Crowds in the parks yesterday

[Mrgrinch]

I've been seeing pictures and videos of the amount of people gathering in the sun yesterday and I am genuinely shocked.

Has nobody learned anything in the past year?
Do they want to continue going in and out of lockdown forever?

I really do understand the people who just want their freedom back, I want mine too. But the pictures of Hyde park yesterday look like something from a music festival. Not to mention the mess left behind this morning.

Should I just shut up because transmission is low outdoors? Or is this a sign that warm weather means people ignore all the rules?

As in its been brought in as hospitals start to feel the strain.

@Antiqueanniesmagiclanternshow

Oh so bloody what?

I am so sick of this whole bloody shit show.

Yep. Agree.

There has been similar crowds and large group gathering for weeks!

People don't give a damn about anything but themselves, and have been ignoring the rules for weeks, if not months. It's just less obvious when the weather is crap.

Or maybe this country is full of huge properties and households made of 8 adults and 20 children are a lot more common than we knew...

People have been cooped up and alone all winter and spring. Transmission outside is virtually zero. Give over.

my local thing wasnt from the press it was the police and i believe it was true as someone i know lives nearby

@LookAChicken

Lockdown has never been prompted by people going out: it's the NHS.

Quite.

Its also far more appealing to our politicians to get the public to blame each other for their terrible, rule breaking behaviour - "you're meeting in a park with 7 people?! you'll be locked away for 10 years" than front the fact that such draconian lock downs have been needed because they've woefully underfunded the NHS for decades.

@Mrgrinch

Also when I said "have people not learned anything" I meant that they would threaten further lockdowns if crowds get out of hand.

So are you saying that what people should have learned is that they need to not go outdoors when it's perfectly legal and when they want to go out, because otherwise they'll get threatened with being locked up again?

Do you not see something wrong with that lesson?

'Should I just shut up because transmission is low outdoors?'

Well, yeah you should. all the evidence says that no outbreaks happened because of busy parks or beaches. You know those photos are set up ti make it look like people are on top of each other, right?

I saw photographers on our beach sitting or crouch low with long, LONG lenses which make it seem like grps of people walking or sitting are very close together when the reality was they weren't.
But the Fail and other papers aren't interested in photos of people social distancing half as much as they are of the ones that look like the 'covidiots' are running amok...

@Mrgrinch

Also when I said "have people not learned anything" I meant that they would threaten further lockdowns if crowds get out of hand.

Abusive partner.

No excuse for littering, pandemic or not. Someone reposted that photo of the crowded park in a local FB group and people are calling for all parks to be closed for a month and fines of £1000 to be issued to anyone trying to step foot in them. I've concluded from past year that risk of transmitting Covid from sunbathing in a park is relatively low. However, the risk of transmitting misinformtaion by staying indoors 24/7, judging people for living their life and then raging about it online is high.

Abusive partner
Gaslighting?

[quote BillMasen]This isn’t camera angles or sensible socialising. This is stupid

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-56575135[/quote]
We saw that one yesterday, too. Nowt to do with camera angles. WHilst I was out walking the dog this morning, other dog walkers noted that our nearest park was also busy, with people not distancing.

All this, "I'm sick of it.... it's shit." is all very well, if you stay *away from other people whilst you're out. That, and mask.

The behaviour on display in that Nottingham clip is a fine example of why covid is unlikely to leave humanity alone any time soon.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-56575135

I was very pleasantly surprised last summer when my dire predictions of the spike in infections due to demonstrations/crowds in parks and beaches etc. failed to materialise. Hopefully, that will remain the case from the crowds yesterday. What I am concerned about though, is Easter. Just hoping that people do keep to the rules (PITA that they are) and don't go about kissing and hugging loved ones, because that will spread covid even in the open air. Garbage being left everywhere and toileting in inappropriate places is a whole other thing. Why are people so very dirty and disgusting?

Some of these people could have cooped up in a high rise flat for all you know. It’s very easy for those with gardens to bark out “Stay Home” orders. “. We’ve all been in the same storm but not the same boat.. Some people have been on Yatchs others in dingy ready to burst.
HOw long are people supposed to stop living for exactly.

We had all this last year with people getting their knickers in a knot because 'hordes' came down to the beaches of Devon and Cornwall, and were going to bring the plague with them.

Months later and Devon and Cornwall had the lowest infection rates in the country!

People are fed up, it's lovely weather and a holiday weekend coming up. If people want to mingle safely in the sunshine just let them get on with it. Good luck to them.

@poppycat10

Trasnsmisson is low to zero outdoors despite all the hysteria about "virus shedding joggers" giving to everyone they momentarily pass.

People are allowed to be in groups of six to semi-unlimited if two household bubbles.

The weather was nice, so people went outside.

I can't actually see any problems with any of this OP? Except "Not to mention the mess left behind this morning" - THAT is the thing to complain about - people are utterly disgusting.

(oh and yes, photos are deliberately taken to make it look like people are breaking the roolz)

Yes, enough of this awful littering. We need big fines and police and community officers actually pouncing on people doing this. It's not acceptable and needs to be stamped on before summer gets going.

Someone reposted that photo of the crowded park in a local FB group and people are calling for all parks to be closed for a month and fines of £1000 to be issued to anyone trying to step foot in them

Or councils could stop their desperate quests to appear relevant in the pandemic and "keeping us safe" and get on with emptying the bins regularly - ie just get on with the main job we pay our council tax for them to do, rather than posting nannying messages all the time about distancing and staying local.

I live by a beach and when they take pictures it always looks like people are sitting on top of each other but I’ve seen with my own eyes that’s not how it is.

They stood up at a government press conference and said there have been no known infection clusters from last summer's demos and use of public spaces so I wouldn't worry about that.

The rubbish left through is awful. Maybe these people are used in the past to being out at festivals etc and not having to think about rubbish because there's a hoard of volunteer litter pickers to clean up after them? Rats will be loving it, leftovers and probably some nice human and doggie poo to feed on too. Meanwhile a lot of other wildlife will suffer.

If leaving the litter is a big F* you gesture from those who have been cooped up and limited by a disease that doesn't make them ill on the whole, perhaps there could be an urgent campaign to remind of the environmental damage as lots of young people do seem to care about this but they don't join the dots between careless litter, public poo and environmental damage? Not that everyone doing this is young of course but the pics I saw did seem to be mostly under 25ish

Months later and Devon and Cornwall had the lowest infection rates in the country!

as the tourists had gone home by then, not sure what you think that proved.

The problem is that some people think the lockdown doesn't affect them so don't give a damn. It's the ones with kids banned from school for months, and whose businesses are collapsing that are suffering. For now. Sadly it won't be long before the bill to pay for all that mess comes biting us all in the arse.

I actually think it's irresponsible of the press to post pictures of "crowded" outdoor scenes when in fact most people are distancing in small groups (different story if it is genuine crowds, perhaps).

There was one of these "new stories" on facebook from a local news group yesterday. It just looked like a picture of a park with some people in it in groups. It's just trolling really, goading people to post about what idiots they must be for going to the park.

it is mostly young people that break the rules. probably many will get fined. i love lockdown and the slower pace of life. get togethers on Zoom are far less exhausting for me 🤷🏼‍♀️

The littering and the barbecues are very sad to see.

Who raised these people? Who taught them it's ok to go and dump your rubbish without a care in the world and to incinerate your local parks?

Observing this from third-wave Europe and feeling rather envious of the UK's current position, I'm noticing something manipulative that I can't quite put my finger on about the cycle of restrictions ease - pictures of actually or ellegedly packed public spaces - howls of condemnation.