'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?

Again agree with another poster people think because schools say are open and children are mixing that its then ok to have 10 over the house , or because they have been to a pub - with restrictions then having a bbq for 20 is ok
They can't see the difference that 1 is for the economy and has restrictions in place the other is more close contact or that education is necessary but a party at home isn't
The goverment have a lot to answer for but they are not doing much different to every other country really and people are breaking rules and justifying with 'well the pubs are open'
We couldn't stay in a strict lockdown forever we would have no economy left and what do people think pays for nhs etc and people need to work to eat

@BabyLlamaZen

It's the non distancing EVERYWHERE when people very easily can. What people on here have been saying for weeks.

Fully agree. So many people have been in denial about the need to continue social distancing, washing hands, etc. It's not rocket science.

Fair enough in crowded places where you can't social distance. I.e. unexpected busy places like a bus that is usually quiet, or a shopping centre on a Tuesday afternoon where there are usually few people around. Lots of sensible people are planning their trips out to avoid large groups of people, but sometimes you can get caught out unexpectedly.

But, even in quieter places, far too many people can't be arsed to keep 2 metres away even though they could, they're ignoring one way signs, even though they can, they're not wearing mask, even when they could, they're still walking out of loos without washing their hands. Just what parallel universe are these idiots living on??

We have a post office in our village. It's tiny, so it's been one person at a time right back since March. First few months, that was adhered to. Now, it's a free for all. I went a few days ago, there was someone in so I waited outside (as per several signs on the door and windows). When it was my turn and I went it, the morons in the queue behind me came in too. Just why? What kind of utter idiot does that. It ended up five of us crowded in a tiny space about 6ft x 6ft. The woman behind the counter doesn't care because she's got her plastic/security screen to hide behind.

@StealthPolarBear people were moaning about daily briefing here and to be fair it did become pointless as unless big changes not worth it , now cases are rising once a week may be worth it as people won't tune in everyday if its just repeat information

I wasn't, I tuned in almost every day.

The goverment have a lot to answer for but they are not doing much different to every other country really

I disagree. Our government lies all the time. Who trusts this government?

I used to want to follow rules but now simply follow my own to keep us safe.

Nothing this government says makes any sense.

I got abuse recently for asking someone to move a little further away when they came and stood close to me. I was wearing a mask. They weren't.

Perhaps they should tell us how many of the outbreaks are caused by people at parties etc and how many by people at work, school etc? How many at pubs/restaurants which we were strongly encouraged to visit?
They must know this given that we allegedly have a world beating track and trace system.

MNers have been saying that "Lockdown is Over" & "Everything is back to normal" & "A second wave will be here tomorrow!" since April. MN is the least reliable reporting place I can think of (almost) about what most people are doing.

It baffles me that people are so keen to find someone to BLAME.

I don't know what most people are doing. I'm trying to do my own right things. I lack attention or responsibility to worry beyond me & mine.

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.

As many other posts testify, I’m not someone who is advocating that we scrap social distancing, but to be fair, they are all together in a room for 30 or so hours each week, so a couple more in a home wouldn’t increase the risk, and a little boy gets a party with no harm done.

...people were moaning about daily briefing here and to be fair it did become pointless as unless big changes not worth it

I don’t get this... No one was forcing anyone to watch the briefings. If people found it irrelevant or tedious they didn’t have to engage.

...people were moaning about daily briefing here and to be fair it did become pointless as unless big changes not worth it

Many people seem to struggle with nuance... It has to be all or nothing it seems.

The virus doesn't spread, people spread the virus.

So if there is an increase in infections, it's because of what people are doing. I acknowledge that many don't have a choice regarding schools and jobs, but some infections could simply be prevented by following WHO guidelines. Stop listening solely to the government, this is a worldwide thing, look at what works in other countries.

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.

Actually people did. Start of WWII, people carried gasmasks, took precautions, 1.5 million Children were evacuated at the start of WWII. Then came the Phoney War which lasted until May 1940.
Many people got the children home, gave up on gas masks and precautions and then 4th June was Dunkirk and July the Battle of Britain started.

I bet there were people laughing at others during the Phoney war and saying "This isn't really bad. Not many deaths. We should bring everyone home and we can ignore the Nazi threat as it really isn't that bad is it?"

I think he means too lax about social distancing indoors with guests and extended families. As young people are getting it, he is presumably saying they are too lax with social distancing.
The examples you mentioned - public transport, sitting outside a coffee shop or pub and going to an office - I can do all that and keep around 1 metre distance, limit my time next to strangers, keep a mask on to limit risk of passing infection to others.
The huge raves, crowds of protestors with no masks, families extended families socialising indoors. That's the type of thing that is avoidable.
Some work places, such as chilled food factories carry more risk than others.

@halcyondays

Perhaps they should tell us how many of the outbreaks are caused by people at parties etc and how many by people at work, school etc? How many at pubs/restaurants which we were strongly encouraged to visit? They must know this given that we allegedly have a world beating track and trace system.

I strongly doubt they would be/have been truthful about it if any rise in cases got caused by work, pubs or anything less convenient than gatherings in private homes.

It’s not even just individuals either other than a hygiene station at the door our Morrisons is completely back to normal now.

I think its quite easy to fall back into old habits and ways without even realising. Im unsure what the guidelines even are at the moment regarding households and who you can and can't see, I doubt I'm the only one. Weve not had a briefing from Boris in months like we did during lockdown, reinforcing the guidelines in place and how the country as a whole is doing etc.

I know guidelines are on the gov website but in reality who checks gov websites before they do anything just in case it's not allowed, some will but the majority won't.

I was in a qeue last weekend to go into a store. Person behind me got very close. I turned back and asked whether they could please give me some more space. Cue to rolling eyes, and ds mortified....

so yes, it has gotten very difficult to do the right thing and it is down to relaxing rules and lack of clear leadership.

@Derbygerbil but school is necessary the party isn't and likely child will have extended family there so extra contacts and they won't be able to social distance that many in a house or enclosed area .
Schools at least have some measures in place , the party will have shared food possibly etc
Thats the problem that people can't see the difference between one or the other , which I get but work , school etc are necessary especially from any government's point of view

@Concerned7777 but they haven't changed for months really especially concerning seeing family we have been on the 6 or max 2 households for ages in england now

Where is there any evidence that there are more “infections” or cases in the wild than there were in March,April, May,June,July or August?

Are we testing more people? Yes
Is the percentage of those tests coming back positive lower than in previous months, despite the testing becoming less focused? Yes

Would suggest less actual cases in the community

@FiveToFour

*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.

And what about people like teenagers committing suicide /people wanting to die because of this and ending up in hospital /I am poorly can't see a doctor until had covid test and o can't get one so what about if people have something serious that gets missed

That is what makes me CROSS

@MadameBlooby yes most supermarkets here now are just a free for all , no one way systems , people not keeping their distance etc
None of the guidelines have changed on this really other than the wearing of masks , yet shops and people in general seem to of given up , i was waiting 2 meters behind whilst someone collected something off shelf to then get something myself and someone walked right in front and just grabbed what they needed , like i was standing and waiting for fun

In opening things up the government have committed a huge mistake by assuming that the British public would behave responsibly.

Personally I think it's a mistake to open up businesses that entertain large numbers of people and where it's a struggle to maintain SD. Likewise I think schools should have been opened on a rota basis with blended learning, but, we are where we are and it's vital that people follow closely the guidelines that are in place even if they seem to not make sense.

Going back to the early days of this we were shown diagrams of the chain of infection and it was clearly shown how removing just one interaction at the top of the chain prevented hundreds of infections lower down and that's what we must bear in mind now. So, yes, it might seem silly to not meet up with three families when you are back at work and the.kids are back in school but removing that one interaction from your chain stops the chain of spread that would occur if one of you has it.

We just aren't grown up.enough as a population to recognise this and act on it. Countries whose population respects the role that personal responsibility plays on this are doing much better

@Desperado24 i think people forget that testing capacity is so much higher now , the amount of people i know who had possible covid symptoms feb/ march before testing etc is quite high
Obviously could of been normal colds / flu and we will likely never know