If you're still sticking to ALL the rules/guidance - why?

[RaspberryCoulis]

Will start by saying I am not sticking to the covid rules any more. Obviously I can't go places which aren't open. But we have had people in the house, kids are going out with friends probably in larger numbers than are permitted, we're crossing local authority boundaries which is supposedly illegal in Scotland. Why? Because we've been in lockdown for a year, cases here are very low, and some things are more important than Covid.

But on every thread there are people claiming that they are sticking rigidly to every single rule and guideline, never breaking ANY rule. They would probably say I was a selfish covid-denier who was hellbent on murdering their granny.

So if you're sticking to all the guidelines and rules, without fail - why? People who are clinically extremely vulnerable (officially) I can understand in part if they're not vaccinated. But the rest of you? Is it because you're scared of Covid, or scared of your neighbours, or scared of breaking the law by mistake?

Because this week my colleague’s perfectly healthy, 30-something-year-old sister in law died of Covid, leaving behind a two year old son. She’s the second healthy woman in her 30s I know of to die of covid. The first died in August, and had two small children.

@mn81987

Totally agree with you OP, I bet all those saying they've stuck to it have bent the rules slightly to suit them! I'm back to doing what I want and having a lovely time!

So selfish.

@BlackbirdOtto

People breaking rules are:

1. Thick
2. Selfish and self absorbed.

If everyone broke the rules we would never get out of lockdown and there would be no hospital beds . Karma karma karma !

This doesn't make you seem very bright either screeching "karma" like that. you do know karma is bullshit by the way?

Following the rules has nearly killed me several times. I have friend in my house once every 2 or 3 weeks for the sake of my mental health (which was in free fall).
If that makes me selfish or a granny killer, then so be it.

@RaspberryCoulis

To be fair, it’s more akin to manslaughter. Same as speeding and killing someone. Still not something I’d want on my conscience.

I am following those rules - but realise that I am lucky it is so easy/convenient for me to. I wfh and have the space in the house for a dedicated office room, the house has a great garden and is in a little village with fields and fields of walking space from my doorstop. I have family and dogs here and a well stocked larder. No kids to worry about. The same income I always had.

Not everyone is the same position so I can't get too worked up about others who are bending rules to get by.

(Still think this thread was sneery right out the gate, though)

Depends on how we're defining sticking to the rules and guidelines - there have been some interesting interpretations...

Mainly, I've stuck to things because I've little desire or incentive to do otherwise (and I've little desire to care how other people manage to get through this). As much as it upsets and fucks with my health at times, my lifestyle hasn't changed much because of COVID and I both don't have living kin within a hundred miles of me anymore and I'm not anyone outside of my household's social priority to the point they'd break the rules to see me. I had a lovely socially distanced picnic last summer with one other household, and that's about it for in-person social interaction for me in the last year beyond my household that wasn't medical or house move related and very rarely shopping.

My household has 7 people. We're not technically overcrowded, but between that, 1 of them at college, 2 at secondary, and 2 of the adults working in hotels near our local hospital, we're already a higher risk household in terms of potential to get infected from multiple sources and then spread it to multiple sources.

I don't think I'm a good person, certainly not better than others, I've probably pushed the edges of the spirit of the law while trying to move to a more accessible home, but I've just not really had any incentive to break the rules - the things I most want to do, like going to the community centre or events to meet people, isn't happening so I've no idea what I would actually want to do that's possible that would be outside the rules.

I mean, I've gone outside the 3 miles around my house once in the last year for the Life in the UK test and I'm going to next month so my 16 year old can get his teenage boosters finally as that was the closest place to get an appointment for it. Neither of those did I want to do, it was just what was required. Even in a normal year, it's pretty rare for me to go ten miles from my house.

TL;DR: As has been said on similar threads about those of us who follow the rules, yes, I'm boring and few people care to see me.

Looking at covid stats it does depend where you live, work, if you live work in the centre of a covid tornado then batten down the hatches, stick to all the rules for your and others sake. If like me you live in a rural zone, where you see very few people, your family see very few people then use your noodle. I live in the uber rural bubble, if I lived in Birmingham as my brother does with his family I would be far more wary.

I'm following the rules because I don't want to be responsible for anyone else suffering, and because I understand the risks of mutation for public health going forward.

Although it's also because it's no hardship for me to avoid other humans - it's pretty much my default status. Covid hipster: social distancing before it was popular.

@HowManyToes

Because I’m not a dickhead who thinks I can pick and choose which laws apply to me.

I'm not sure MN is the right place for you.

@Megan2018

Because I’m not a selfish twat. The rules are easy to follow and no big deal. It’s just a tiny bit of life to be mildly inconvenienced for the good of society.

There are people who have no underlying clinical vulnerabilities, who are not elderly, who don't have elderly parents and so on. These people have been expected in some cases to give up their incomes, their homes, their children's education - all so that people they have never met and will never meet don't catch Covid. They are expected to sacrifice their own children's wellbeing for the "greater good".

"No big deal" my arse.

I can't think of any other situation in which even one parent would agree to do this. It's a form of collective madness.

That being the case, I would not say that people are "selfish twats" who don't stick to the rules.

Is it because you're scared of Covid, or scared of your neighbours, or scared of breaking the law by mistake?

I'm sticking to them as far as possible with my job. Because the whole point of a rule like this is that each individual has a responsibility to respect and try to follow it. And I way don't want to endanger myself.

Yes, maybe we could all get away with x, y and z - but lots of people are playing fair, so I feel I should too.

And I really don't want to fall at the last. Having got this far in a devastating pandemic, however you frame it, I was lucky enough to be get a spare vaccine and I'm keeping myself safe until the next one. For my children, for myself. Life is too sweet and I have too much to do for me to take unnecessary risks.

I'm not scared of breaking a law. Or of my neighbours. I'm scared of not knowing how my body might react to a Covid infection, because I can't know that in advance. And also I simply don't want to be a bad citizen. I was taught to play ball nicely. Not to run off with it and who gives a f about the others.

In what way is it "risky" for DH and I to drive 30 minutes to the next council area for a walk rather than drive 5 minutes within our own council area? Makes no sense.

Travel has its own risks. Reduction in travel is generally to reduce the number of accidents NHS normally deals with. Fewer road traffic accidents for example.

[quote user1471539324]@RaspberryCoulis

To be fair, it’s more akin to manslaughter. Same as speeding and killing someone. Still not something I’d want on my conscience.[/quote]
No it isn't. If you speed and hit someone, you are very likely to kill them.

If your teenagers have their friends round, nobody is actually likely to die as a result.

Because -

a) we need to keep the number of cases as low as possible as otherwise there is the chance of vaccine-escaping variants appearing, against which vaccines do NOT work. Hence we would be back to Square One as previous vaccinations would be useless and we'd be literally starting everything from fresh again, once they have created a vaccine that does work.

b) Long Covid - 10% of people are getting this - fit, young people - and lots that only had mild disease - e.g. my GP friend, with young kids - fit and well before, now massively reduced lung cappacity, aged 40. And no sign of improvement. So life-changing effects for a massive number of people, that the NHS will have to look after, on top of everythng else they have to deal with.

c) This will last for years if we keep the infections high and undo all the good work with new variants. Better to just suck it up now so we can get out of this properly for once and for all. You are not really living a normal life now anyway so do you want spend the next 5 years not being able to go anywhere, surely it would be better to just knuckle down now instead of dragging this out for years longer?

Please, for all our sakes.

[quote SpringTimeDream]@SurferRona

It isn't 5 in 10K though as you say - it is 5 in 100,000 in my area - yep 5 in ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND PEOPLE...... think on that for a bit

That's despite many people mixing households now! Time for people to act normal again[/quote]
Nah, doesn’t change my key points at all- did you not understand my post? Can I explain it is simpler terms for you?

@BlackbirdOtto

People breaking rules are:

1. Thick
2. Selfish and self absorbed.

If everyone broke the rules we would never get out of lockdown and there would be no hospital beds . Karma karma karma !

As for this: karma is on a par with astrology. I.e. complete bollocks.

There are people within my family and friendship group who think they are special and that the rules don't apply to them. Unsurprisingly they tend to be the less intelligent people. Any respect or liking I had for them before is greatly diminished now.

I am generally following the rules. But am sure there will be some I have broken unknowingly.

Am in Scotland and work in a different local authority area than where I live. Travel to my work place is clearly allowed. Once there though, I am not supposed to go to a supermarket etc that I literally drive right past. I am supposed to go a fair bit out of my way to go to a much smaller store but in my local authority area. If I go to the larger supermarket, I can get everything in one store. If I go to the smaller store, then I often need to go to another store to get everything.

I've not been in anyone's house since the summer, when it was allowed. And no one (other than essential people,such as getting gas boiler services) has been in my home since the summer either. I haven't met up with people outdoors, generally the only people I've seen face to face are people I work with.

OP do you understand why numbers are as low as they are?

Why it’s important to open one part up (schools) then wait and see before you open another part up?

It feels as though the people who are using their own “judgement” are the ones who are lacking in critical thinking skills - presumably why they imply that anyone following the rules is being a “sheeple”.

Re long covid my DS caught glandular fever at uni. talk about long GF he was ill on and off for a decade. Whenever he got run down stress, work down he went again. Long Covid is not some unique new phenomena. It is just the long term affect of another virus

I could travel 30 mins to a country park in my council area, or I could travel 10 mins to the beach that falls under a different council area to go for a walk. I'm travelling the 10 mims to a different council area.
I've had a few people in my house.
There's no other rules I can break really. Life is boring as fuck.

@XenoBitch

Following the rules has nearly killed me several times. I have friend in my house once every 2 or 3 weeks for the sake of my mental health (which was in free fall). If that makes me selfish or a granny killer, then so be it.

This is what those who screech selfish don't understand, the isolation is killing people. I hope having some company is helping even a bit for your mental health. You are totally within the v rules to have this support by the way.

I’m still sticking to the rules because I have a duty of care to the people I care about who may not yet be protected by vaccines. Also, because I’m not a selfish, irresponsible anti-social idiot.

I've let the DC go out to the fields to play with more than one friend. I've also had one of their friends in the house when they needed to use the loo. My reasoning is that

• they're all in the same class/families so are mixing all the time anyway
• we're all doing lateral flow tests twice a week, including the kids
• I've been vaccinated, so has DH and so have all the adults in our families that we're likely to see regularly
• I'm WFH and getting grocery deliveries. DH is at work but they've all been vaccinated due to their jobs (not patient-facing)
• rates are low in our area
• we've had restrictions on our lives for over a year. I'm not killing anyone's granny and I'm not going to worry about letting the kids go out to play after all they've given up on the past 12 months.