To be fed up of people not practising social distancing in public?

[Magicra84]

When I've been out and about getting essentials I have found myself getting really pissed off at stupid people.

I was in a small freezer shop. They had a limit of how many were allowed in so all good. I was looking at cheese and deciding which one to get (no more than five seconds were I there deciding) when a man came right beside me and reached across to get what he wanted. I didn't say anything but so wished I did.

In the quiet park I was walking down a short but narrow area to get from a to b. There are loads of other routes in the park to get from a to b including a way just behind the walkway I was using. A woman started walking down the same area as me. There was no way we could've walked past each other while keeping 2 metres apart so I just turned round.

Inside a shop yesterday. They let two people in at a time. A woman was waiting outside. Right at the doorway, and as the man who was served before me left she didn't move from the doorway. In fact, she started coming through the door! Just a normal size door like a standard house door.

Beggars belief. I'm sick of people's stupidity.

I know what you mean, but the risk of catching anything just by walking past them outside is going to be pretty minimal unless they literally cough in your face.

The risk of catching something by just walking past someone is minuscule so I think you're being a bit silly. If they were coughing all over the place then yes but if not then no issue.

Chill out a bit maybe?

I agree with you. The problem is a lot of people aren’t sensible and they would start coughing all over you if the need took them. Someone spat (accidentally) on my shoe last time I was out. Social distancing would have avoided it. Utterly disgusting.

The 2m rule was supposed to be if you were talking to someone.

The virus won't jump from one person to you (or vice versa) just because you pass within a short distance of them.

In many shops the aisles aren't 2m wide so it's not physically possible to pass someone without coming closer.

An infected person either needs to cough or sneeze (or spit) over you (it's easy to spit when having an animated conversation!) or you need to touch a surface they've touched. It does not jump from person to person like a flea.

I agree op. Lots of fucking idiots. Dread going shopping because of this. Most people are fine though but some are annoying and clueless or just plain selfish

The 2m rule was supposed to be if you were talking to someone..

Sorry but what ? On which government website does it say it's ok to be within 2m as long as someone is not talking to you ? This is what really annoys me. People bend the rules, make up their own rules and out other people a risk.

I have possibly already had this virus and had significant breathing difficulties for days, wondering whether I was going to wake up the next day and wondering whether my kids were going to be ok if I died. I have underlying health conditions but not in shielding group. As far as I know, NO ONE came and stood within 2m and coughed or sneezed at me, but I still managed to catch it.

What I believe is that most of these people who can't be bothered to follow the rules, think that they are not going to get it and do not really care about whether they pass it on to other people.

I went out on VE Day (I didn't want to but my DC heard the noise outside so felt forced to). Social distancing was ok to start off with but as time went on one family persistently stood within 2m of me and my DC (both of us have underlying health conditions). I had to continually step back. My DC did not understand how far 2m was so I kept having to move her and blatantly tell her to move her away infant of other family. Even after that, they still did not tell their child to maintain distancing and was walking around offering all of us last piece of homemade cake. When their DC danced past us within 1 foot, I gave up and went back indoors and took DC with me. It's really put me off going out as it's going to get worse from Monday.

btw their DC is a teenager so old enough to follow instructions and to be told what 2m distance is.

I had to have a growth scan on Friday at the hospital and due to it being a bank holiday, the scan was in the radiology department. I was absolutely terrified and nobody kept their distance at all. Most people had face masks on but nobody moved out of the way to maintain a 2m gap and in the waiting room they had moved the chairs apart but there definitely was not a 2m gap between us.

I’m still scared I may have caught it, an old woman was wheeled into the waiting room and she was coughing all over. She had a mask on but she was coughing directly at me. My DH has reassured me it won’t have been covid, they definitely wouldn’t have let her be in a busy waiting room with covid but I’m still anxious about it now.

Have also heard someone say that this is the beginning of the end of the Pandemic. No it's not !!
Catch it and see how you cope with it when you can't breath properly for days ! Then see if you can just 'chill out'. So clearly OP I agree with you.

Just start fake-coughing. People will move PDQ

@clairefrasier agreed. My step-dad had it a few weeks ago and he was unable to get out of bed for over a week. It’s a dangerous illness for many people, not just like the common cold as some people seem to think.

Maybelatte It is - I hope you and baby are ok.

I feel your pain. OK, the WHO says it's "primarily transmitted from symptomatic people to others who are in close contact through respiratory droplets, by direct contact with infected persons, or by contact with contaminated objects and surfaces". PRIMARILY transmitted, not ONLY, and the gov has specifically told us to stay 2m apart. They haven't said that's only when stationary, it's all the time accept with members of your own household. Anyone who is symptomatic has to stay at home, which suggests the 2m rule isn't just to avoid coughers anyway. It also bugs me that this is an "at least" distance yet people still get too close when they can easily stay further away. Personally I don't want people huffing and puffing past me at 2m, I'd prefer them to be a lot further away, and it's usually me that gets out of their way to keep SDing.

I'm a very keen walker so have had to rein it in massively to adhere to the rules, and now I don't even enjoy the few times I do go out because every single time I've had people getting too close when they could avoid it. I've become really tetchy about it.

The Sunday Times reported today that Chinese studies have found that the virus being transmitted by walking past someone is basically zero. The only case they found in China of outside transmission was from someone having a long conversation at close distance.

I had a hospital appr recently and as i was walking the corridors i was sticking close to the wall, wearing two face masks as im on immunosuppressants, also heavily pregnant, obviously trying to avoid beind near people. It was almost like some people made a beeline for me. Many of the nurses even walked so close chatting away and brushed past me. Really really annoyed ans worried me.

Yikes typos

2m is the furthest something could potential hit you from if they coughed or sneezed. If they’re not coughing or sneezing there’s really minimal risk. Even the WHO only says 1m is necessary. From a ‘not following the rules’ perspective it’s annoying and I appreciate that, but it’s not really something to worry about

You have to be in someone's presence for 15 minutes before you're at risk. And that's only if they have the virus obviously. You're not going to get it by walking past someone.

YANBU. I hate it when people invade your safe space. I was in a supermarket the other day patiently waiting for someone in front of me to make their selection and the person behind me puffed and got between us to get what he wanted, it's very selfish. If I transmit this to my parents who I look after they will NOT survive it due to bad lung and heart conditions.

Amazing amount of virologists on here with different views about why the experts are wrong, where did all these random facts come from?

And I am so fed up of the word social distancing.

I mean you’ve been going out and alllllllllll these people don’t social distance, are you dead? No, do you have symptoms? No

The chances of you getting sick from simply walking past someone or them learning over for a second to grab some chicken thighs is fucking tiny

clairefrazier if you are vulnerable you were foolish going out in the first place and even more foolish staying as it got worse. I am so horrified and angry at the pictures I have seen today about VE Day events around the country. And the media headlines mid week and however briefed them were being ridiculous.

P1nkHeartLovesCake I suspect you would be more fed up if you were trying to breathe but couldn't and dying a horrible death....or your relatives were .