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

[DomDoesWotHeWants]

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.

The virus has not gone away, it is still out there and other Countries have had second outbreaks and gone back into lockdown. This could easily happen here.

The Governments cannot keep the world locked up until there is a vaccine so they've had no choice but to open everything up and let people get back out there.

But I agree with you, we are not going on holiday this year, we are doing all our shopping online, we are staying away from busy places, we will not be going to the gym when it reopens, I am not in a hurry to get a haircut. We are going to sit back and see what happens........

but the Government does need a large number of guinea pigs to go out there and test the water and if people are happy to do it, let them.

The risk and main concern for me with travel is not fear of catching the virus but the risk of ending up in a quarantine or lockdown situation in a foreign country. I just think back to those stuck in the hotel in Tenerife a few months back and think no thanks.

I think we need to stop this safe / not safe idea

Everything is based on risk and of course that will vary with age / sex / health

So an older man with diabetes for example might be more wary perhaps

But surely that is common sense?

Totally agree with you OP, your title sums it up perfectly.

@BackInTime yes! Me too, I keep thinking back to that Tenerife lockdown...stuck in one room with kids for two weeks

Nothing is safe really. Travelling by car, eating fatty foods, drinking alcohol if you choose to, blah blah. Everything has a risk. You just have to do whatever you can to minimise the risk so you can still do fun stuff. Otherwise what is the point of living at all?! We can all stay locked away forever or never do anything so we don’t get Covid but what kind of life is that?

(And incidentally I’m one of those in the shielding “extremely clinically vulnerable” category).

One of my work colleagues has been leader of team apocalypse throughout this, the type to post "how many dead today?" every single day and constantly posting about how it is absolutely not safe to be working in our school... Yet even she has just booked a holiday to corfu 🤣🤣

@labyrinthloafer

Although many people might think that sitting in a confined space for long periods would inevitably spread infections, the chief engineer at aerospace giant Airbus insists that is not the case.

Jean-Brice Dumont argues that the way modern aircraft are designed means that the air is intrinsically very clean. "Every two to three minutes, mathematically, all the air is renewed," he says. "That means 20 to 30 times per hour, the air around you is completely renewed."

Put simply, air is collected from outside the aircraft, normally through the engine, and mixed with recycled air from the cabin.

The recycled air, which is reused in part to keep temperature and humidity at the correct levels, is passed through HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filters that are similar to those used in hospitals. The Covid-19 virus is about 125 nanometres in diameter (a nanometre is a billionth of a metre) and is within the particle-size range that HEPA filters capture - 10 nanometres and above.

@BackInTime
If lockdown occurs in a foreign country all foreigners are usually advised to go home and given time to do so.

You just take your risks accordingly. Would I go to the pub? No because the benefit doesn't outweigh the risks. Would I get on a plane and go abroad? Yes. Because I'd get far more enjoyment from being abroad than in a pub. Its all hypothetical though because the airline cancelled our flights

If your ridiculous measures are correct then I’m at risk of catching it anyway because I’m not ‘quarantining my clothes’ (wtf) when I come inside. Everyone has got to live! This virus isn’t just going to disappear. I’m not willing to merely exist inside a bubble in my home for 2 years until it fizzles out or a vaccine is widely available- not least because I have a 2 year old and the long term impact of her living in a bubble of fear is a much more pressing concern to me than actually getting the virus.

With your logic how do you ever leave your front door?

Shrug ... for some people life is about more than ‘being safe’

I agree OP. The government decided that coronavirus was dangerous enough to warrant locking us down. By releasing lockdown that suggests the risk has reduced. It hasn’t - they just can’t afford the economy to get any worse.

The virus has a very low infection rate at the moment so we are getting out there enjoying life while we can, DP and I are out for lunch today, DS is having a fry up at the local greasy spoon this morning with a couple of mates, DD wants to get her nails done.

I think we will be hunkering down at some point in the autumn so make the most of the next couple of months. People should be enjoying this time and spending as much money as they can!

For me it's about the risk and reward. I'm feeling very cautious right now and would rather modify my behaviour to reduce my risk. For me there are alternative ways I can do things that I feel (rightly or wrongly) lower my risk exposure.

I don't wish to fly or travel abroad. The thought of sitting close to lots of other people in a plane or getting sick or caught in lockdown abroad is above my current risk tolerance. We are going to a uk cottage owned by a friend though.

I love to eat out but I don't wish to sit inside a pub or restaurant right now. A meal inside isn't worth it to me. I am happy to have a take away instead though.

I've booked an outdoor theatre for while we are away where I am assured all necessary precautions will take place. I would not go inside an indoor theatre or cinema right now.

I think I would use an outdoor pool but not an indoor pool right now.

Obviously at the moment we have more outdoor options to mitigate risk. I am worried about the end of summer and also my children returning to school. Let's hope things continue to improve.

I have booked a holiday for August and am planning on having a really lovely time. I am objectively more at risk from staying at home because of my mental health. And anyway, if everyone stayed home, there would be far worse consequences in terms of the economic damage. This is a virus that kills maybe 0.5% of people!

But you do you, op. Most of the UK is now virus free. Most of Europe is virus free. There are very low numbers of new cases.

@Jrobhatch29

When you think about it not really.

If we are supposed to wash hands and face when we go home, dispose/wash the mask after every use. Isolate the dirty from the clean when out and about then what about your clothes?

Germs and viruses can survive on clothing after all and unless I've missed an update which I may have, it hasn't been determined how long this lasts on clothing.

Second wave is due around October I feel.

That counts for nothing more than your gut instinct, though. There is not an expert in the world who can accurately predict what might happen, in October or any other month.

Why will there ever be a significant second wave if people are getting tested and isolate when they have it, if policies around care homes have changed and if doctors are more knowledgeable about how to treat the virus? It isn't a given and the chances are there won't be more than local outbreaks.

And lots of people had very strong feelings there would be a second wave in July but we've had weeks of things opening up and cases are still declining, as are deaths.

Gut feeling counts for nothing.

I'm in the "nothing is safe" camp. My dad got a routine urine infection and died from sepsis as a result. Living is more than just dying.

I am following the guidelines to reduce the risk to others, but I have been to a pub, my kids are in school as I'm a keyworker, I'm out working most days, I've been shopping.

I'm keeping my distance, washing my hands and wearing a mask where requested. I'm not going to judge anyone who does different things to me

Oh and no like hell am I doing it. Never wiped down anything that gets delivered either. Thankfully I'm exempt from wearing a mask.

@canigooutyet do you actually quarantine your clothes?

Oh sorry @canigooutyet. Post crossover.

Funny enough my parents plan on showering and changing clothes when they arrive into my house from the plane before hugging anyone, but they are irish (who have taken this VERY seriously) and I am pregnant so my mom is a bit OTT about it all.

A ship is safest in the harbour... but that’s not what it was built for.

If people want to live a life without any risk (which is impossible by the way- you could slip getting out of the shower or as a recent news story has shown a crane could fall through your house roof and kill you!) then that’s your choice.

I would like a life, not just an existence. I am lucky to be relatively young with no health conditions and I know that isn’t the case for everyone.

I'm not sure why people have veered away from the original subject. It isn't about general risk in daily life, looking both ways when crossing the road etc. It's about the specific risk posed by Covid and people's response to it.

Some people seem to genuinely believe that if the government allow it then it's fine and they don't need to do risk assessment at all. "They wouldn't let us go to the gym if it wasn't safe".

It's a sort of madness to assume you no longer need to take precautions that has gripped some people.

At the weekend a pub had to call the police because customers were refusing to obey social distancing and wouldn't leave when told to. That sort of stupidity seems to be rife.

@SqidgeBum
🤣 Not a chance well not for this anyway.

Did have to years ago when one of the kids picked up impetigo (sp?) in school as I didn't obviously want someone else getting it.

I'm a shielder and should have followed full infection control, and well should be now. But I'd rather have a live than spend it constantly cleaning and worried about something that's going around. I nearly died again last year. Got the virus before lockdown and yes it was fucking brutal, but is there an illness that isn't?