13. Public communication, understanding and enforcement
The social restrictions with which the Government has had to ask everyone to comply represent an extraordinary intrusion into the public’s normal way of living.
As the Government begins to adjust the restrictions, it faces a difficult choice: the more precisely the Government targets the measures, the faster it will be possible to move. However, the more complex the request becomes, the harder it is for people to comply with the measures.
"Stay at home" has been a simple, clear message. But as more social contact resumes, the Government will need to ask people to operate in new ways. This will require a high level of understanding, if adherence is to remain at the high levels the Government needs to avoid a second peak in infections.
The Government will therefore invest in enhancing population-wide public health education to ensure everyone has the information and education needed to take responsible risk judgements, and operate in a way that is safe for themselves and for others. Crucially, even those who are at low personal risk will need to continue following the rules and guidance so that they do not pass on the infection to others.
Whilst much of the Government's strategy centres on reducing the costs of complying with the measures wherever possible, as the UK moves into the next phase, where the Government will need to trust people to comply with more subtle social restrictions, the Government will also need to ensure robust enforcement measures to deter and reduce the threat from the small minority who elect not to act responsibly.
This is the 'don't be a selfish dickhead clause'.
Basically, it seems you can do pretty much anything you like now as long as you:
- Do it in your own household group alone - until we are otherwised advised. (The only exception being to met single individuals in public space - and still at 2 metres distance)
- Avoid other people as much as possible in ALL circumstance - always be a 2 metres.
- Don't bend the rules or assume they don't apply to you because you are low risk.
I think this is admirable in a way, but how realistic this is, I'm not sure.
I think this is where we will run into problems especially since the new guidance appears to limit the powers of the police in terms of enforcement. ESPECIALLY since the one section of the guidance that is particularly lacking is the non-existance information regarding enforcement.
You should expect LOTS to crop up in this area.
As it stands the rules (as of now in practice rather than Wednesday) rely on the public being good and considerate of others thats all as far as I can see.
I note the following paragraph:
A collective effort
The threat is a collective one; the responsibility to keep everyone safe is one everyone shares.
If the Government is to begin to adjust the social restrictions, it will require everyone to act thoughtfully and responsibly to keep R down, and the Government has little room for error.
If, as restrictions are lifted, everyone chooses to act cautiously and in line with the revised guidance, R will remain low, the rate of transmission will decline further, and the Government can lift more restrictions.
This effort must, however, be a shared and collective one; only a small number of new outbreaks would cause R to tip back above one and require the re-imposition of some restrictions.
In judging when to adjust each restriction, the Government will be guided by the best possible evidence and will be, as in this document, transparent about the basis for the decision
This is in the realm of proper liberalism and the idea that the public are free in the UK. HOWEVER there is a strong threat that if people are dickheads then we will get restrictions again.
Thats a huge gamble. A political one.