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Original poster

Just because you are allowed to doesn't mean it's safe to

176 replies

DomDoesWotHeWants · 10/07/2020 08:12

Talking to a friend last night who has booked a week abroad for herself and family.

I admired her courage and said I hoped they had a lovely time and to make sure they had enough masks. She said she won't need that apart from on the plane because the government wouldn't allow travel if it wasn't safe.

I didn't rain on her parade but I do wonder how many people feel the same way. If you're allowed to it must mean it's safe.

Supermarkets are lightening up on social distancing and one way systems and people assume it's now safe.

It isn't the virus is still with us and we need to take sensible precautions not send ourselves back into lockdown.

OP posts:
openplankitchen · 10/07/2020 08:16

Nothing in life is safe. Sorry

Original poster
DomDoesWotHeWants · 10/07/2020 08:21

Why sorry? Not sure what you mean.

OP posts:
HaloeVera · 10/07/2020 08:22

I think the old herd immunity strategy is just back on the table.

Itsarattrap · 10/07/2020 08:22

Watching the world and seeing resurgences in several places that had appeared to have things under control, it’s not something we would feel comfortable doing just yet. Like to see how things pan out over the winter before making such decisions.
We’ve gone with our own instincts rather than relying on Government policy since the beginning though and tend towards real caution. We have vulnerable family members though and I appreciate that people who don’t will feel very differently.

PickAChew · 10/07/2020 08:26

Well, if they're flying to their destination or driving to the airport, neither of those are completely safe. If we only did what was completely safe, we'd do nothing at all.

Then probably die of a dvt, instead.

SqidgeBum · 10/07/2020 08:27

For me, going on a plane is the same as going on the tube, and many people do go on the tube every day. I understand that holidays arent necessary, and going to work on the tube is, but risk wise I cant see why going on a plane is this big No No. My parents are flying over in 3 weeks time to visit us from ireland, and they are using their masks, sanitizer, packed sandwiches, and my mom has mentally planned out what she need to touch and doesnt need to touch. It's the same as travelling on any other transport. Nothing is really 'safe'. You can get it going to Morrisons. We have to either take the risk and go places, or sit at home in our sitting rooms.

MoreW1ne · 10/07/2020 08:29

Just because its banned/not allowed doesnt mean its isn't safe to do either.

I think these things go both ways. There are plenty of things that are allowed in life that carry a very great risk. We still do them.

Some people are used to making their own mind up on the risks they/their family face, others have/will always rely on someone else (in this case the government) holding their hand in decisions for them.

No difference here to the rest of the things we do in life.

Dollywilde · 10/07/2020 08:29

Sorry, I’m in the ‘nothing is safe’ category. The government lets us drive cars and smoke cigarettes. The best plan is people using their brains to make their own risk assessments and I’m sorry to say some people will make assessments and come to different conclusions to you, that’s life.

MynephewR · 10/07/2020 08:30

But nothing is ever 100% safe Confused walking down the street isn't safe, getting in your car isn't safe, going swimming isn't safe. People don't live their lives in fear and never do anything fun though do they?

RiftGibbon · 10/07/2020 08:30

I don't think herd immunity was ever off the table. The whole way this has been handled, and advice dripped down is dreadful. And sadly yes, people are of the mindset that just because you can, then you should.
Second wave is due around October I feel.

EnlightenedOwl · 10/07/2020 08:36

Very few things are safe. You just take your own risk assessment. Better that than living in fear

BlusteryLake · 10/07/2020 08:36

People are at different levels of risk physically, and others have differing levels of risk aversion. What is safe for a healthy woman in her twenties is not necessarily safe for an overweight man in his sixties with a history of breathing problems. I think it is right that people can choose whether or not they undertake a particular activity once it is within the rules.

Rubychard · 10/07/2020 08:36

Not even staying at home is safe.
Around 6000 deaths per year in the UK from accidents in the home

www.rospa.com/Home-Safety/Advice/General/Facts-and-Figures

foamrolling · 10/07/2020 08:38

Perhaps what she means is she's not worried about the risks to her? I'm not particularly worried about the risks to me and my immediate family from coronavirus. I've been following guidelines out of a feeling of social responsibility, to play my part in preventing the spread. If the government have decided people can go to the pub and travel abroad then I feel I've been relieved of that responsibility to a certain extent.

frozendaisy · 10/07/2020 08:42

We want to book a holiday but what stops us is that this year it might not be worth the money and who knows where will be locked down dates we want to fly this is before we look into travel insurance as I am sure Covid-19 cover is additional nowadays. So not sure it's worth the hassle or money right now.

labyrinthloafer · 10/07/2020 08:44

I agree that flying isn't fully safe anyway, but your friend is being naive if she thinks the government would tell her whether it was safe or not in terms of covid. They have consistently misled throughout this, it is part of the reason people are so reluctant to go back out there!

redsky75 · 10/07/2020 08:49

I get the 'nothing is safe' argument but what I can't get my head round is people booking holidays, flying unnecessarily. By this time next year we will hopefully be in a better position with the virus and can go on holiday etc. Maybe we won't be and then will be the time to get on with lives and assess risk etc. But we are still in the middle of a pandemic, can't people just hold off on these things a bit longer until we see where it's headed?

canigooutyet · 10/07/2020 08:51

Was thinking about going away until I spent the night in a hotel at the weekend and until things relax more I'm not wasting my money. What's the point? The pool and everything is closed. Food and drink in the room only. Some of the furniture from the room stripped.

But honestly if someone said they were going to do something based on what this country say I would have burst out laughing and asked wtf is wrong with them. They follow the rules of that country not here, and have you checked the laws and guidelines of where you are going.

Many countries have proper isolation and from airport it's straight to the hotel and well stay there until it's time to go back home.

And what do you mean, supermarkets are lighting up on sm?

Masks btw may help reduce the risk along with good hygiene personally and around our homes. They have to be correctly worn which a lot don't and fiddle with them. Changed. around every 30 minutes or less if they become damp. Wash hands before taking off mask and again before putting the next one on. The dirty ones to be isolated from everything and the disposable ones properly disposed. Reusable cannot be washed at 30 they need a higher temperature.

Are you still isolating everything that comes through your door? Wiping everything down before it's put away? As well as washing your hands when you return home also wash well your body, change clothes and isolate them before washing them on a higher temp?

Babesinthewud · 10/07/2020 08:53

You can’t live your life locked away in fear forever. That type of ‘life’, isn’t living. It’s existing.

PickAChew · 10/07/2020 08:54

If people hold off until next year there would likely be no hotels for them to stay in or airlines to get them there.

SebandAlice · 10/07/2020 08:56

I think she is right. There is no extra risk going to a country with less cases than England. Airplanes have sanitised air so much less risky than a tube or even a supermarket if wearing a mask. We need the airline companies to survive. We need to get back to living our lives. We cannot hide until a vaccine is found.

Babesinthewud · 10/07/2020 08:58

Walk on a curb a car could beer off and hit and kill you.

Driving sensibly then someone has a heart attack at wheel, veers on to your side, hits your car and kills you

Plane could lose power, crash and kill you

Have an operation and the surgeon could accidentally make a mistake, you bleed to death and die.

Play football, rugby etc... fall awkwardly, hit your head and die...

Nothing is risk free, but we’d lead a very boring existence if we thought about the risks of everything before doing it!

labyrinthloafer · 10/07/2020 09:03

@SebandAlice

I think she is right. There is no extra risk going to a country with less cases than England. Airplanes have sanitised air so much less risky than a tube or even a supermarket if wearing a mask. We need the airline companies to survive. We need to get back to living our lives. We cannot hide until a vaccine is found.
This is incorrect.

Doesn't mean you shouldn't do it, but a staycation where you drive will definitely be lower risk, and the covid risk is a new risk of flying compared to last year.

Jrobhatch29 · 10/07/2020 09:08

@canigooutyet

Was thinking about going away until I spent the night in a hotel at the weekend and until things relax more I'm not wasting my money. What's the point? The pool and everything is closed. Food and drink in the room only. Some of the furniture from the room stripped.

But honestly if someone said they were going to do something based on what this country say I would have burst out laughing and asked wtf is wrong with them. They follow the rules of that country not here, and have you checked the laws and guidelines of where you are going.

Many countries have proper isolation and from airport it's straight to the hotel and well stay there until it's time to go back home.

And what do you mean, supermarkets are lighting up on sm?

Masks btw may help reduce the risk along with good hygiene personally and around our homes. They have to be correctly worn which a lot don't and fiddle with them. Changed. around every 30 minutes or less if they become damp. Wash hands before taking off mask and again before putting the next one on. The dirty ones to be isolated from everything and the disposable ones properly disposed. Reusable cannot be washed at 30 they need a higher temperature.

Are you still isolating everything that comes through your door? Wiping everything down before it's put away? As well as washing your hands when you return home also wash well your body, change clothes and isolate them before washing them on a higher temp?

Are you being sarcastic or are you genuingly quarantining your clothes? I wiped down my shopping in the early days but stopped ages ago. I have never even considered quarantining my clothes....
Forgone90 · 10/07/2020 09:15

I honestly think come september we will just be in a common sense phase, where most things are allowed but people just need to be sensible.

As other have said many other things that are unsafe people still do... People will just have to do their own risk assessments... Of course some people won't stick to common sense... But they are not sticking to it anyway. I live in Bristol where we have had less than 10 cases in a week... I'm thinking it's pretty safe here