Let's all blame the young, only...

[Firef1y72]

...from my experience today I think there is another group that are seriously not adhering to SD, etc.

Before I go any further, I went to my local town for only the second time since early March. I had to use the bus as I don't have a car. I am also exempt from wearing a mask, I wear it for as long as possible, before it becomes unbearable and I start stimming and then go in to meltdown. Just knowing I can take it off if I really need to is a great help, so I always tell the bus driver/person on the door that I am exempt but will wear it for as long as possible.

So my day :
Get on bus, mask on, find my socially distanced seat (all clearly marked, those you can use and those you can't). Coping fairly well, with minimal stimming. Older (70+) couple get on, one sits right next to me. Yes they were wearing their masks but both were less than a metre from me. Obviously I now feel I can't remove my mask, so stimming escalates. And then there are the comments about my handflapping. Luckily only had couple more stops and got off before meltdown started.

Next Primark. A different couple, looked older than me and I'm just shy of 50. No masks, that's fine, I know how hard it is when you can't wear it. But no social distancing either. I can't go down an escalator so used the lift. Said couple followed me in to the lift which is clearly marked 2 people only and then stood right next to me instead of the once more clearly marked positions. Somehow managed to be right behind same couple in the queue for tills, again no social distancing, no notice taken of floor markers. Close enough to the people in front of them that their breath could probably have been felt.

Finally got my shopping done. Waiting at the bus stop, sat on the bench. Older (I'm guessing around 65-70) lady decides to sit right next to me, I mean there were 4 seats, but she didn't even leave a gap. So of course I got up. Another group of ladies with their bus passes stood in a huddle. (Ironically the only "younger" person, was desperately trying to keep her distance, despite them not making it easy.

By this point my stress levels were through the roof, i was already scratching at my arm. No way could I cope with the mask, so told the driver as I got on that I exempt which he was fine about, didn't even ask why. As I walked past a couple of older people to find a seat I heard the dreaded "who does she think she is not wearing a mask". Fine they're scared but, their disposable masks had been re-used to the point that they had been turned inside out and were falling to bits. Pretty sure that my not wearing a mask was more hygenic.

And these incidents don't include all the older people wearing their masks with their nose sticking out.

So yeah, let's all blame the younger generation for the spread.

Did you say something? Like 'can you stand back please'? Find your voice - you need to make others aware they are in your space and you want to follow the rules.

Yeah, honestly this costant blaming 'the young' or 'the old' or 'women' or whatever..its bollocks. From what I have seen, its about evenly spread, the people who aren't distancing, the people wearing masks, the people standing up each others arses, everything. At the start of lockdown, the only thing I think that stood out for me (and this might have been different elsewhere) was that the majority of those out and about, seemed to be those who were older. I saw next to no teens until a few months in, which I fund odd as everyone else seemed to be claiming groups of teens were haging round every street corner!

Me seeing more elderly people was quite possibly to do with me going out earlier though, as usually around here, you see more older people on a morning, for some reason. Doesn't seem to apply elsewhere (even going to next town, it doesn't apply)..just our nearest. Its weird!

But yeah, its all in every age group tbh. Which is totally usual. Those only seeing young people..must be nowhere near me!

Individual anecdotes mean little.
When I went to the local shop, there were about ten other people out. The only one wearing a mask (other than me) was an elderly lady. She was also the only older person out. The other nine people all looked under 30.

Of those older people who don't socially distance, I can understand why. Young people have all the time in the world. A few months is nothing really for them. For the elderly, there's only so much time left. It's a bigger sacrifice to stay in.

The official figures show the demographics of current infection rates. The real issue is that it's not all down to young people partying. Some are being selfish or reckless, but others are doing their best. They're the age group most likely to be out and about in non socially distanced jobs, having to use public transport, and living in shared accommodation.

There are selfish people in every generation.

I think also it might be 'spreading among the young' now, because it already 'spread among the older'? I haven't been looking at stats and such really, but I know the infection rate is high now but death rate is low, apparently because the younger people are getting infected (and obviously we know its not as dangerous to younger people). Does this mean that when the death rate seemed astronomical compared to number of infections, that it spread among the older people more then? Of course this would be when carehomes and such were hit. And testing was more scarce too..its hard to tell really

Either way, its much better it spreading among the young IMO. Especially if..as someone said (that kind of makes sense given numbers mentioned in this thread...)

AFAIK the figures do show that it's highest among those in their 20s transmitting in private homes. I wonder if that means that while groups of friends are passing it between themselves, they are also largely observing social distancing in public places?

IF this is whats happening, surely thats 'good'. Not good of course but good for the situation? As even if we gain a few months of immunity, if a lot of younger people pass it between themselves, but largely keep it away from the older people, thsi means it has a harder job spreading among older people as its harder to infect enough people to go around? Or thats how I thought it worked, hence vaccines, herd immunity, etc.

Either way though, social distancing, who is out, who ignores rules, etc etc seems equally spread among all people from what I have seen tbh, and no reason to think it should be anything but really.

OP, you should have asked those who encroached on your space to step back in each case. Why didn't you?

In yesterday's press conference, Chris Whitty displayed graphs depicting the age groups that were testing positive for Covid-19 that prove it is, in particular, those who are age 17-21.

They aren't being blamed. It is just a statement of fact, backed up by scientific data.

It seems completely obvious that a disease spread by social interactions would spread most rapidly in the population who have most social interactions doesn’t it? That is from adolescence to early 30s.

@Pixxie7

The evidence speaks for itself the highest number of new cases are amongst young adults. You can’t take individual cases to suit your opinion.

Agree.

We can’t keep making excuses for young adults, they are adults so responsible for their actions. Everyone has suffered in one way or another during this pandemic particularly psychologically.
The young adults have been abusing the rules and should be held accountable.

It is a ploy from our useless government to distract attention away from their own incompetence. The blame game and turning the population against each other is conveniently hiding their poor leadership and mishandling.

My experience is different, OP.

It almost always young people who don’t wear masks and who don’t distance.

We all have anecdotes we can share, they are all different.

I have to admit that a lot older people are not social distancing around here . It’s a very affluent area and there’s a lot of talk about ‘snowflakes’ and blitz spirit etc .

But there other reason it’s spreading amongst younger people is because of the jobs they do. Waiting tables, bar work etc are all largely done by younger people . Added to which I think many did lose the will to distance with t thy be whole exams fiasco .

@spongedog ‘ No thank you. I have a life and will live it.’ Perhaps that’s the attitude the ‘young people’ have when they meet friends.