'People have relaxed too much' .... have they?

[SqidgeBum]

This evening Deputy Chief medic Van Tam said the rise in cases were because 'people have relaxed too much' and we all need to take things more seriously. This has made me a bit angry to be honest. I am of the camp who doesnt understand how the shops, restaurants, and pubs can open and the government actively encourage us all to get out and spend, the schools open and we are told its safe, and people are being encouraged to go back on tubes and buses to offices, but its then somehow OUR fault when cases rise.

Was this not inevitable? Did the government not know this would happen as a result of opening things up? I feel pretty peeved that the public are being made out to be the bad guys when we are acting on government advice.

What do people think? Have people become too lax?

Well tbh people aren’t following it anymore. People are having non-social distanced play dates, parties, ignoring the two households rule inside homes and pubs/restaurants. If the government want to keep cases low then yes people have relaxed too much.

@SqidgeBum

This evening Deputy Chief medic Van Tam said the rise in cases were because 'people have relaxed too much' and we all need to take things more seriously. This has made me a bit angry to be honest. I am of the camp who doesnt understand how the shops, restaurants, and pubs can open and the government actively encourage us all to get out and spend, the schools open and we are told its safe, and people are being encouraged to go back on tubes and buses to offices, but its then somehow OUR fault when cases rise.

Was this not inevitable? Did the government not know this would happen as a result of opening things up? I feel pretty peeved that the public are being made out to be the bad guys when we are acting on government advice.

What do people think? Have people become too lax?

Just this.

The government wants us to spread it, and now they are complaining that we are spreading it

Complete bollocks of a government.

I think it’s a mixture yes the government has opened up but a lot of people have gone back to normal and not followed the guidelines.

See - I’m on the other side. People are relaxing as no one is dying any more and they honestly can’t see the fuss. Its time to live our lives. Life is - quite literally - too short to spend any more time shutting ourselves away from a virus that is killing a minutiae. That sounds harsh but it’s the way most people now think.

I am worried-ish about my elderly parents but do I think else should throw a generation under a bus to protect them? Hell, no

@Racoonworld

Well tbh people aren’t following it anymore. People are having non-social distanced play dates, parties, ignoring the two households rule inside homes and pubs/restaurants. If the government want to keep cases low then yes people have relaxed too much.

op's point applies though. If people are told it's safe for schools to be packed to the brim, everyone back to the office, go shopping, go on holiday, eat out to help out; then they're going to think back to normal.

Completely agree, OP. My work have massively changed their tune on home-working, wanting us all to be in the majority of the time. My kids are back at school. Yet if there’s more cases it’s because I went for tacos with a friend

People think in a very short term way. They cannot see many sick or dying and lack the imagination to think what it would be like if the virus were rife again.

The ‘it’s time to live our life’ brigade would not say this if it were Ebola or a war. They would be stoic and get on with it. The reality is, annoyingly, that it is bad enough to stop normal life if it gets out of control.

I do think that three word messages and inconsistent guidance is not helping either. And you do also get healthy young people terrified of Covid, which is unnecessary.

The reality is that we know how the virus is spread and, going into winter with schools open, people need to exercise common sense. Do, seeing grandparents indoors is, to me, ok, if everyone is happy with the risk but an indoor party mixing many households with no distancing is selfish. It is about balancing risk and reward.

Some people just are not following the rules. If I can't get by someone safely within a 2m distance I wait my turn or divert my route round but I see loads and loads of people every day not doing this. And yesterday I couldn't believe my ears when I was passing two women and I overheard one say 'I'm supposed to be self isolating but I ran out of milk so had to go to the Co-op'.

I agree op. Key word it was inevitable.

The mixed messages and Covid fatigue have led to people becoming a lot more lax.

There has been a distinct lack of strong and effective leadership by the Government, and Boris has been almost invisible.

It is starting to feel like late February/early March again... A storm is brewing. Quite when it will hit, we don’t know.... One week, two, three, but it will.

I agree with you OP. It’s ridiculous.

The governments have been completely dishonest and lied to us all along. It’s no wonder people are fed up. I’ve stuck to all the rules all along and other than hardship and misery I feel it’s got me precisely nowhere and with no end in sight. Screw this government, their spineless so called advisors, and their lies.

There has been a distinct lack of strong and effective leadership by the Government, and Boris has been almost invisible

This.

When was the last time he did a briefing to the nation? Weeks and weeks ago. They wanted people to basically forget about it and get out there again, and now they have, they’re getting the blame.

I felt this when they changed the slogan to Stay Alert. It was like they were passing all responsibility into us and it would be our fault if we spread it as we hadn't stayed alert enough.

Was this not inevitable? Did the government not know this would happen as a result of opening things up? I feel pretty peeved that the public are being made out to be the bad guys when we are acting on government advice.

People aren’t following advice though. Yes it was expected that as restrictions were lifted there was the potential for cases to rise, but that’s why there were caveats.
Pubs and restaurants could open with precautions in place, but some landlords and customers aren’t following the rules. Loads of people on here have said they won’t comply with tracing, or can’t afford to self isolate. Those people do not seem to think they have a responsibility to either comply or stay out of the fray. They want their freedoms back, but don’t want to do their bit.
Despite the disingenuous ‘confusion’ it’s always been the case that not everything is possible at the same time. Obviously there has to be a balance between public health and the economy but no, that’s too difficult to understand. Why can I go to a restaurant but not have a family party they whine. It’s not difficult, you’d have to be wilfully obtuse to make it so, but nevertheless here we are.

The idea is that we do the utilitarian things (work, school) and pad leisure (pubs, cinemas etc where the management must keep us at a distance)

That's not carte blanche to do wheatever we like beyond those two areas. There's a lot of 'because X is ok, I'm going to do Y'

It sent, it never was, and thus is a reminder.

Cummings has so much to answer for

*paid leisure

*See - I’m on the other side. People are relaxing as no one is dying any more and they honestly can’t see the fuss. Its time to live our lives. Life is - quite literally - too short to spend any more time shutting ourselves away from a virus that is killing a minutiae. That sounds harsh but it’s the way most people now think.

I am worried-ish about my elderly parents but do I think else should throw a generation under a bus to protect them? Hell, no*

This makes me so cross. Yes,people aren't dying at the moment. Surprise,surprise. Because we have taken steps to reduce transmission,and the current rise in cases is mostly younger people who aren't dying ,though we don know what the long term health effects will be for them,or actually for our children.
It depends what you mean by throwing a generation under a bus.Do we need to keep the economy going,and children in education - yes,but we could be doing a hell of a better job of doing that safely than we are.
But if that means " its unreasonable to stop us going out,having parties and meeting up and doing exactly everything we want to do in the way we want to do it,no fussy social distancing or masks,young people should be able to go out and have fun" then it's people who are prepared to show some self sacrifice and society as a whole who are being thrown under a bus.

@MadameBlobby

There has been a distinct lack of strong and effective leadership by the Government, and Boris has been almost invisible

This.

When was the last time he did a briefing to the nation? Weeks and weeks ago. They wanted people to basically forget about it and get out there again, and now they have, they’re getting the blame.

We are being played by this incompetent government. We've had campaign after campaign thrown at us. Get back to work, go out and eat, vulnerable people stop shielding, go and fly around the world and the latest that school children need to return. So we've done all that and surprise surprise the cases are now increasing.

Young people are being told their transport is fine to be packed in on. They are told it's perfectly safe to sit in a small room for hours with 30 other people with no protection. If they are allowed and encouraged to do this then why wouldn't they feel it's ok to socialising outside of their school building?

No words for the way our government are treating us.

Totally agree OP. My dcs returned to secondary school and came home saying no no social distancing, hardly any masks being worn and no hand gel! I'm seething. Teachers weren't even telling pupils to social distance or monitoring. That's a different story though but just an example how even teachers don't seem to be bothering.
I think that people aren't able to think for themselves. I keep hearing ' Others aren't bothering so why should I?' Can't you think for yourselves then? A bit of a sheep mentality. Even from 2 I know that are in the shielding group have said this. Fair enough, put yourselves at risk unfortunately you are also putting others at risk. Totally selfish.

People have def relaxed. First day back at school and one child handed out invitations to a whole class (33) birthday party, to be held in his home and the (closed) play park opposite. Teachers were just looking at each other in amazement that his parents could be so stupid.

Agree with you OP. At every turn there have been attempts to find groups to blame- helped by the willingness of people to turn on each other- ooh look at all those idiots on the beach, in pubs etc, when these things have also been actively encouraged by the government. Perhaps many of us could still be more careful, but habits and attitudes are bound to change as more things become possible, and in particular as we return to work and school.

Hmm.. Agree it's a mixture. People are forgetting the social-distancing rules, whether accidentally or deliberately.

Even in my case, I may not be meeting up with huge groups of people or going out to bars and restaurants, but we're seeing immediate family inside (grandparents on one side and sister and children on another) and whilst the adults are keeping a distance (but definitely not two metres at all times), I see it as more damaging to the children to tell them to do anything other than what they usually would with those family. Not that at 2 and 4 they would particularly undeestand or be able to adhere at all times anyway 🤷‍♀️

Likewise the children have had some playdates over the summer and just let them play as they normally would.

I think a lot of people find it hard to keep on top of all the changes to restrictions - for my own sanity I don't read the news everyday, so gun to my head I honestly wouldn't be able to tell you what the current rules are! Not saying everyone's doing the same as myself, just that people I have spoken to have said similar things, they can't work out what they can and can't do day to day, so I think some have just gone sod it and are meeting/acting as normal 🤷🏼‍♀️

But where is the leadership? ...

It's easy for government and scientists to criticise the general public but many people have lost faith in our so called leaders.

Testing and track and trace are still not working well and so many mistakes were made by government that frankly it is too easy to put the blame on others for their own failure...

Trying to cram people back in offices and public transport for example is totally irresponsible at this stage.

People are getting on with life. That's inevitable. Although I think those who are having parties/rave and refuse to wear masks in shops/trains are completely irresponsible...