Seems like a lot of people have ended the lockdown themselves this weekend....

[Smithtylater]

I went to work today (am on maternity but returning on Monday) to meet my manager (NHS, working an on call weekend shift). I drove past Hampton court for the first time since i have been on maternity leave. You would have thought it was a normal sunny weekend day? Ice cream vans, hoards of people all close, hundreds of people on bikes, people sitting with their feet in the river, kids running around.
There is loads more traffic, more people around and even my own brother has gone 3 hour drive up North for a 40th birthday party?! I was angry at him and he said that the host said that the lockdown is 'ending tommorow so what is an extra day'?

I have seen on twitter about London Fields today (literally 1000s of people sitting there) and lots of people are under the impression its all ending on Monday ?!

But can you really blame people when you look at the headlines of all the papers? Boris should have adressed the nation before the weekend imo.

[JudyCoolibar]

So I thank the Germans for standing up for freedom, and Americans.

In all too many cases the demonstrators will by lying down gasping for air. Notoriously there are Covid hotspots in areas in the US where there have been demonstrations against lockdown.

[InMySpareTime]

The notional "1% death rate" brigade are spectacularly missing the far higher risk of kidney damage, post viral fatigue syndrome, chronic lung conditions and other post-COVID conditions that patients are often left with.
It's not a choice of fatal or asymptomatic, it is often a serious but non-fatal illness, even for groups at low risk of death.
The NHS will be dealing with post-COVID conditions for years if not decades.

[Bluebellpainting]

@Peggysgettingcrazy

Well yes I don’t think it was sensible of the council to suggest socially distant street parties (picnics in your forecourts, drives and front gardens). However they did so I don’t blame people for doing this as they were basically told it was ok to do it as long as you maintained social distancing. The fact that a number of these broke down when alcohol got involved was awful and could have been avoided if the idea wasn’t publicised in the first place. It was also suggested on the national government website to have a toast and sing along with your neighbours. But I don’t think we should be calling people who had these ‘parties’ stupid because of the above if they did follow the rules, which the majority probably did but we always hear more of the negative because of what the media say.

[womanvsfood]

I've thought for a while that we're being nudged out of lockdown. Opening B&Q etc would be in line with that. The government need to re-open the economy/get people out and about ASAP but retain plausible deniability if the shit really hits the fan. Plus it's going to be very hard to test the vaccine if community transmission is suppressed too much.

[iamapixie]

Good. I am a rule-follower, but only because that is deeply ingrained in me, not because I think continued lockdown is an appropriate response to a virus with an extremely low death rate, when the negative implications of lockdown are outweighing the positive.
I hope other people less rule-bound than I am do breach lockdown - though I'm sure most of the people out and about are abiding by the law, if not by the invented MN rules.

[Stopmenow123]

B and Q was always on the list of essential businesses. They didn't need to close in the first place.

[gatsbylove]

I've thought for a while that we're being nudged out of lockdown.

Me too. They made a big song and dance at the beginning about working with nudge theory, so can only assume that the behaviour that has followed is broadly in line with what the government wants to happen anyway.

Either that or all the money they have spent working with nudge pyschologists has been utterly wasted and they are idiots for spending it on something so ineffective.

[seltaeb]

This map is interesting
www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsinvolvingcovid19bylocalareasanddeprivation/deathsoccurringbetween1marchand17april#middle-layer-super-output-areas
It shocked me to see how widespread the virus must be in my own area, deaths in almost all the identified areas around here (North West), but almost none in some more rural areas.

[rookiemere]

Try living in Scotland with an English based nudge theory going on and a different government stating different things from the English government, but then taking the identical actions.

I'm a rule follower, but it's really making me confused. As I said I've started going out more than once a day - I assume that's going to be okayed today as already done so in Wales , discussed but not mandated in Northern Ireland ( and what's that all about there are daily announcements so no need for interim musings) so unless Scotland is going all out on its we are different because we're Scottish theme, then hope that will be the case here.

[Biscuit0110]

I saw the map last week, it makes for very interesting reading. I am wondering why we are all locked down in this area of the UK at least. Rural areas are not affected, as expected.

[Biscuit0110]

rook Scotland is slightly different because I think you are still having problems with the R number, that is my understanding. So a regional approach for each area of the UK may be better, but yes you are right it is a little confusing.
Hopefully the confusion will end this evening.

[InOutofmymind]

The old, the sick and the stupid are being culled

This comment is staggering and utter hogwash. No they are not! The old and the sick are being sent a letter to confirm another three months of isolation

So why were sick CV patients released into the care home system & their workers denied PPE ? against ALL infection control advice known about since the 19thC, beggars belief this was allowed.

Older but relatively well people have made it perfectly clearly they have no intention of being isolated for months on end, they can send out all the letters they like.

OP: From what i've seen over recently, the vast majority are still observing restrictions, the beaches of Cornwall were dead, the A30 had almost no traffic on it BUT the stupid idea of encouraging the VE celebrations will doubtless lead to further infection spikes over the few weeks.

[Nanalisa60]

zafferana

Well said!!

Totally agree with you!!

[OhTheRoses]

Scientific evidence indicates there is virtually no spread of jnfection oyt of doors at 2m and the possibility of a second's brush on the pavement is beyond remote.

I can see no issue at all with a picnic in the park providing one household unit and social distancing are observed. No issue with buying and ice cream and no issue with sunbathing.

I gave taken three 20 minute walks a day for the last 2 weeks to keep my backpain at bay and regularly move. Acute sciatica from working intensely for 8 hours a day. FWIW lots of bridle paths here, mostly deserted.

Even if there are 40000 deaths that extrapolates to a rate of 0.08%. The infection rate sugfests a 0.3% chance overall of catching it.

Those are long odds and I have said before millions buy a lottery ticket with even longer odds because they are lulled into thinking they may win.

We need to get back to work NOW - Ferguson who incorrectly predicted SARS, Swine Flu etc, shoukd never gave been listened to.

We are a nation that has jeopardised MMR herd immunity bg dailjng to vaccinate and now are clamouring to vaccinate using a means that will be ill researched.

I have never read so much twaddle as on MNet about this.

[Ravenswick]

My mother is driving me mad - she is in her eighties, high blood pressure, physically frail, exactly the sort of person who, you’d think, would follow the rules purely out of self interest.

Spoke to her last night and she had lunch in the garden with a friend and had drinks the previous day with neighbours. All fine apparently because they were 2m away. She is doing this literally most days, making me wonder why the rest of us are making such an effort when she refuses to,

[JinglingHellsBells]

@imsooverthisdrama Maybe step away from the media? If you think the media is giving out mixed messages, ignore it. Listen if you have to, to the daily briefings from the scientists.

A lot of the media stuff is just crystal ball gazing- it's click bait and it sells papers.

As for people sitting picnicing- it's the thin edge of the wedge.
The public have enough problem following the rules as they are.
If everyone goes to a park for a picnic, it wouldn't belong before they couldn't be 6 ft apart. Kids would play ball games, they'd kick them towards other people, who would pick them up, etc etc- virus transmission.

I don't think you can expect the government to make rules according to your specific circumstances re your child which is what you seem to want.

It's not our problem if your child is disappointed when a park is too busy to go into. Maybe they can understand that if it's too busy you will go home and come back later?

Or don't build up the expectation of 'going to the park' - just say you are going for a walk. ???

[yogz1976]

You can exercise in the park. But some people are not exercising- they are sunbathing and taking a picnic.

What scientific reason is there for banning picnics and sunbathing on grass? And why is it OK to exercise but not stand/sit still? The virus is spread in confined spaces. Your chances of catching it in the open on a sunny day are next to impossible.

[Peggysgettingcrazy]

Spoke to her last night and she had lunch in the garden with a friend and had drinks the previous day with neighbours. All fine apparently because they were 2m away. She is doing this literally most days, making me wonder why the rest of us are making such an effort when she refuses to,

Lots of people did that on Friday though. Seen as a positive.

[vera99]

'Great Britain' eh...may the Brexit always be with you.....

twitter.com/ham_bugalur/status/1259143091665211392?s=21

[catpoooffender]

please dont be condescending - I quite clearly didnt hug anyone. also, how do you know what someone elses mental health looks like?

if you are honestly that adverse to people seeing each other with appropriate social distancing in place then you are going to be stuck in your house until a working vaccine is found

First of all, I didn't say you did hug someone. Second of all, I don't presume to know what 'someone else's mental health looks like' but I can't believe that most of the people breaking the rules aren't doing it for that reason. None of the people I know who are breaking rules are. Finally, I think people are very quick to claim mental health and well-being issues these days. I say this as someone with a diagnosed mental health condition who has needed extensive treatment in the past.

Your second paragraph is wilfully ignorant. What I'm adverse to is people thinking they can flout the rules that most of the population are following for the greater good. I would love it if the rules were amended to allow us to see each other again. But until they are, why should Johnny Big Balls think he's entitled to have a bbq with his mates?

[tartanbow]

@catpoooffender do what you got to do and let others do what they feel is correct. that just about sums it up - you dont like it because it doesnt follow the "rules" not because of any semblance of sense. people staying over 2m apart outside is not a transmission risk.

with an estimated 1 in 4 of us suffering with mental health issues I'm also certainly not about to get into a back and forth with you over who does and doesnt.

[catpoooffender]

@tartanbow why do you think you know better than SAGE (for example)? The rules only work if everyone complies - or at the very least, if the vast majority of people comply. That's how you stop the spread of the disease. If we don't have the top scientists in their fields, with access to all available data and research, agree a set of rules, but rather all make up our own minds how we wish to proceed, then we're doomed. We're fucked.

If the rules are eased later today, great. If not, then it'll be for a good reason. And of course, the scientists aren't always right and they won't all agree with each other. But we're better off putting our trust in them than in each individual determining their own course of action.

[imsooverthisdrama]

Again @JinglingHellsBells you have assumed I have meant myself .
I was assuming that people like the ops brother getting mixed messages due to what's on the media . Although it is good advice to not read what is in the press as I try and limit this .
Also I did say that I hadn't been to the park with my dc .I do not expect that the government should make up rules for a specific child but I do expect different rules for Sen . I appreciate your advice but I do not think you have the first idea about my child .
I think you need to start to understand that everybody has different circumstances and difficulties and we all are doing our best and not everything is black & white .

[Beancounter9]

@Ravenswick

Maybe that is why she is doing it. By the sounds of her health she may only have a couple of years left and doesn’t want them to be spent stuck inside a house. I am sure a lot of people feel this way.

[JinglingHellsBells]

@tartanbow you dont like it because it doesnt follow the "rules" not because of any semblance of sense. people staying over 2m apart outside is not a transmission risk

No one knows exactly how it's transmitted. They think 2 mtrs apart is okay but no one is sure. It's a guide. We are learning more about how it's transmitted all the time. There is clearly a factor of gender, ethnicity, age, existing health conditions, weight, etc.

The point is that whatever rules there are, some one somewhere will break them and make up their own rules (like you?)

Some people, it's clearly obvious, have no idea what 2 mtrs looks like.

What you seem to not get, is that any slight watering down of rules is the slippery slope.

It's like having a speed limit of 30mph- many people will drive at 40, or 85 mph on the motorway. The line has to be drawn very clearly because a lot of people will always overstep it- as you did- and others will overstep it further.

You can't control something properly if you allow individuals to interpret the rules according to their own circumstances , because it doesn't work.