Do other countries have covidiots?

[FurForksSake]

Are we the only country that is seeing the shameless flouting of lockdown? I seem to hear stories and see more and more photos of people either bending or breaking the rules. Today we went for a picnic and four separate groups were breaching guidelines to various degrees. How is it in other countries? I've googled but can't seem to find much out, are we really setting ourselves up to fail?

@user1497207191

Are the really that many people still not working?

None of our immediate neighbours are going to work. We have a teacher, a social worker and a GP practice manager. All claim to be "working from home" and aren't going to work. Yet, the teacher spends a few hours every day doing his garden, DIY, etc. The GP practice manager is baby-sitting her granddaughter who gets dropped off by the mother every day. The social worker is forever going out 2 or 3 times a day and coming back with a single shopping bag. They're incredibly hypoctrical. This weekend has been a joke - it's been party central - all 3 of them have had multiple friends/relatives around, up to 9 at a time - it's like a revolving door with people coming and going. And the teacher still has the nerve to say he's not going back to school as it's too dangerous due to lack of social distancing. Like I say, hypocrites. Amazing what being paid a full wage does for you - it's the green light to take the piss and dream up excuses not to actually do any work.

Agree with this. Getting people back to work is going to be hard

Don't die of stupidity

Sounds like the natural successor to the ‘don’t die of ignorance’ campaign if the 1980s!!

And the teacher still has the nerve to say he's not going back to school as it's too dangerous due to lack of social distancing. Like I say, hypocrites. Amazing what being paid a full wage does for you - it's the green light to take the piss and dream up excuses not to actually do any work.

Quite. The most vocal among those I know about how 'dangerous' it is for those going back to work, are indeed those who are currently not working currently but getting paid. But oddly, its not dangerous for them to meet up with people, have multiple people in their house, etc. Its only suddenly dangerous when work is mentioned!

It seems a lot of them really do think this is just some kind of holiday..rather than that their jobs are at actual risk and of course free money will not continue indefinitely..

Of course this is not ALL of those furloughed^ not that I should have to add that part but it seems on MN unless you add that its not all, its taken as all

OP, they've got as much right to be outside as you! A few weeks ago, a picnic would have been 'flouting' the rules but you suddenly think it's ok now? Make your mind up!

It's worse here because of the way it's been handled.

1. Boris/the government briefing the press that lockdown was over before a VE Day bank holiday weekend with a heatwave. Then announcing you could travel anywhere in England and no restrictions on how many times you were allowed out. So of course people start pushing it, with conga lines on VE Day and traveling hours to go to the bloody beach.

2. The Cummings saga. The masses decide en masse to sod it and England turns into a long carnival during another bank holiday with an extended heatwave that is ongoing.

People were mostly observing it well for 6 weeks before the above idiocy.

@MrsTerryPratchett

I wish people had a basic grasp of science. No second wave doesn't mean you won't get it. Population level numbers and individual risk is different. I don't flout the rules because, although I'm low risk, I work with vulnerable people and therefore don't want to infect anyone.

The Belgian prince was at a party with people his age and he has mild symptoms. My dad would very likely have died doing what he did. Both of them would have been 'new cases'.

Do your own risk assessment, taking into account the rules, and don't go outside because you're annoyed. Don't die of stupidity.

A second wave may mean more lockdowns, economic disaster and poverty and hardship for many. It isn't a simple case of "try not to get it", there are many issues with a second wave.

I know how to avoid getting it, I can risk assess very well thank you. But I can also see the impact a second wave would have in more ways than just health.

I will give an example. A town is identified by the authorities as a CV hotspot. It’s put on complete lockdown and everyone is tested. A guy tested positive and had symptoms so was taken to hospital. He escaped next day and did a Dominic travelling to another location where he had relatives.
I would imagine he wasn’t in a very bad way in order to leave on his own. The understanding of the authorities is that when you start having breathing difficulties you have to be hospitalised. I would imagine that they apply this especially strictly in areas and within groups of the population known to be not interested to follow rules or unable to do so for certain reasons. There were quite a few stories like this.
One of the guys who escaped and was then arrested explained he was scared and that’s why he did it.
There were others who believed they had the flu and CV is a conspiracy and so on.
Also quite a few stories of people coming in from abroad and not respecting the 2 weeks self isolation rule, going up and down the country instead.

@borntohula

OP, they've got as much right to be outside as you! A few weeks ago, a picnic would have been 'flouting' the rules but you suddenly think it's ok now? Make your mind up!

That doesn't make sense at all, I didn't go out when I was asked not to and now having a picnic is lower risk I have done so. I am not hugging my mates and sharing picnic blankets with them because that is a risk we have been told not to take. I have made up my mind, follow the guidance because it is for the benefit of all and not just myself.

People have a right to be outside following the rules, why do you think they have every right to be outside flouting them? I despair, I really do, seems like a really selfish thing to do. If you can't be outside and stick to the really basic and not that strict rules, don't go out.

Sounds like the natural successor to the ‘don’t die of ignorance’ campaign if the 1980s!!

Maybe I'll pitch it.

OP I just get tired of everyone pointing the finger at everyone else and forgetting that the only power we have is over our own behaviour. Maybe the country will vote for grown ups next time round.

I think that's my issue, I feel utterly powerless seeing people doing what we have expressly told not to and given good reason not to. As you say, I can only control my actions, but I feel like SOMEONE should be controlling other people for doing things so blatantly stupid.

Unlike regular tourists they seem to have gone a bit mad, littering, drinking, assaulting police, etc.

There's a fair section of the UK population who have a physical need to be anti social. They have lost their usual outlets to be anti-social/aggressive. The football crowd is full of these people but football has stopped for months. The town centre is full of these people on a Friday/Saturday night but the bars and pubs are shut.

Without being able to pick a fight in town or get lairy at a football match these people are more lost and angry than usual. Sadly littering and assaulting police is only part of it. These are the people who go home and hit their wives instead and domestic violence has shot up.

I’m peering out of my window watching all the rule-abiding Canadians flocking to the small mountain town and thronging the streets and trails. The bogs are still closed, but that’s not stopping them.
Also, hate hate hate the word covidiot. I love language in all of its forms but this one screams tabloid try-hard. It makes me wince. And usually I love crappy tabloid-esque language play. I don’t know what it is about this one. Maybe it’s not clever enough. It just seems clunky and a bit dumbed down, as if they couldn’t be arsed to come up with anything wittier. Bit of a let-down. 1/10.

OP, literally a couple of weeks ago, people would have said your picnic was selfish. How is it lower risk? Coronavirus hasn't suddenly disappeared.

I don't come across any, and my local friends are not breaking the rules, but I don't live in a hotspot that any tourist would want to visit (local residential area). Also, I'm not interested in looking for people who are breaking the rules, though this is because I'm recovering after 3 months suffering from COVID-19 symptoms.

As you say, I can only control my actions, but I feel like SOMEONE should be controlling other people for doing things so blatantly stupid.

The Brits aren't cut out for a pandemic. The bloody-minded, can't tell me what to do cynicism is great for resisting facism but it's useless now. National culture is very interesting.

The very rule bound, obedient people, like the Canadians, are doing really well.

Very unfortunate perfect storm to be honest... Currently walking the dog, beautiful evening, smell of bbq. Feels like a perfect summers evening, hard to think the world is falling apart to be honest... Its human nature to want to enjoy it, especially here when we are not used too the good weather. Aq0

@MrsTerryPratchett I think you've hit the nail on the head. The same is true of the US, with the protests against lockdowns and a resulting high death rate.

I think that's my issue, I feel utterly powerless seeing people doing what we have expressly told not to and given good reason not to. As you say, I can only control my actions, but I feel like SOMEONE should be controlling other people for doing things so blatantly stupid.

Yes, but all bets were off when a) Boris allowed people to travel all over England with no limits (give people freedoms and they'll exploit them) and b) allowed Cummings to get away with what he did which even more meant all bets were off.

@Destroyedpeople

Good grief I have seen videos of Americans coughing over others to make a point, attacking shop staff and screaming 'covid is a hoax'.. They make us look quite sane.

I saw all that in one fucking shopping trip in Bristol... (well, it was an assault on a customer rather than staff in fairness) and it was right at the start of lockdown still. Worse now. Someone started properly shouting (red faced, spit flying type) because I asked my DS to budge along the traffic island "so we could all be safe and not share our germs". Shouting at me and 2 young children how it was all fake anyway and I'm scaring my kids for nothing, ruining their lives and I'm a shit mum... made worse because we couldn't get away, being stuck in the middle of a busy road on a crossing island. At least she stayed at the other end of the crossing while she screamed at me .

*The Brits aren't cut out for a pandemic. The bloody-minded, can't tell me what to do cynicism is great for resisting facism but it's useless now. National culture is very interesting.

The very rule bound, obedient people, like the Canadians, are doing really well.*

The Brits wouldn't have stomached a full lockdown like other countries; however, for 6 or 7 weeks the Brits followed the rules perfectly well on the whole. Obviously idiots about but they were a minority.

I think British people do follow rules and customs. The issue is if you give them an inch they'll take a mile, if you give them an excuse they'll exploit it.

There's a reason why English beaches are packed out and the Scottish and Welsh ones are still empty.

Over 80% of the the UK population is adhering to the rules. The media and the psychological effect of noticing rule breakers makes you think it is more.

1 in 4 adults in the UK is functionally illiterate. Therefore understanding and interpreting the rules as they change and the vaguer they become is more difficult.

Amazes me when people moan at the amount of people they have seen beaches and parks when they're there themselves!

@BreathlessCommotion so true about the media. No one wants to read about the majority of people staying home because its not interesting and doesn't cause arguement or debate. We are a nation obsessed with the negative enforced by the media.

@Uhoh2020

Amazes me when people moan at the amount of people they have seen beaches and parks when they're there themselves!

I wasn't complaining about people being there or how may there were, so jog on with your side eye.