For reporting large gathering

[specksdrugsandsausagerolls]

Name changed for this because it might be outing. My neighbours are horsey and have about 30 acres of land.

I bumped into the husband this morning on a dog walk and asked him what the big marquee was for (they have all kinds of horsey events on there throughout the year - camps etc). He said it was his daughters 30th so they were having a hog roast and disco tomorrow night. He then said me and my partner would be welcome to join if we wanted, I just smiled and thanked him and then as I carried on my dog walk I got more and more irate thinking of all the people coming from all over to my neighbour for this party - I wished I'd said something but honestly I was so surprised they were doing it!
His wife then invited me via FB to the FB event - it has 120 invited with 87 marked as "going".
I'm not a fun sponge, really I'm not, but with coronavirus I think this is wholly unnecessary. I'm also not usually the sort of person to think of reporting people but we're rural, we have been blessed with low numbers, I'm angry they're doing this. WIBU to report them and if not... how?!

You would have to go to 20 such gatherings to encounter a person with Covid.

That’s not how probability works!

I think her neighbour is entitled to take a calculated risk on this - er, no

I'd report it. We had a harsh lockdown recently. It was spread by selfish ppl like your neighbour.

@longwayoff

How will you feel if your neighbour receives a £10k fine? Your neighbour in a rural area. You may need their neighbourliness one day. You have to go on living there. Leave them alone.

It's their fault for organizing the gathering, not the OP's for reporting it. Don't blame the messenger.

OP, def report. These superspreader events are going to lead to the upcoming surge.

[quote iskwobel]@longwayoff the party people don't seem to have a very neighbourly attitude ... [/quote]
The virus doesn't distinguish between neighborly and not. Good intentions count for zero.

@toomanypillows

I hear people saying that as schools are going back then it doesn't matter because everyone is mixing anyway and crack on.

My understanding was that schools could ONLY open effectively (ie be allowed to freely mix in their giant bubbles) if measures were taken elsewhere to ensure that community transmission is reduced meaning the risk of kids/schoolstaff being exposed outside of school is much lower- and therefore they won't bring it into school.

Having huge gatherings, justified by the fact that schools are all bunched in together makes no sense and is likely to contribute to localised lockdown. I would contact 101 and ask their advice rather than report them. (same thing, but info gathering 😊)

Exactly.

In order to make essentials available, we have to sacrifice non-essentials. Pity so few seem able to comprehend that.

@GreyShadow

I don't know there was people like you!! Wow!

Just stay in your little bubble and let people live the life they want. As PPs have said there's 2 camps. The terrified camp and those who just want to go back to normal. Just live and let live.

Except the live-it-up camp can spread to the rest of us. Otherwise we wouldn't care if the science-denial lemmings followed one another straight off the cliff.

@SirVixofVixHall

As a pp mentioned, schools can only open while community transmission is low. Cases are rising pretty rapidly at the moment, and things like this are part of the reason why. People think it is fine to go back to normal, but unless we all keep taking precautions then levels will rise again ( v swiftly in areas that were less affected pre lockdown) . That means schools closing, and people dying. I would report it. Covid kills people, and leaves others permanently impaired. I know someone with heart problems now, and someone still at uni who is struggling with long term Covid effects. To risk increasing community spread is incredibly selfish and uncaring.

Well said.

Imagine during WWII if a few months in people had said screw the blackout; let's open the windows and party! It can't happen to us!

@Iwonder08

OP, if you feel strongly about it why don't you tell the neighbour that what he is planning to do is illegal and if he intends to proceed you are going to be reporting him to police? Any decent human being would inform a friendly neighbour rather than throw him under the bus behind his back.

Any decent human wouldn't have the party in a pandemic the first place. She owes him nothing.

I've never reported anyone but this would make me uneasy and I'd seriously consider it. Yes schools are in ridiculous bubbles, yes people are being strongly encouraged back to offices etc, but that is more reason not less to behave like your neighbours. This isn't on and it affects everyone who wants to go back to normal. Can people just be a bit bloody responsible and a bit less selfish to try and minimise the shit storm we are about to enter, so that we can get back to a more normal normal?!

No , I don’t think people did whatever they wanted in the last lockdown  - sure, there will always be selfish counts cadialky disregarding the law and others , but no, people didn’t just do what they wanted (Dominic Cummings apart)

Well, I was basing my comment on what I saw around here and that was most definitely people carrying on as normal. Day one of the so called lockdown saw people having friends and family around. For the duration of it, there were BBQs, a few house parties, friends and family coming and going, so seemed pretty normal to me.

But I'll bow to your more detailed knowledge of what I saw.

@larrygrylls
No
No
No

HTH.

YANBU. It's not permitted and dangerous. If the family come down with coronavirus it could impact you as you live so close!

I would not report it & I'd probably go.
And yes I've had family & friends who've tested positive for Covid but their symptoms have been mild. (ranging from a heavy cold to a scratchy throat to no symptoms what so ever)
I'll probably get pounced on for this but I think everything is overblown.
And before you say 40,000 plus have died from it, I bet anything that Covid wasn't the cause of death just that they'd tested positive for it.
It's time life got back to normal & if I get Covid & die from it, so be it.
I'm sure we're more than halfway there to herd immunity.
(N.B. I'm sure more people bc have died from their cancer treatment being stopped/suspended or from mental health issues)
Also like all viruses & all living things the ultimate goal of Covid is to survive & procreate. It isn't going to do that if it kills everyone.
The virus will mutate into a less harmful version (like the Spanish flu) as it gives it more chance to grow/procreate.
I'm ready for my flaming.

Also in the early days of lockdown I was terrified of Covid. My viewpoint has changed over the last few months.

I would not report. It just makes me think of 1984 shopping your neighbours like that.

I probably would not report. It sounds outdoors, in a large area..I don't see it as that much different to people meeting in the park which I think is still allowed? Not checked 'rules' for a while as not been anywhere..tend to check on the morning incase anything else has appeared, seems pointless keeping up with it all unless you actually need to.

It would possibly make me do it if they were planing 100 people over in their house though?!

didn’t want them thinking we were rule breaking and getting their knickers in a twist.

tbh chances are, if the neighbour is desperately reporting people, they will report anyway 'just incase'.

My view on reporting people will always be clouded though given my twat of a neighbour (yes, it seems others here would agree with her as 'rules' but I think this is shocking..) reported the terminally ill man down the street for having his daughter in for a cuppa when she delivered his shopping, twice, for 10 mins or so a time He has since died. But yeah, it was so horrendous fr him to want to see his child in the few months he had been given, that it had to be reported and bragged about too as if she was doing something fantastic.

@TracyBeakerSoYeah

I would not report it & I'd probably go. And yes I've had family & friends who've tested positive for Covid but their symptoms have been mild. (ranging from a heavy cold to a scratchy throat to no symptoms what so ever) I'll probably get pounced on for this but I think everything is overblown. And before you say 40,000 plus have died from it, I bet anything that Covid wasn't the cause of death just that they'd tested positive for it. It's time life got back to normal & if I get Covid & die from it, so be it. I'm sure we're more than halfway there to herd immunity. (N.B. I'm sure more people bc have died from their cancer treatment being stopped/suspended or from mental health issues) Also like all viruses & all living things the ultimate goal of Covid is to survive & procreate. It isn't going to do that if it kills everyone. The virus will mutate into a less harmful version (like the Spanish flu) as it gives it more chance to grow/procreate. I'm ready for my flaming.

There is nothing to flame because there is literally nothing to take seriously here. The Spanish Flu mutated into a more deadly strain over the summer. Did you set out to get everything wrong?

——

I’m bemused by people wringing their hands at the thought of these landowners getting a fine. I would reserve my sympathy for those who will lose their businesses and livelihoods if there’s a local lockdown

Thanks, @PhilCornwall1, for deferring to my superior knowledge

As PPs have said there's 2 camps. The terrified camp and those who just want to go back to normal.

We, no

The 3rd camp - and the largest, I would say - are those of us just trying to go about our daily business in a sensible fashion as best they can in line with the rules

"My view on reporting people will always be clouded though given my twat of a neighbour (yes, it seems others here would agree with her as 'rules' but I think this is shocking..) reported the terminally ill man down the street for having his daughter in for a cuppa when she delivered his shopping, twice, for 10 mins or so a time He has since died. But yeah, it was so horrendous fr him to want to see his child in the few months he had been given, that it had to be reported and bragged about too as if she was doing something fantastic. "

That's absolutely awful.

To the PPs who mentioned the 3rd camp, I absolutely agree! I find the whole infantile polarising of views really divisive, obstructive and minimising and wish it would stop!

I wouldn’t bother reporting them. I just wouldn’t go to the party anyway (politely decline). I’m not into parties or large social gatherings so I usually just keep myself to myself.

I’m very uncomfortable with this snitching on the neighbours mentality that has grown up around this pandemic. More uncomfortable with that than I am with the pandemic itself.

The 3rd camp - and the largest, I would say - are those of us just trying to go about our daily business in a sensible fashion as best they can in line with the rules

That's so true. This is most people I think.

I'm 'almost' doing things by the rules but have occasional considered breeches. I wouldn't dream of having or attending a big party in a tent - that's a stupid think to do.

Those saying let them crack on with it and don’t report - would this apply to any other thing someone might do on their land that could endanger public health to the point of people dying , or being left permanently impaired? Burning enormous heaps of tyres for instance? Pouring toxic waste into a river? Spraying plants with banned insecticides?
Would you not report this either ?
I feel that the way for all of us to get through this pandemic is to take individual responsibility to keep each other safe, as best we can. To not do selfish or reckless things , even when we want to, if they might indirectly injure another person.
Wear masks, help older people in our communities, forgo things that are fun but risky, for the good of all.
Then lower community transmission means that places may avoid another total lockdown. Children might be able to attend school without risking infecting a whole family of different ages and states of health. Someone might be able to keep their job, their Mum, their Grandad.