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Original poster

Are people forgetting we are still in lockdown?

182 replies

Scousebird26 · 23/04/2020 22:15

Hi all!
Hope everyone is safe and well!

I don’t know if this is the same for anyone else, but I took my dog for a quick walk over the field today and it was just full of people enjoying the sun - I totally understand going for your daily excercise, but there was families having picnics, groups of people playing football, people on the streets talking to each other who deffo weren’t social distancing! It was like just an ordinary day!

I totally appreciate people are getting fed up, me included and there are many of times I’ve just thought fuck it, il go and visit family/friends but I haven’t. I don’t want to make this whole thing worse.

Is this the same in other home towns or has mine just forgot the situation we are all in?!

OP posts:
WitsEnding · 24/04/2020 07:56

People are generally behaving well where I am in the SW - exceptions being tense/early twenties, and those too busy looking at their phones to distance properly on paths.

Possibly a few more about, people are used to the idea of exercise now and it's hot. Few cases locally. I think a published exit strategy would help, rather than some making their own less informed decisions on how to ease up.

HunterHearstHelmsley · 24/04/2020 08:01

I keep seeing social media posts saying things are back to normal in my local area. I'm not seeing the evidence of it.

A friend said the roads were heaving, I drove the same roads and it was dead. Apparently our local shopping centre is "as busy as Christmas".. with only two shops open.

Bashfulbanana42 · 24/04/2020 08:02

@straycatstrut

Happy birthday!

Feel your pain. I'm used to having one at school. It's bluddy hard work having a two and year old to supervise all day. Housework is ontop of me. Theres more fingerprints everywhere because the five year old seems to be messy when she's bored. I can't let her do certain things in the day like kenetic sand because her brother tries to throw it. Then she won't tidy it up without a battle. I just want a tidy home.

Not to mention all this sitting in the house is making me loose my energy. I'm trying to walk the kids most days. But it's hard work making a walk fun when we can't feed the ducks and we can't go on the swings. The kids need a childhood. I understand they can't do things right now but for weeks on end. Especially when it's inevitable we will get this virus when we are back out again.

EnthusiasmIsDisturbed · 24/04/2020 08:02

Yes certainly more traffic

We have also relaxed into our new norm and most of us are not as anxious as we were a few weeks ago and being less cautious not intentionally this is just the way things happen. We have dropped our guard

Dowser · 24/04/2020 08:04

Why can’t you feed the ducks?
Ducks were being fed at the oaks we’ve visited

Springersrock · 24/04/2020 08:04

The roads are busier here but it’s still really, really quiet compared to normal

There’s not loads of people out and about - I live opposite the beach that is normally very busy and that’s pretty quiet. Families out for walks and the odd dog walker but all are observing social distancing and keeping well away from each other. At one point our local police were shooing everyone off the beach which seemed a bit silly to me. Everyone was forced to walk on our narrow pavements instead of the wide, open beach

Town is quiet except for people queuing outside the chemist or shopping. The woods where I walk my dog are mostly quiet. The supermarket is busier than it had been, but again everyone is mostly following social distancing and doing what the supermarket staff ask of them

There has been more traffic, but some businesses are still open - they either rushed to close when they didn’t need to and are now reopening or they’ve spent the last few weeks changing stuff so staff can keep apart from each other. Loads of small businesses have launched delivery services. It’s still impossible to get a delivery slot so people are having to head to the shops. The volunteer services are now fully up and running

I see lots of “it’s like a normal summer weekend” posts all over Facebook but our local police are posting on their own FB page that they’re just not seeing this and posting photos of empty beaches and beauty spots, and I just don’t see it when I’m out and about either

Springersrock · 24/04/2020 08:07

but some businesses are still open

Sorry, that should have said some businesses are starting to reopen.

VikingVolva · 24/04/2020 08:07

If you unpackage the Sturgeon speech, it's very little different from the Westminster '5 tests'

It struck me that it's a way to buy in to exactly the same approach without having to say you support the Government's actions.

Wales seems to be getting a bit stricter

dottiedodah · 24/04/2020 08:07

It certainly seemed a lot busier to me too .There was more traffic and in Sainsburys ,I had to queue on the way out(weekday morning)Although no queue on the way in.Went to the park ,saw a lady I know who told me brightly "her and her friend meet each morning!)"! Also B and Q reopening as well.

NekoShiro · 24/04/2020 08:11

People are acting as if we've been in lock down for a year not a measly month, this is what's going to cause another peak two weeks from now and force the government to keep extending the lock down

CreamLinenChairCover · 24/04/2020 08:11

As the last poster said, businesses are opening, people are going to work. People who had Easter off as a holiday, are returning to work, people are going to the shops.

A FB friend was horrified one day when she was driving to the shops, that lots of other people, were also driving to the shops.

It also coincided with pay day for a lot of people, and while she had been isolating and hadn’t been to the shops, she failed to recognise, that everyone else had been too

The irony escaped her, she and her friends were totally shocked, at everyone doing the same as her, for the same reasons, probably.

Mucklowe · 24/04/2020 08:11

Definitely more traffic on the streets today. I can see a busy road from my window, and it's been pretty dead for the past few weeks. Today it looks like a normal Friday morning.

SallyWD · 24/04/2020 08:12

I think a lot of it is common sense. I don't really understand the no sunbathing rule for example. I went to park yesterday and there were a few people sunbathing (not loads) but they were about 80 to 100 metres between them. As far as I could see no risk of people infecting each other. I take the Frisbee to the park because its very close so just walking there isn't much exercise. I like to get the kids running about. We play very far from anyone else (it's a huge park so lots of space where we can be away from others). How is this in any way a risk? After playing a while the kids are hot and sweaty so want to sit down for 10 mins. Again this is no risk for spreading disease. We're nowhere near anyone. I understand that if a whole field is packed with people sunbathing close together that's a health risk. But a couple of people lying, sitting down with about 100 metres between them really can't be a problem. The government have issued guidance and people need to use their brains - not freak out if they spot a family happening to sit down who are a great distance from anyone else.

jasjas1973 · 24/04/2020 08:13

I think much like the decision to lockdown, the decision to ease restrictions, will see the govt led by the public mood.

amysaurus87 · 24/04/2020 08:17

I went out for my walk yesterday and I thought the same as you OP. Loads of people out and about, lots of cars on the road.

Husband went food shopping at about 6 and he drives past a huge park and he said it was packed with people having picnics, playing frisbee and football.

Dowser · 24/04/2020 08:18

I really haven’t changed my behaviour that much.
We don’t tend to socialise locally with anyone other than family.
When we’ve gone out in the past its been mainly for necessities, a meal., Cinema or a day trip
We should’ve been going on holiday today .Meeting up with family and friends In Dorset, Cardiff and a weekend dowsing course in Avebury
That’s what I really miss.
The roads definitely are getting busier and the parks and the beaches.

OutComeTheWolves · 24/04/2020 08:19

Yes imo people complained when the government said they didn't want to start lockdown too early because psychologically people can't do it for too long and that's exactly what's happening. I think it's a similar mentality to the one where you stop taking your penicillin or whatever when you're starting to feel better as opposed to when the bottles finished. People can see the numbers slowly decreasing so think it's ok to start relaxing their personal lockdown behaviour a bit.

JeSuisPoulet · 24/04/2020 08:20

Well our PM is awol and communications have dwindled.
People I know actively posting pics of a day at the beach...things like that will make others feel it is OK.

EricaNernie · 24/04/2020 08:22

the roads were busier yesterday,
the nhs workers were all sat outside in the sun at lunch, a never before seen phenomenon

Dowser · 24/04/2020 08:23

Maybe that’s the governments plan..let people make their own minds up.
I know the lady next to me has her family round. I don’t blame her.
She’s on her own. I’ve never seen her outside so she must be self isolating.

JeSuisPoulet · 24/04/2020 08:24

From what I can tell the main scientists they do listen to are Behavioural, so yes I suspect this is all as expected Hmm

EricaNernie · 24/04/2020 08:26

The virus isnt going away, perhaps our resolve has gone. the Knew this would happen.

MrsJBaptiste · 24/04/2020 08:28

To be honest, we're not seeing this at all. The roads are still very quiet (we live on a main road bus route) and DH sees only the same few people when he goes for his morning walk. The supermarkets are still busy but thats it, still very weird here.

cherrybunx0 · 24/04/2020 08:28

people saying most of us are not expected to catch it are absolutely deluded - the WHO themselves have said this virus isnt going to be going away and we have to find a way of living alongside it. at some point they are going to have to weigh up peoples mental health and the economy - it's very sad but either way people are going to die. the same way people die of any virus/illness. it is unrealistic to think that this country is going to stay in lockdown for months on end to prevent ALL of us catching it when that isnt the reason we went into lockdown in the first place.
some restrictions will be lifted by mid may - my partners work place is one example who are reopening. I think I have heard that itll be phased back in - so initially you'll be discouraged from mingling with groups larger than 10, then 50 and so forth. so yes, clubs/football games (likely to be played behind closed doors)/music concerts/events that attract large numbers wont be back for a while but seeing family and people returning back to work if they are able to is on the cards.
people can think what they want but this virus isnt just going to disappear even if we do all stay in - this was put in place to stop the NHS getting flooded and so that those who most needed hospital treatment was able to access it. I get people are scared but you seriously need to get real and remember that most people who do get it, even in the vulnerable category, do survive and that most of us will get a mild form of it. if you're intention is to make sure you never ever get it then yes you will be staying inside your own home until they fine a working vaccine but this isnt going to be the case across the country

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