Dinner Party

[BabyItsAWildWorld]

Is it still OK to socialise within small groups within private homes?

We have a dinner party invite for Friday, around 8 people going. Host has whatapped us all to say it's still on, others have replied 'great, see you then.'

I'm not sure. On one hand I think we are meant to be limiting all unnescessary social contact so it should be cancelled, on the other all of us going are still working outside the home (local gov and health roles), so daily exposing ourselves to potentially 100s of contacts, so to then not attend a small group of 8 seems illogical?

None of us are in high risk groups or have vulnerable people in our homes.

Thoughts?

*I'm using the "What happens if I don't?" rule.

So, what happens if I don't drop my outgoing mail at the Post Office once a day? I lose hundreds of pounds and can't buy food. So I do that.

What happens if I don't go out to check the sheep and miss a difficult birth? Sheep and lamb die, attract predators and other lambs can be maimed by crows or gulls. So I do that.

What happens if my kid doesn't get swimming lessons for a while? Nothing, so we ditched that. See also Mass (we pray together at home etc), visiting relatives (we phone instead) and a few other things.*

I'm using the same principle - it really helps define what is a want and what is a need

The rules are not confusing in the slightest. NO unnecessary socialising. That's it. Its to break as many potential transmission chains as possible.

It is not possible to break all chains (unless you want to live in a lawless, destitute society with no services, food or income for anyone). So we need break all of those we can.

Absolutely nothing to be conflicted about at all.

There are many many social and economic reasons to keep schools open as long as possible. Forget the economic reasons thousands of children are now going to be confined in unhappy or toxic or even dangerous situations, some will potentially go without food and not have anyone say a kind word to them all day.

It’s going to be Very dull but no essential socialising is exactly what it means. I was supposed to be seeing my friends at a book club in someone’s house on Friday which we’ve cancelled. Sad but necessary.

It is hard when the rules don't really make sense.
Expose yourself to 100 + people daily at work.
Expose your children to 100+ daily at school.
But do not see 8 people socially.

It really isn't illogical when you think about the risk of spreading the virus to other people rather than the risk of catching it as an individual.

We need to reduce contact to the minimum to reduce transmission. Work is essential to keep the economy and society functioning. Socialising isn't.

If you can't work from home but have to go into the office you are only having contact with your family and work colleagues so approx 100 people, the same people every day (lets assume schools close, you have online deliveries and travel by car just to simplify things). If they are all practising the same restrictions, if one person has coronavirus in your office, the virus could only be transmitted to approx 400 people (your colleagues and their households, if we assume everyone is a family of 4 and only one person in the household is working out of the home).

If you go to a dinner party, say one of your friends has the virus and infects everyone. All 8 of you go to their different work and the virus then spreads to 800 people (100 colleagues each). All your colleagues are still going to dinner parties too so they pass the virus to their families and their friends (9600 if we say each person lives in a household of 4 and goes to one dinner party with 8 friends).

I appreciate that scenario one is not attainable but I am trying to illustrate the difference that everyone just going to one non-essential event can have in comparison.

Just remember that the viruy can live on surfaces for up to 3 days. Every plate, glass, piece of cutlery could be contaminated by you or the other guests.

I know that whilst there is no absolute government directive it feels rude and OTT to decline things like this but it really is the socially responsible thing to do

I agree the rules are not confusing but it is so very depressing to see and hear that people are just not prepared to engage with what they are being told and thinnk it doesn't apply to them. What bit of "social distancing" do they not understand? What bit of unnecessary travel do they not understand? I live in a small rural market town in the South East - the SE having the highest number of cases after London. I drove around the town as a "look/see" exercise after dropping something in the post box. It was literally astonishing how many OAPs were all out shopping, sitting at tables in the window of Wetherspoons, chatting and in the tea shops. We are going to be in lockdown soon as people are not taking responsibility for themselves and the cases have just gone up by 700.

Ok OP, here's how it works: you go to work because you have to. Your colleagues are at work because they have to be. You go to a dinner party because "well I see all those people at work anyway, what's a few more". You catch the virus from one of those "few more", take it to work and kill someone's granny. Or their kid with health problems. Or their pregnant wife.

Or the other way round: you have the virus in your workplace, and one of your chums doesn't. You bring it to the dinner party with a bottle of prosecco and then your pals co-workers have it, and THEIR grannies and children and pregnant wives and sisters and girlfriends are at risk. And so is every bloody shop assistant and petrol station attendant and bus driver they encounter. And all of those shop assistants and bus drivers have families with grannies and kids with asthma and pregnancies too. And they don't have any choice about going to work either. The only way to stop those people's grannies and children and pregnant family members from dying is for some schlub to forgo a dinner party.

I suggest you look up patient 31. They had no symptoms, so they refused to be tested or quarantined. They got a thousand people infected. The death rate is around 3%. One person easily, thoughtlessly has killed dozens. Because they didn't want to miss church.

Stay home and drink the bottle of wine you bought for the hosts.

I'm amazed it hasn't already been cancelled. Every single social thing has been cancelled here, no-one is going for coffee or into each others houses.

Here is the guidance on social distancing:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-on-social-distancing-and-for-vulnerable-people/guidance-on-social-distancing-for-everyone-in-the-uk-and-protecting-older-people-and-vulnerable-adults

Some key statements:

"This guidance is for everyone."
"Avoid gatherings with friends and family."
"Everyone should be trying to follow these measures as much as is pragmatic."