Are people you know IRL actually taking this seriously?

[HouseElfy]

Because the people I know generally really aren't. There seems to be a massive disconnect between mumsnet, social media in general, the actual news and what people IRL are doing. Yes, a lot of them are working from home now but other than that they are going shopping, to cafes, seeing friends etc. Just had a phone convo with a work colleague and she said even though the schools are closed now, "of course" they will still have playdates and so on because "kids would go mad" otherwise. My 76 year old granddad and his wife are still queuing for their pensions at the post office and going to their bloody bridge club. My FIL is still playing golf. My father says he is self isolating but then is still inviting visitors round for dinner. My own mother seems incapable of staying indoors longer than a couple of hours at a time and is currently out mooching about the shops.

Is it just me and people I know?!?!

Had to basically be pretty harsh with my parents today to take it seriously. They are old and ill enough to not get treatment if we go like italy and spain. I think we will go in that direction. They seem surprised.

I'm in Washington State (on the west coast not Washington DC) where we have had about 67 deaths, most centered around a nursing home.

We are taking it very seriously.

Schools closed. Bars and restaurants etc closed. The Indian Casinos are also closed. People are keeping their distance from each other when they have to go out. Our county has a sparse population which is about 4 people per sq. mile, and we have no close neighbors, so isolating is easy.

Relatives who live in more urban areas are self-isolating.

The supermarkets have extended their hours. On Tuesday and Thursdays from 7 am to 9 am they will be open for senior citizens, immune compromised, pregnant women. The stores will be fully stocked we're told.

There's a lovely sense of community spirit locally. Women are volunteering to look after working parents children, to do shopping for people who can't.

Before you get a doctors appointment they ask about symptoms and recent travel.

Take care not to spread it.

Some people are, tellingly, they work in the nhs, or Sainsbury’s.

alloutoffucks
It's difficult precisely because some people can't (won't) be responsible with their shopping.

I feel for people who can't get their groceries because some selfish twat has decided they need to shelf clear.

And if you know that all those places were full, then presumably you were there as well? Making you just as bad
That poster was being ageist, however a healthy person not in a risk group is perfectly reasonable to have gone out and walked past cafes etc.
I do actually agree with people's frustrations seeing some older people totally ignoring guidance that is there for their own benefit, and others. They're being advised to adopt stringent social distancing so to choose to go to busier places or groups is really saying "screw the wider impact, I'm quite happy to take a bed in hospital and ventilation by actively putting myself at greater risk".

I have family friends who are still meeting up with friends, going round town, complaining that their exercise classes / societies have been cancelled and so on. What's worse is that when people point out the impact of their actions, they're insufferably arrogant and insist that the country has gone mad, the younger generation can't cope with a few germs. There's a fine line between 'keep calm and carry on' and arrogant stupidity.

I still see mums out with tiny kids as well

I don't personally know anyone who is still going to cafes or meeting friends. Everyone I know over 70 is isolating, and everyone else isolating except for brief outings needed for finishing school etc.

Clearly they need to be much clearer about instructions. We will have to go to lockdown at some point and hopefully there will be checks to ensure people going to playdates will be told to go home and fined.

I think in a week or two if God forbid the tv screens are full of tent morgues and people dying untreated it may start to hit home for the ignorant. I wonder if it will also hit home that the things they have been doing over the last week or so have caused some of those deaths.

@HoffiCoffi13

I don't doubt that many people have grasped it and are acting sensibly, but a significant number, including people in the public eye, clearly have not.

E.g. from Tuesday's papers...
"Boris’s dad Stanley Johnson vows to flout advice and go to the pub anyway"

"Eastleigh boss Ben Strevens has taken aim at National League bosses after his side were told to play on amid the coronavirus pandemic, accusing them of greed."

Even here on MN there are people keen to explain why they should be exempt, why 75% adherence is OK, why their children won't infect the grandparents and so on.

Where I am, the supermarkets are limiting the number of people in the shop at any given time. There is hand-gel on the way in that customers must use. There are Perspex screens around the tills. We are asked to pay by card/contactless rather than cash. The counters where the staff handle fresh food (bakery, meat, fish) have closed.

Parents are being explicitly told NOT to send the kids round to the grandparents, not to visit the care homes and to keep all social contact to the bare minimum. Parks and playgrounds are closed. We are not under compulsory lock-down, because everyone accepts that the measures are required. France and quite probably the UK seem to require compulsory measures before anyone takes them seriously.

They were advised to be stringent about social distancing starting this weekend.

Most people on my social media are taking it very seriously. However, the people I am friends with locally (school parents etc) aren’t taking it seriously at all. All they’re doing is panic buying and otherwise continuing life as normal, going to the gym, lunch out etc. I despair.

Unfortunately complete lockdown is not really practical as people have to still go to work or there will be complete economic collapse?!
I agree people shouldn’t be socialising but a degree of normality if you are fit and healthy needs to be maintained really

A certain beauty group on FB were deleting posts left right and centre from anyone who suggested that going to the hairdresser wasn’t very sensible. Apparently it’s “not kind” and “people can do what they fucking like so get over it” 🤦‍♀️

I still see mums out with tiny kids as well
If they're not in the higher risk groups and haven't got a reason to self isolate, then there's no reason why they should be cooped up indoors. Some sensible fresh air is reasonable, a family outing to the supermarket isn't.

Yes definitely. A lot we know we're expecting this and we have voluntarily been social distancing/ working from home for a few weeks

I mean at the shops. It is not just old people.

City of about 90,000 with 3(?) confirmed cases.

We're not an especially sociable family. DH played a sport once a week, with a beer afterwards - league was cancelled on Tuesday. Ditto DD's swim squad 4 nights/week - cancelled after Monday. Birthday drinks etc are all postponed. We don't plan to meet friends socially, now, but chat to people at a distance if we bump into them.

DH has been working from home all week - his entire company is. The charity I am a trustee of is just sorting out more kit to try to support people from home by the end of the week (with an absolute shoestring of people popping in to get post/get help with IT glitches ).

My neighbours are social isolating (after a holiday) and 4 families in my social circle are because of chronic illness or actual colds/lung infections (kids pulled from school). There are armies of us supporting them.

Local shops and specialists (e.g. butchers/bakers/delis) all seem to be pretty well stocked and are working together to coordinate deliveries. Supermarkets aren't worth the anguish. There are over 1,000 of us registered to help people in the city, even if it is something as simple as phoning elderly for a chat.

Bizarrely all the gyms are still open, but the chain restaurants and clothing shops are closing. Public transport is v quiet. Lots of restaurants now offering a delivery service.

I have abandoned two planned holidays and feel annoyed that hotels are still urging people to visit from far and wide to sleep and dine together.

England just seems to be playing catch-up.

France and quite probably the UK seem to require compulsory measures before anyone takes them seriously

But again, you’re talking like it’s all of us in the UK. Very very many of us know exactly how severe the situation is. It’s pretty galling hearing people in other countries proclaiming that ‘the UK aren’t taking this seriously’ when so many of us are. It’s especially galling when you are taking it so seriously that you haven’t left the house in 6 days and won’t be for at least another 8.
My IL’s are in Spain. They are obviously on full lockdown. Last night a group of Spanish teenagers in their town were caught by the police having a late night ‘kick around’. So there are some people in other countries not taking it seriously too, just like there are some people here who aren’t.

Yes, very much so. Most of them anyway...

People will look back at these couple of weeks and wonder WTF were we thinking. The 'surge' is coming. We've all been warned. I blame the government for not emphasising it more. They didn't take decisive action when they needed to. I live next door to a pub and the car park is half full. People are just taking so many risks. They will regret it. Just look over the English Channel. It's like a disaster movie where you're shouting at the telly!!!!!!

But mums with children haven't been told to keep isolated.
People over 70 have.

A family outing is unreasonable, but one parent with the children going to the shop isn't ignoring guidelines (fairly stupid to do a full afternoon in town rather than a quick trip to the relevant shops).

People's issues seeing lots of older people socialising in groups, going to cafes and so on isn't because they're old. It's because there's clear guidance to high risk groups to keep themselves safe AND to reduce the strain on an already stretched health service.
So an over 70 going to the supermarket might be a necessary trip and only an arse would have an issue, but 3 or 4 over 70s chatting round a table in a cafe is a big fuck you to the healthcare staff who are doing all they can.

All my family and in laws are taking it very seriously.

i live next door to a pub and the car park is half full

All the pubs in my large village (and there are quite a few) have closed. One cafe remains open but has closed its seating area and doing take away only.

People over 70 have been told to socially isolate from this weekend. Not yet.

Unfortunately complete lockdown is not really practical as people have to still go to work or there will be complete economic collapse?!

Other countries have gone into complete lockdown. Where I am, every business is closed except food shops and pharmacies, and businesses in the food supply chain such as the local dairy. The important thing is that the government has promised a €multi-billion aid package for all businesses affected, particularly the small and medium-sized companies.

I agree people shouldn’t be socialising but a degree of normality if you are fit and healthy needs to be maintained really

The virus doesn't care whether or not you are fit and healthy or on your last legs. It is possibly more dangerous for the 'fit and healthy' to carry on socialising as they are at risk of becoming symptom-less carriers of the virus who go on to infect others. The situation here looks nothing like 'normality' and this will be happening in the UK soon too.

My parents are mid 70s and fit. Taking it very seriously. They want to keep themselves and everyone they know as safe as possible. My dp in hospital the last 5 weeks- just out of Intensive care. My poor parents watched me sob while they stood the regulation distance away from me. I will need to dig deep but today it’s beyond me,

Also I have spoken to so many people who did not realise the 12 week thing applied to them as well. People with asthma, diabetes, who have a BMI over 40, etc. You might know all the details, a lot of people don'y seem to. People have been shocked when I have told them it applied to them as well.