fire, or an ambulance or paramedic to treat you and get you to hospital, they might not be there. Now that would really be 'rubbish', wouldn't it?

When comparing two options, it's insufficient to demonstrate that one of them has a risk that the other doesn't. That risk has to be more significant.

With a local walk, I have a significantly increased risk of virus transmission, which will directly put pressure on the public service that's under the most strain.

With a remote walk, I have a minuscule risk of vehicular accident (reduced even further by the vast reduction in traffic on the roads), which will put pressure on a public service that's less strained. That is a risk unique to this option, but it's preferable to the first option.

OP posts:
jasjas1973 · 27/03/2020 21:33

I think part of the problem is people aren't really taking this very seriously, they see celebs get CV and they are all fine, Bojo, Charles will all doubtless make a full recovery and they think "what's the harm, its not that bad" which is what we've all been told too.

Or as a friend of mine said recently when his stepdad died "well he was very old, dementia and in heart failure, he was going to die very soon anyway"

ThePants999 · 27/03/2020 21:34

"viral threads" = "viral spread", oops!

OP posts:
PersonaNonGarter · 27/03/2020 21:35

Please don’t travel to exercise it is non-essential travel.

Stay home (or as close to it as possible). Save lives.

Travel = people on the roads = harder for the police to do their job. Stay the fuck home.

Genevieva · 27/03/2020 21:36

A little reminder that so far the government has freed up the equivalent of 50 hospitals worth of bed space for coronavirus patients and is busy building three new field hospitals in East London (NHS Nightingale) Birmingham and Manchester. They aren't doing this because they expect them to remain empty. They are doing it because they anticipate needing all of that space at the same time for coronavirus patients - people who are currently well but who are going to be terribly ill in the near future.

Yesterday we all clapped NHS staff for risking their lives by caring for our friends / family / colleagues who already have or who will be hospitalised with this virus.

With the above in mind, doesn't it seem petty to be arguing about whether it is ethical or legal to drive to a beauty spot to exercise?

It is really not difficult to stay at home.

ShootsFruitAndLeaves · 27/03/2020 21:37

Also, AND I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DON'T GET THIS - lots of people are off sick at the moment. This is massively affecting supply chains. Like the supply of petrol and diesel.....you saw what happened to loo roll and pasta...

You should not be making scaremongering posts like this.

Very irresponsible.

Toilet roll is in plentiful supply

People panic bought it starting from Australia possibly initally because of fears about diarrhea, which were unfounded. Other essentials followed a similar pattern.

It is illegal and dangerous to stockpile fuel.

In any case fuel consumption is dramatically down and the US has a problem because people aren't driving enough. www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-27/u-s-delays-switch-to-summertime-gas-after-virus-reduces-driving

Why are there so many bloody idiotic scaremongering posts not even remotely founded in reality ?

Corona is making me more misanthropic than usual.....

TheLadyAnneNeville · 27/03/2020 21:41

Yanbu. This morning, we had a road block up making people turn around from leaving our quiet market town. This is very scary. It caused my autistic son to become very upset and preoccupied with being “taken away” by the police.

As I drove home, I was (irrationally) fucking furious with Chinese people. I KNOW... it was ridiculous but I just was so cross and all I could think was “who the fuck thought it was a good idea to cage terrified animals all together at a live “chop ‘em up while you wait” shop”?

I’m losing it, clearly.

airbags · 27/03/2020 21:42

Really?!!

And you can hear the "special" cases....
But my car won't break down, I won't bump into others in the car park, I won't need to fill up with petrol, buy a drink, stop for a wee, clog up the roads, talk to a passing stranger, engage with a cute dog, help someone that's lost.... and the list goes on.

Are people really this dense??!!

The safest place is at home. But go out for exercise.
It's not go out and have some fun and then stay home afterwards

.... and just look what happened last weekend if you really are that confused about human behaviour and why the government have no choice but to clamp down.

AuldAlliance · 27/03/2020 21:44

All this about not driving. What about driving as we need to, to go to a supermarket to get essentials? We can't get an online delivery. Would you rather we starved?

The distinction between essential and non-essential is proving really hard to grasp, isn't it?
Driving to buy food to stay alive = essential.
Driving to go for a walk without which death will not ensue = non-essential.

Leflic · 27/03/2020 21:46

With a remote walk, I have a minuscule risk of vehicular accident (reduced even further by the vast reduction in traffic on the roads)

This is the crux though. You have gone from zero risk ( stay at home) to a “minuscule“ risk. Which as you note is low because of reduction in traffic.
So if you’re right, why shouldn’t all those other car owners do the same as you? They should be able to according to your logic.
And what happens to the risk then....

And that’s before you are flogging the routes for essential workers who do need the roads, the people doing home visits, the vans, lorries and agricultural vehicles.

ShootsFruitAndLeaves · 27/03/2020 21:47

The distinction between essential and non-essential is proving really hard to grasp, isn't it?

The distinction is irrelevant as it's 'reasonable excuse'. You are specifically allowed to go to buy booze in an off licence. unless you are an alcoholic this is not essential.

There is simply no ban on non-essential journeys

AngryPrincess · 27/03/2020 21:47

Your call. Petrol stations can transmit the virus, eventually you will need to top up. An outbreak in Glasgow was traced to a petrol station, so take precautions. Go to one with attendants, wash hands, use gloves, etc.

TheLadyAnneNeville · 27/03/2020 21:47

@FrogBreaths. I think people who are spitting should be carted off, Russia 1950-style and locked up.

NoMorePoliticsPlease · 27/03/2020 21:48

Jeez its so stupid

GinnyStrupac · 27/03/2020 21:48

How unkind it is to mock the genuine concerns of others. How entitled is it for people to insist that countryside residents should be cleaning up if it worries them after those who are currently contributing nothing - except in some cases possibly virus, litter, car pollution and dog doings. The BBC and police have reported that a farmer in the Peak District was assaulted by a walker when doing just that - disinfecting the gateposts because of the volume of 'essential exercisers' passing through. He was punched 15 times and kicked while down. I realise that he should have tugged his forelock and doffed his cap. But we must not make this about urban dwellers v rural, because it is not. It is about all of us.

I remember learning at school about the good people of Eyam and taking my own DCs on a trip there in recent years. It is a good job that they acted for the common good against the plague at the time. Can you imagine if they had all said they knew their legal rights and had insisted on getting on their horses and carts to travel about? Can you imagine the Eyam mumsnet thread of the time?!

BelfryBat · 27/03/2020 21:51

OP, your post is all about YOU, what YOU want. Actually, this situation is not about YOU. It's about everybody. Everybody has to behave in particular ways for us to have a chance of avoiding devastation. If everyone drives out into the countryside, some people are going to have accidents and put additional strain on the emergency services. The best thing you can do is stay at home and shut the fuck up. So stop whingeing about what YOU want, and start thinking about how YOUR behaviour can help beat coronavirus. That's it. A shift in thinking.

airbags · 27/03/2020 21:54

@ThePants999

"Indulge me, please. I understand why people shouldn't be out if they don't need to."

Maybe this is your problem - you are over indulged and used to getting your own way?!

And you clearly don't understand - YOU DO NOT NEED TO TRAVEL TO EXERCISE!!!!! By doing so you're putting others at risk - do you not see that?

Vaginandtonic · 27/03/2020 21:55

yes, Derbyshire police spent lots of money shaming a couple walking in a deserted peak district location far from others, whereas those doing it perhaps felt that they were practising effective social distancing.

Yes, I literally don't get how what they were doing is worse than going for a walk round your local area, where you are far more likely to come into close contact with people.

I thought the use of drones to spy on people who weren't breaking any rules, and then the public shaming of those people, was quite sinister actually.

ThePants999 · 27/03/2020 21:55

@Leflic
This is the crux though. You have gone from zero risk ( stay at home) to a “minuscule“ risk.

You don't seem to have read my post. Specifically this bit: the government has already deemed daily exercise to be essential, so we're not comparing "walk in the countryside" to "don't walk at all", we're comparing "walk in the countryside" to "walk locally"

We are NOT comparing zero risk to minuscule risk. If you're happy to stay at home and not go out for exercise at all, that's great, this argument is then irrelevant. What we're discussing here is - if you take it as a given that someone is going to go out and exercise, does it make more sense for them to do it locally or elsewhere? If you choose "elsewhere", you're not going from zero risk to minuscule risk, you're going from some risk of viral spread through social contact plus zero risk of vehicle accident (though as Zaphodsotherhead highlighted, still some risk of accident), to a much smaller risk of viral spread plus minuscule risk of vehicle accident.

OP posts:
CarolinaPink · 27/03/2020 21:56

I agree too. I live in a national park and will walk from home, but I could drive for 15 minutes to walk up a mountain and see nobody (or certainly fewer people than I'll see working from home).

CarolinaPink · 27/03/2020 21:57

Duh, walking from home, not working.

TheLadyAnneNeville · 27/03/2020 21:57

@airbags... some people do. My son has autism. He walks a certain route. It is his “circuit”. For 3 years he didn’t leave the house except to go to school which was 200 yards away... and I HAD to take him there in the car.

Sometimes, it’s not that simple.

screamer1 · 27/03/2020 21:59
  1. Accidents - a use of important resources
  2. Breakdowns. - a use of important resources
  3. If everyone had the same attitude then quiet places will become packed. They need to make these blanket rules so people listen.