To be following the guidance still?

[shakeituntilyoumakeit]

everyone I have spoken to appears to be breaching the rules in some way, some apologetically, some not, some big, some small, from people who have carried on seeing partners all the way through this to friends presently at their holiday home. Am I the dickhead here for doing what I’m told? two of my household are sheilding and we’ve been invited to two parties this weekend.

Some people just can’t cope with themselves like the rest of us can. We won’t get any medals for it, but hopefully we won’t get Covid either.

"I thought all the competitive misery stuff had faded out!"

I presumed he was going to see his in laws so the DC could play with their cousins and not having fun for himself.

As for competitive misery - it's not me who said he can only meet with one household a day, the poster said that was the rule where she is, so I'm wondering why it's so hard to keep to that rule. I think it's a fair question.

"We won’t get any medals for it, but hopefully we won’t get Covid either."

It doesn't work like that. Other people not following the rules leads to higher risk for all of us, not just to them.

"@Gwenhwyfar how very 1984. Ask what you want, but it must be within the "rules".

These rules are enforceable by police so they are akin to laws. You don't get advice on other lawbreaking on MN. So there's no 'where can I buy drugs now?' posts. Is that 'very 1984'?

"Also what's with the once a week shopping - was that ever a rule or one made up by the sticklers? "

That was never a rule. We were told to shop as infrequently as possible and I think car drivers took that to mean once a week. As a non-driver, I could never shop for a week at a time. I've bought one of those old lady trollies specifically for lockdown shopping though.

Following the rules here. Only going out to the supermarket, not seeing anyone else, had a few socially distanced walks with my neighbour and that's it. The only difference is that DP's kids are back at school so their mum no longer has an excuse to stop him seeing them so they have resumed the usual weekend contact. I'm still only working via zoom.

I've broken the rules. I've been going to see my mum and hugging her. She suffers from depression and is going through a bad patch. Her mental health is more important to me than "the rules" and I make no apologies for it.

Nothing wrong with sticking to the guidelines if you're comfortable with it but I don't judge people who aren't either.

It doesn't work like that. Other people not following the rules leads to higher risk for all of us, not just to them. not so much if we’re sticking to the rules it doesn’t.

If people choose to go out and the numbers go up then they are the ones most likely to catch COVID. If I stay home then I am less likely to be one of them.

TBH it baffles me that in March practically everyone on here was screeching that schools should close now that we need to go into lockdown now that two meters social distancing should be applied.

And now the government are being ludicrous by keeping schools closed, and by not reducing the lockdown completely, and the government are being forced to review the two meter rule because of pressure from the media, even though despite the fact that the WHO say that one meter should be the minimum, science shows that between one and two meters doubles the risks of passing on COVID.

The death rate is dropping gradually but the infection rate isn’t. There is still a rate of between 1400 and 1800 new cases a day and that has been consistent for the past few weeks. That’s still an infection rate of up to 10000 a week. Minimal compared to the UK population but it’s still on a knife-edge.

Interesting that people talk about how important their emotional wellbeing is, but obviously if you’re shielding then that’s different and you should be staying at home and just accept that that’s how it is for you. Just as long as the lower risk people get back to normal eh?

And tbh as much as people on here say that they don’t care whether other people are following the rules, I don’t particularly care if people who blatantly choose not to follow the rules catch COVID. You take the risk you pay the price.

"If people choose to go out and the numbers go up then they are the ones most likely to catch COVID. If I stay home then I am less likely to be one of them."

Those of us following the rules are still allowed to go out to the supermarket and for a walk and (where I am) to meet one other household outside. If the people living near me are having big parties and taking their Corona germs to my supermarket, that obviously can impact me too.

@Gwenhwyfar, the laws around drug dealing etc are there for very clear reasons, that everyone agrees with. The rules around Covid, have been contradictory and the chief science offers have ok'd the breaking of the rules by Ministers, so there wasn't a reason for them, then, who knows? Whitty and Valance don't, their nodding dogs.

Advice and risks have changed, everyone needs to keep up with them.

A lot of people on here who've stated they've broken the rules and gone to help out, or needed help because of pregnancy/age etc, haven't broken the rules.

I didn't break the rules by carrying on providing childcare for my key worker DD. This was covered on the BBC.

The 'rules' were spread by Chinese Whispers (pardon the obvious pun) and few were actual guidance.

My specialist Nurse advised me that they were being cautious at the start with the shielding letters, but I'm not at particular risk. Now we know more.

For most people this will be a cold, so it's ludicrous to suggest staying at home and not having contact with people. Especially for our children.

I'm putting off doing anything outside childcare, shopping (infrequently) and having to travel on public transport. We'll see if the protests, shops opening etc causes anymore deaths, because having had serious pneumonia, just getting this doesn't scare me. We've built up a fear against a flu.

OP, make your decisions, based on your risk, but don't be so bloody selfish to suggest that because you need to shield, everyone should live as you have chosen to.

I am astounded that so many are sticking to the rules!
Doubling a negligible risk by reducing distancing to one metre is still a negligible risk. That's if the person you are a metre away from even has the virus which is also most unlikely.

"You take the risk you pay the price."

Again, that's now how it works. if you help spread it, you also spread it to those who are following the rules. I think it gives some people carte blanche to do what they want if they see it as you say i.e. 'I'm willing to take the risk'. It's not about the risk to yourself, it's the risk to everyone.

I’m forming a social bubble with my parents despite not being a single parent. My husband works 12 hour days 6 days a week and as a family we need that interaction with grandparents again. We have only seen them waving over the garden gate since lockdown started.

@Gwenhwyfar, or they can build up an immunity, be able to donate blood plasma (as my DD is doing) and be of help to you.

We've been told that there's little chance of transmission in shops, if we are just passing each other.

For most people this will be a cold, so it's ludicrous to suggest staying at home and not having contact with people. Especially for our children. Jesus. Are people still touting that shite?

While obviously for most people who are in the lower risk categories they are unlikely to die, most who have had it will tell you that it’s very much not just a cold and that symptoms are horrible, even if you’re generally in good health.

I’m at risk and have been told that if I catch it likely will die, however even if I wasn’t at risk, having had e.g. flu in the past, it’s not something I would want to catch regardless.

We're still following the rules. My DH decided he'd do the shopping - only about every 12 days. We go out for a walk daily.
I had to go for a root canal checkup on Thursday which seemed strange to me as I haven't been in a shop or anywhere since before lockdown. However, I decided any risk was minimal as it was a very sterile environment and they had only just opened up!!!!

"@Gwenhwyfar, the laws around drug dealing etc are there for very clear reasons, that everyone agrees with."

Everyone agrees with? Since when? Has there been a referendum?
You don't get to pick and choose which laws you follow.

"A lot of people on here who've stated they've broken the rules and gone to help out, or needed help because of pregnancy/age etc, haven't broken the rules."

I wasn't just talking about this thread. There are other examples on the site.

@Gwenhwyfar, but you don't, that's the point. If you practice hand hygiene, a sensible approach with the shopping that you take home, there's hardly a risk of transmission. Was your friend scrupulous about hand hygiene?

How is your friend? Has he been hospitalised?

I go to work, come home, rarely go out (quick shops where needed). DP is WFH, rarely goes out. DD (16) meets two friends in the park or our garden). MIL moved in on that Monday night in March, still here and can stay as long as she likes cos I bleedin love her.
We’re coping fine with this as we are. Thankfully work is keeping us busy, we have a nice home and garden and our jobs should be fine. DD is less worried about things now too.

"most who have had it will tell you that it’s very much not just a cold and that symptoms are horrible, even if you’re generally in good health."

It varies a lot. Of the non-hospitalised cases I've heard of, some people have had even less than a cold, but still tested positive, others have had something more like a bad flu and taken a while to recover. A GP friend who was a gym bunny is now under the care of a cardiologist - that doesn't happen to healthy people with a cold.

"f you practice hand hygiene, a sensible approach with the shopping that you take home, there's hardly a risk of transmission. Was your friend scrupulous about hand hygiene?

How is your friend? Has he been hospitalised?"

He says he was scrupulous yes, disinfecting the shopping and everything. He's had a very, very mild case, but he's posted the text on FB so I know for a fact he tested positive.

We followed the rules to the tee for months. I even avoided going to the post office for weeks despite it still remaining open because that was back when the government were telling us essential outings only. I didn't see anybody or do anything besides food shop and a walk around the block. Neighbours were breaking rules left, right and centre but I stayed strong.

I still follow the rules most of the time (as opposed to all the time which is what I was doing previously). The only time I 'break lockdown' is when I see one friend and their one child outdoors & this has only happened 3 times so far & the first time was recent. My toddler - who I spend a lot of time looking after and occupying alone while my fiancé is out working nhs frontline - loves every second.

Judge me for 'breaking lockdown' if you wish but I really don't care. What I've done is nowhere near as bad as all the relentless busy parties and all sorts that you see on the news and read about on here. I try to be a good person and we haven't seen a single family member - not even from a distance - since January.

@AlternativePerspective, it isn't shite. Those not following guidance are the people who this will be a cold for, if that. I'm in the shielding category, I shook it off, my healthy 22 year old had the equivalent of the flu.

It was scary at the start, when we knew very little. Now we do, we've got to get over the fear of this, because we've got to live with it, come Winter.

Perhaps because I've worked in adult disabilities and health care and my father and grandfather were from undeveloped countries and I have friends/ family from across Africa, I find it easier to put this in perspective. This virus isn't a massive threat to life. Our under investment in the NHS is the threat to our life. For many people in the UK this is the first time they've become aware of a health issue and it's causing anxiety. But many of us have got on with a lot more serious stuff in our lives , so we aren't going to live in the same fear.

@Gwenhwyfar, so your friend has had the equivalent of a cold and now his immune system may have been set up to protect him for Winter, so what is the issue?