To think that for most people this should be easy

[FuckPolitenessSSDGM]

The news of the increasing strain on the NHS, the deaths of clinical workers, the videos of ITU nurses in tears and the lack of PPE is making me very sad and I feel that the NHS workers have been tossed to the lions. The government were underprepared, haven't taken adequate steps, and now all frontline staff are facing a deadly illness without the right equipment or facilities to help those in need. I just want to cry for them. I have a lot of friends and family members who are all frontline NHS workers and I'm extremely anxious about their health and safety. The fact the government are now threatening to ban outdoor exercise entirely means a lot of people are still not following the guidance. It makes me so angry . How hard is it for the vast majority of people to just bloody stay at home? It's literally the easiest contribution to a global threat you could ever have so why can't these people just stay at home?

I went out for my exercise today.

I would have preferred to go now, when the sun is shining. But instead I went very early morning to minimise my chances of seeing anyone at all, let alone the risk of close proximity. (It worked.)

For fucks sake why can't people use a bit of common sense and not all swarm out at lunchtime on a hot day, glibly assuming they'll be on a real life set of 28 days later?

Got it now pop

I was just being very slow

I'm going to be difficult here, sorry! What about those without access to social media, internet etc? Surely the government needs to send an original to every household so it can be copied? Such important information shouldn't be just for those with internet access.

The problem will be that those who follow the rules will, if they are able to, continue to follow the rules, even if they are stricter. The ones who don't won't give a rats arse about stricter rules and still won't follow them.

My next nearest neighbours live about half a mile away across a river. I can see her back garden from mine. She lived alone until the lockdown, but now seems to have a guy living with her. Fine. She's had decades of anorexia and alcohol abuse, which is sad. She's obviously had horrendous mental health problems and that has led to significant damage to her organs and immune system. So she's shielded.

Last night she was hosting a bbq with five other adults who do not live at that address, and several more children. They were not remotely local - I live in an isolated area and know for a fact that none of them live withing five miles in any direction! They are still there today - I suspect they have travelled from a fair distance and are here for the Easter holidays.

Sometimes one has to wonder if the human race actually needs culling?

But at the same time, I can’t really see how staying within your own space, with no symptoms, not touching anything in a huge open air piece of land is going to be a big virus spreader

Because we, the general public, are a pretty stupid (and selfish) bunch. Making one, simple, headline rule is far far easier to understand than a myriad of different options and exclusions.

If the gov had done the latter, you can bet your hat that there would be thousands more people out and about, each one citing their own special reason why it's allowed. It would be impossible.

I'm going to be difficult here, sorry! What about those without access to social media, internet etc? Surely the government needs to send an original to every household so it can be copied? Such important information shouldn't be just for those with internet access.

You are sledgehammer/nutting this.
It's a waste of resources and time to mail every single individual household to cater for the very small minority who don't have internet/ or watch tv/or listen to news/or have f+f/or have local neighbour help/or who speak to nobody at all ever etc

I expect if the aged, genuinely and completely uninformed Monsieur was entirely and fully oblivious and the gendarmerie caught him, they would use discretion, give him a template form and send him home.

He's not going to be dragged to the public square for a beating.

I not sledgehammer/nutting anything. I'm saying that not everyone has access to the internet and, if a form is really so important, then it should be made easily available to everyone. If Boris can send a bloody letter to every household (not that I've received anything) then they could send out actual important information. BTW I didn't make it clear, I'm talking about what would happen here, other countries are probably better organised!

He's not going to be dragged to the public square for a beating.

Just a beating? That wouldn't be enough for a lot of Mumsnetters you know!

I haven't received a letter either. Not that I mind. I don't need to read his piffle and waffle.

Just a beating? That wouldn't be enough for a lot of Mumsnetters you know!

Quite right, apologies

For most people yes. For some people, its hard. For those people in already significantly overcrowded housing its a nightmare.

I expect if the aged, genuinely and completely uninformed Monsieur was entirely and fully oblivious and the gendarmerie caught him, they would use discretion, give him a template form and send him home

That's probably true.

We are very, very rural here and I would imagine that the local Mayors have made sure that all residents have been given copies if they are likely to need them. The postie still comes so they would be able to deliver forms if necessary. When the strikes and burning roadblocks were in full flow the local posties were given training about how to make sure that the very elderly and isolated were OK.

Sending a letter by post wouldn't really have worked because the forms have changed at least three times since lockdown began. The time requirement was added and the wording for the "permitted" reasons has been altered to leave no wiggle room.

Me too @hopefullyanonymous, but you're not allowed to say that because "it's for your own good". I'm worried about what freedoms won't be returned when this is all over. I'm also a little concerned that there's so little being said about the removal of our freedoms.

@NailsNeedDoing There are a lot of people that are no longer allowed to work and who live alone, it’s actually quite a huge ask to expect those people to have absolutely no human interaction whatsoever for weeks on end
I live alone, and, no, I can’t get a hug, but I’m not short of contact. I have phone and internet and talk to people on those all the time.
As a separate point (I’m not elderly) many elderly people have been isolated like this for years and there’s been very little in the way of horror at the situation.

I am a lazy, mild-mannered introvert. For me this is incredibly easy.

However, I work with a number of students with ADHD and I can’t imagine how difficult this is for someone with hyperactivity. I also know lots of people who are extroverts and feel a deep-seated need for the company of others. I also know people who go to the gym twice a day, every day. Everyone has differently wired brains which has a massive impact on what we would consider to be essential to our survival.

When I am struggling to understand these people, I imagine being forced to run the London marathon in a massive noisy crowd for weeks on end with no escape - that would a be a nightmare for me. It must be a nightmare for them.

Is it an excuse to break the rules? No. But I can understand their difficulty, even if I myself find it easy.

Psychologically it is the same reason people still smoke when they no the damage it is doing, or drink too much, or are unable to lose weight or eat healthily. If we as humans made logical decisions based on health and risk, we do a lot of the things we do.

Behaviourally there are lots of factors. Temptation, feeling that you won't get caught, the abstract risk that it is not directly related to what you are doing (so put hand in fire = hand hurts, pain immediate. Go out an extra time, nothing immediate and danger is abstract and lags in time).

And the vast majority of people are following the guidance, but it means that those who aren't are more visible. Where I live it is still very quiet outside, very few cars, not many people, everyone is social distancing appropriately.

It makes for an extremely interesting social study of what the public will accept when they are sold the idea that it's for their own benefit
Yep. It's quite alarming. And while I can completely understand why people are bitching about their neighbour having the grandkids over, I'm agog at all the petty enforcers who have crawled out of the woodwork and want to enforce the guidelines not just to the letter but also far beyond.

I completely understand the current restrictions and am doing my best to abide by them and I am climbing the fucking walls. It should on the face of it be 'easy' for me but full lockdown with no exercise is something I really dread.