To think at this point they may as well just end lockdown?

[Ursula2001]

I'm not one of those corona moaners that gets enraged about people meeting two friends rather than the stipulated one for a socially distanced walk. Or people that sit in the garden with a mate rather than go to a busy park.

However, after returning to work a few weeks back I've noticed things change massively since the rules were relaxed. Of course, this was to be expected and the DC saga hasn't helped, but it seems that people are now pretty much going about their summer holidays as they usually would, aside from a bit of social distancing and not being able to go to the pub (although I've seen a good few people drinking pints in pub gardens this week, which makes me assume some pubs are allowing customers to drink their takeout on the premises - maybe this is a loophole as the bar is still technically closed).

I'm just not sure many people would be at much greater risk in a socially distanced office now after seeing the throngs of people out today. It would be better for the economy and from a selfish POV better for people like me - I've been out with our truck drivers doing site assessments this week and most of our customers are absolutely heaving (we do a lot of newsagents and supermarkets etc). Trying to park the wagon has been a nightmare and today's driver said that the daytime is pretty much as busy as normal now as lots of people who'd usually be at work are out buying booze and drinking it in the park. Certainly, a large proportion of people seemed to be walking out with packs of beer today (can tell from the way they stretch the plastic bag).

I'd sooner see these people back at work than thronging around the town centre, but of course that's a vested interested on my part. But for sure people are still just as cunty on the road as ever! All this saucepan bashing for key workers last night but nobody seems able to wait 30 secs for a truck to complete a manoeuvre without laying on the horn (too desperate to get back and drink the stuff we deliver!).

Whilst I agree with it what your saying and part of me agrees, however I do think there will be another spike resulting in a increase in morbidly and mortality.
The vulnerable remain at risk and I don’t think enough is known about this virus and lack of leadership is resulting in many people taking risks. I hope I am wrong.

YANBU.

Nobody’s sticking to anything much, it seems. Or else they’re engaging in mental gymnastics to justify various workarounds.

Half the country are using Cummings as their moral get out.

Time to just drop it all and leave it to individual choice now. Anything else just draws attention to the government’s loss of control.

I think people have pretty much thought, ‘stuff it, why should I bother if others don’t?’ There’s also some people thinking that their rights have been infringed by lockdown, and others who think that because they’re low risk they’ll be fine even if they do get it. Also, the rules are so vague and wooly that it’s easy to twist them into something that meets your needs. The problem is that when other countries eased lockdown they had the virus under control. The UK does not. The numbers are coming down but there are still 2-3 hundred deaths a day. Thousands are still infected. I fear this latest loosening of the lockdown is just a distraction so we’ll forget about the whole Cummings fiasco.

Indeed. I was in nine different postcodes yesterday and all without exception were heaving, aside from the more suburban residential areas on the outskirts, for obvious reasons.

I know three people that are now ‘breaking’ the rules, all getting grandparents to look after children when they are working because schools aren’t open. These are all pretty straight laced people and not normally rebels at all. They only started doing this after the Cummings saga (although it has coincided with a lot more people being called back to work).

The numbers are coming down but there are still 2-3 hundred deaths a day.

Is it per day? Isn't there a delay between a death occurring and it being reported in the figures?

I think the Cummins saga was dropped to make people end lockdown themselves thus absolving Bojo of the responsibility of ending lockdown and the possible consequences.

I think the Cummins saga was dropped to make people end lockdown themselves thus absolving Bojo of the responsibility of ending lockdown and the possible consequences.

I posted a very similar thing the other day and was told I was being unreasonable (yeah ok, whatever).

Yep, I agree with you, people will now go about their business as normal and if more people pop off, he will see it as it wasn't his fault and can come on TV and bang his desk, quickly followed by the sneering Head Boy (Hancock) telling us off.

@DysonFury

I think you might be right, although it hasn’t occurred to me till I read your comment. It would also explain why it took so long to come out, and why BoJo has resolutely stool by him.

The numbers are coming down but there are still 2-3 hundred deaths a day

No it’s not, in England it’s twenty odds. The numbers you see reported daily are not daily totals, they are simply what’s reported in that day. It takes time for them to notify family, get permission etc.

And people who have sadly died, have likely been in hospital for about a month.

It’s not deaths that’s the critical figure, it’s hospital admissions.

I definitely think the government are trying to make us end lockdown too.

But on all honesty, I think more people need to take responsibility for themselves.

Far too many people moaning 'I went to the garden centre and it was busy and I felt uncomfortable while I was there

If somewhere is really, busy and you think its a risk, leave.

If you think sending kids to grandparents is less of a risk, than school. Send them to their grandparents.

We are as individuals and families need to make judgement calls for ourselves.

And some of the rules are a bit odd. My best friends garden backs on to a field where we normally walk the dogs. We have been able to meet and walk the dogs in the field. But cant do it 6ft away in her garden on the other side of the fence. In her large garden.

We had decided next time, I would go in her garden for a coffee. Now its going to be allowed anyway.

I am going to visit my shielding mother. She will sit in her extension with the French doors open and we will sit 3 or 4 meters away on her patio. There's no risk to her or us and it will benefit her mental health.

As a whole in my immediate area people social distance. In the nearest supermarkets they don't and never have. So I have always driven to a much larger supermarket, much further away. They are great at doing controlling it and still are.

It's pretty pointless now anyway

Fortunately we didnt seem to get a VE day spike so maybe we wont get a second wave at all maybe it was never as contagious as they thought 🤷‍♀️ it's a new virus we know nothing about

The VE Day spike didn't happen. The incidence in the community is much lower. Lots of new cases are coming from care homes and hospitals, not community transmission.

I also think people are unaware of how their towns/cities would have looked with people out exercising because they aren't working. Humans usually spend more time indoors than we are doing right now. So you think places look busy when they aren't. There are still lots of (fools) not going out.

I'm worried about the people who haven't been out who aren't used to new handwashing routines etc spreading it.

Not where I live. Granted it's in Wales where we are still in lockdown but its quiet, the streets are pretty empty, the supermarkets are busy-ish but people are staying well apart. Our river yesterday, which is usually heaving when it's hot out, had maybe a dozen groups staying well apart.

Having said that the exception is the teens, who have definitely seemed to have had enough. But even they were avoiding other people.

It's not everywhere. My village has been doing amazing.

I work for the NHS and still see what Covid can do first hand so perhaps I have a different perspective on this - so I will continue to follow the medical and scientific advice until there is an effective vaccine or no reported case of infection for 3 months. I also intend to find another job , hopefully in hospital or clinical administration. I guess it’s like being in a war, unless you were there you really don’t even have s clue. But that’s just my opinion, based on first hand experience.

Agree 100% OP. It's like a permanent bank holiday around here, people out and about, drinking and picnicking in the parks in groups.

I have no problem with that per se but I am cynically wondering how many of those who are happy to be out socially with friends and family will dig their heels about going back to work on the grounds of H&S?

I think we need shielding for older and at risk people then everything else should carry on as normal.

To be honest, that is what we should have done in the first place, instead of having a lockdown which is destroying the economy, the economic destruction will probably will more people in the long term :(

I agree with you OP. I think the DC saga just put the tin lid on it all and all messages from the government will now fall on deaf ears.

As a PP said it’s up to individuals assessment of risk and they can act accordingly but the whole scenario stinks when you think that schools are still closed, meaning hundreds of families are under enormous strain, and the economy is sliding down the toilet.

That’s where the government has to act definitively. Pissing about and half arsing schools opening by devolving decision making to Local Authorities and putting the High Street on lockdown for an arbitrary timeframe is making the decision makers look stupider than ever.

In short, and in some part thanks to DC, the people have spoken and the overwhelming majority have said “enough”.

So let the country take the risk and act accordingly should there be a proper second wave.

The rules don't make sense. I can't visit my parents but I was admitted to hospital overnight with reduced movements and no idea when I can leave.
Am I not more at risk in a ward with 3 other pregnant women (and I don't know if they've followed the guidance or not) plus numerous other staff and patients around?
I know it's different bu actually was planning to visit my parents next week and now I feel that once I get home I'll have to isolate incase I have picked something up.

Tbh I no longer understand the rules or the figures. I'm largely staying home but only because I want to sort every bit of house and garden before I'm back at work.

If I was in a flat I'd be out and about, being alert.

No. I'm not putting my health in the hands of this government of lunatics. I'm not keen on being their guinea pig.

I'm able to WFH so I don't need to see anyone for a while yet. Kids won't be at school. I'll keep on getting food collections.

I think we have to accept that it will start getting busier and people will be out and about more, that is inevitable and it is actually ‘allowed’. The concern for me is that in these situations there is risk, even if people stay 2m apart there is still a risk of passing it, more so when people are using each other’s chairs/crockery/cups/condiments/wine bottle/toilets etc. How many people are actually going to follow infection control measures while having a BBQ round their friends house? Will they wipe everything down between ‘users’? Will they wash hands frequently? Will they stay 2m apart at all times? There is the behavioural psychology of it too- oh if I’m allowed to use your toilet then I can sit on your sofa for 10 mins/stand in your kitchen etc which leads to breaking the rules set out and increases infection. This disease hasn’t gone away, yes the rate has dropped but it is still there and can easily rise again the same way the R rose from 0.7 to 3 before the peak, that has not changed. It makes no diff to me as all our family are at least 3hrs away so we still won’t see them, but it concerns me that some people don’t understand how to do these things safely

People focused on the death figures - you realise that they are a reflection of around four weeks ago as that’s roughly how long it takes to die from this? Also there is a time lag with reporting in a lot of cases.

Here’s a view from another side. I live in a small village in Hampshire and most people are still isolating at home, doing a weekly shop and walking or cycling with family, plus an occasional friend turning up for a chat in the garden. No parties. Most are working, very carefully.
We had one case of cv in the village early on, very ill and she is still recovering. No-one is underestimating the risk here.

From the phone conversations on the buses, in my part of West London it would appear it was always business as normal. People ringing friends to invite them over etc etc. My early morning shift bus is 3 times fuller than before CV.