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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:
WeAllHaveWings · 29/03/2020 10:08

Yes it is rubbish in your circumstances, but not quite as rubbish as a global pandemic, killing many, and lockdown.

There has to be a simple single rule, that does the least damage. Rubbish for those with a bit of common sense that wouldn't flock to the local beauty spot, or try to bend to their own selfish interpretation.

NewYearNewJob123 · 29/03/2020 10:11

Damn right I want to know the legislation and will quote it if a Police Officer thinks they can look in my shopping bag to see if If what i've bought is essential in their view or not; or tell me I have to keep walking in a park and can't sit down on a bench for 2 minutes. Which there are reports of Police Officers doing.

GuyFawkesDay · 29/03/2020 10:12

Never mind that, all those country walkers touching gate posts, stiles etc.

Let's hope the person before you wasn't incubating CV-19 and touched the latch and you don't take it home.

Far safer just to walk out from your own home. Touch only your own front door, don't touch anything else on the walk, go home.

It's not exciting, but it's not supposed to be.

RarePackOfLooRoll · 29/03/2020 10:18

I think it's frowned upon because it is classed as moving the virus around, to a new area.
Which is what we are trying to avoid.

In theory it's a great idea but it's about the potential of spread.

This whole lock down malarkey is to break the cycle of spread.

scissy · 29/03/2020 10:19

Our local police were at a local beauty spot on Friday. Some people had driven 40 miles for their "essential exercise" Hmm. Police gave them a polite warning to piss off home and stop being so stupid. Technically I can walk to that spot from my front door. I'm avoiding it at the moment thanks to idiots driving from miles around.

ginghamstarfish · 29/03/2020 10:23

What nonsense - driving to go and walk is stupid anyway - just walk out from your home. If it's a busy area, go early morning or evening. I'm sure many of these people demanding the right to go here there and everywhere were just sitting on their arses at home before, but now insist on their 'right' to go out. For all the many sensible reasons given, on this and a million other threads, even if you can, don't drive somewhere to walk. It's selfish and unneccessary.

Ethelfleda · 29/03/2020 10:27

We are lucky we can walk from our front door. Across the road and in to a little nature reserve. It’s not a ‘beauty spot’ but it’s deserted and easy to walk around whilst complying with social distancing.
I guess if you live in a very busy spot, it would make sense to drive the shortest distance you can to somewhere not so busy.
But then, your spots wouldn’t be so busy if people weren’t flocking to them in their droves.

ShootsFruitAndLeaves · 29/03/2020 10:30

@Haplap

No don't need that thanks am more than capable of interpreting the numbers myself.

That article makes the basic error of treating test results as a model for the number infected.

They are not, not least because the number of tests is not increasing proportionately.

In order to get an idea of infections you would need to at a least randomly sample on a large scale across the country. The testing is not at all random.

What is true, and more interesting, is that the proportion of tests which are positive is increasing, however unless we know that the conditions under which the testing is conducted has not changed then that isn't as useful as it seems (it follows that as testing capacity has not scaled with infections then over time a greater proportion of those tested will be those already displaying severe symptoms).

It's worth noting by the way that the rate of increase in positive tests yesterday was much slower than previous days despite fewer tests being conducted.

Deaths aren't a very useful proxy for current infections since we know that death follows infection on average around 19 days later, and 19 days ago there was little in the way of infection control.

. The comparison to seasonal flu is such a poor understanding of a global pandemic of a new virus with a far higher mortality rate and no vaccine.

Most people aren't vaccinated against the flu. However from what we know influenza infection rates (mostly the young) and deaths (mostly the elderly), it is quite likely that certain influenza strains are more deadly to the elderly than covid-19. I suggest you look at the death rates in the 80+ group for example from season influenza. It's not pretty.

That's not to say covid-19 is flu, nor that it is harmless, just an observation that we are now likely heading for a total of deaths below recent seasonal flu, which we accept with a shrug.

And btw if the Daily Express put out stories about old people dying from flu then I imagine most people would dismiss it, even though, depending on strain, seasonal flu is highly deadly to the elderly, and there isn't a great panic about vaccines.

jasjas1973 · 29/03/2020 10:31

Let's hope the person before you wasn't incubating CV-19 and touched the latch and you don't take it home

You re better off worrying about all those groceries from your local supermarket that have been handled multiple times you are bring back to your home.

Its crazy that people are not forced to wear disposable gloves whilst shopping and to wash anything bought from Tescos etc.

Ethelfleda · 29/03/2020 10:35

You re better off worrying about all those groceries from your local supermarket that have been handled multiple times you are bring back to your home

Getting food from supermarket = necessary risk. Because people have to eat.
Touching gate posts because you simply must have the most scenic route for your exercise = unnecessary risk.

cologne4711 · 29/03/2020 10:36

Driving to places means using more petrol which means going to a petrol station and being in contact with people unnecessarily

Not if you used your noddle and filled up with petrol beforehand. Which I didn't. However, I have two cars sitting on the drive, both with at least half a tank in them (and one is a hybrid so doesn't really use petrol for the local journeys). I've not used either of them for a week but if I did need to go somewhere, I wouldn't need petrol.

Not sure why everyone is getting so upset with people buying petrol anyway. Use gloves to fill up and use a petrol station that accepts pay at pump if you can.

Libloo · 29/03/2020 10:43

I don't know what you don't understand ? Why are people so foolish or aragant that they can't listen to those who are experts and are working really hard to fight this virus, Drs nurses are putting their own lives at risk not knowing if they will see their own kids grow up because they care, why cant we just stay at home and give them a hand up, it really is that simple "Stay Home" so our kids may be bored the dog might need a walk, a very small price to pay if it means another number of people may live, grow up stop crying like baby's that can't have their own way for a time grow up! and let's try and shorten the life of this virus I'm bored I'm lonely sometimes desperate but I'm doing my part and staying home .

ShootsFruitAndLeaves · 29/03/2020 10:52

Touching gate posts because you simply must have the most scenic route for your exercise = unnecessary risk.

So is walking in the first place. You could trip and fall any time you leave the house.

Arguments about gate posts and petrol pumps are absurd.

All we have set out to do is dramatically reduce the number of daily interactions , not obsess about edge cases. It's maths,not paranoia

Jocasta2018 · 29/03/2020 10:59

When a friend currently in Paris exercises outside, it's a stroll around the block. You can't exercise more than a kilometre from your place of residence. She then does exercise at home to YouTube videos.
Obviously they're stricter in France but you can't go to the parks, the pollution has plummeted and going out to exercise is seen as just leaving the flat.

raeray · 29/03/2020 11:07

Stay local to exercise might be rubbish but being in hospital not being able to breath is worse!!

The medical teams caring for patients with no breaks and inadequate PPE or shop workers working long stressful hours would love to go for a long walk with their family I'm sure...if they can not do it so can everyone else!

Not normally one to comment like this but people still don't seem to be getting it sadly

Haplap · 29/03/2020 11:15

@ShootsFruitAndLeaves. Ok, I see you have a lot of misconceptions around proportion and growth rate whilst some understanding of the limitations of death rate. I think I can help you bridge that gap which is leading you to make terribly inaccurate conclusions. There are several downsides to using deaths as a metric. Death rate is too low to provide a warning signal in advance of there being a problem, and it is not a good early indicator of whether measures are working because it lags case data by between one and two weeks.I think you actually do understand that point, which is encouraging. Death rate can, however, provide some insight into what fraction of infections are being detected in different countries. So long as the fraction of actual cases being detected does not change, this does not affect any inference we can make about the growth rate. 35% growth is still 35% growth, whether we measure 100% of the cases or 50%. Please, please do not rely on the Daily Express as your only source of information. I can't even begin the huge correction needed to your reasoning as to why the seasonal flu comparison is so flawed. I guess it's a comforting denial that people are subscribing to.

StepAwayFromGoogle · 29/03/2020 11:24

FFS. I'll shout this one last time: THE RULES ARE NOT THAT YOU CAN'T LEAVE YOUR HOME. YOU CAN EXERCISE ONCE A DAY, YOU ARE ALLOWED TO DO THAT AS LONG AS YOU MAINTAIN SOCIAL DISTANCE AND YOU ARE ALLOWED TO DRIVE A SHORT DISTANCE LOCALLY TO DO THAT. MNs and curtain twitchers up and down the country do not get to set their own rules because they want it a different way. I'm assuming that the virologists advising the government know better than Brenda from Burnley being advised by the Daily Mail. STOP TELLING EVERYONE ELSE WHAT YOU THINK THEY SHOULD BE DOING. We have a government for that.

ShootsFruitAndLeaves · 29/03/2020 12:04

Please, please do not rely on the Daily Express as your only source of information.

I don't read the daily express,please read more carefully. What I said was that some of the stuff people are coming out with is worthy of a Daily Express headline. You evidently don't understand basic statistical concepts such as sampling.

Please go take a maths course. Open university will help.

Haplap · 29/03/2020 12:19

@ShootsFruitAndLeaves. Hey I'm sorry if I've embarrassed you. I'm relieved you were only poking fun at the Daily Express, there's hope! It's difficult sometimes to admit when you've got something wrong and you really have misunderstood the role of sampling and rate of growth. It's easy to do that if you've not got a strong grounding in maths. I was quoting the analysis from Professor Mark Hindley (UCL). He's a leading computer scientist and excellent mathematician. I think you'd really learn a lot by doing some wider reading. Go on, what's the worse that could happen? I've put links in previous posts, but happy to send you more.

Haplap · 29/03/2020 12:28

Also, I've got a maths degree, but thank you for promoting open university, they are an excellent provider.

Wheresthesanitygone · 29/03/2020 12:31

As I’ve posted yesterday I stuck to the Mumsnet rules and stayed within 1 km of home to walk my dogs at the local park, and had to pass hundreds of people walking or running there. Today I broke the Mumsnet rule, but not the government rule, and drove 2km to the huge (2.8kmsq according to Wiki) forest. I passed the very edge of the park and saw 10 people in a tiny area. I walked at the forest for my 30 min and passed 4 people, we were on the main paths but there are hundreds of smaller paths, I wouldn’t have passed anybody on those. Driving back there were too many people to count in the tiny area of park.
According to Mumsnet rules I should have walked to the forest, but according to government rules I should limit my time outside, which I did by driving there. My dogs are now happy for the rest of the day, I broke no government rules. I was not near farmland. I touched nothing other than my feet being on the ground. Even the poo bin has no lid to lift.
So, the many pp on here shouting at how irresponsible it is to drive a very short distance rather than walk from home - how is today’s walk, passing 4 people and breaking no government rules so terrible yet yesterdays walk, passing hundreds of people in a small area absolutely fine?
In an ideal world I would stay at home and exercise at home, but I have dogs whose welfare is also important, as the government agree.

Wheresthesanitygone · 29/03/2020 12:32

Sorry my paragraphs seem to have got lost in the forest

DuploTower · 29/03/2020 12:34

Not if you have an electric car that you charge at home. Duh.

SudokuQueen · 29/03/2020 12:51

You can all either listen to guidelines, exercise at home, or in a few days time the lockdown will become more strict and you won't be allowed out at all except to go to work and get food. Your choice really. Be stupid now and be treated like a child that's being grounded, or listen and you'll keep your ability to leave your house and go for a LOCAL walk. It's obvious what the right answer is, but the general public seem a bit slow at the moment.

Wheresthesanitygone · 29/03/2020 12:51

Duplo was that at me? I reckon my full tank of petrol in my small car would last several weeks at max 4km a day

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