The way people interpret lockdown

[Fontella]

To all intents and purposes we are in full lockdown.

Yesterday I walked up to my local shops and passed a primary school on the way, minutes after close of school. There is a small park/play area adjacent to the school with swings, slides etc. and to be honest, in all the years I've walked past, I've hardly ever seen children in there.

Yesterday it was packed. But what struck me was that not a single adult in that small play area was wearing a mask. They were all sitting closely together on benches, and in small groups with absolutely no social distancing.

Two minutes from that park was Tesco with compulsory masks, social distancing and hand sanitiser etc Yet right on their doorstep were adults and children mixing closely in a small green space with play equipment and not a single one of them wearing a mask or exercising any kind of social distancing.

I'm not judging or complaining or moralising, just observing. If you'd been living under a rock since March, ventured out and walked past that park, you would have no clue anything was amiss. Yet two minutes later your supermarket shop would have made you realise something was up.

When I got home I told my son, and he said that at his girlfriend's son's school (about half a mile from the one I walked past) all the parents at the school gates are wearing masks and socially distancing, with no after school mingling. So literally within a very small geographical area, the ways people interpret this lockdown are very, very different.

I would be really interested to read your thoughts and experiences on the current lockdown situation where you are, and what you personally have observed.

They are outdoors so masks aren't really required

What a long boring post about people letting their kids run off some steam at the park. You do realise everything else has been cancelled for kids right now? The park is pretty much all there is.

I’m very much following the rules and haven’t hugged my Dad since March so I’m not in any way condoning behaviour that spreads the virus.

However, our kids are at school every day in a ‘bubble’ with no social distancing. If they have been together all day and are in a room, no ventilation, no masks then how is it any different for them to play outdoors in a park, or for their parents who are all exposed to whatever level of risk every single child in that ‘bubble’ and every member of their family and anyone they choose to spend time with to sit next to each other on a bench?

@onedayinthefuture

What a long boring post about people letting their kids run off some steam at the park. You do realise everything else has been cancelled for kids right now? The park is pretty much all there is.

Sorry it's a 'long boring post'. You weren't obliged to read it. You could have just scrolled on by. Mumsnet is a busy, diverse forum and no-one (apart from yourself) obliged you to read it, let alone comment on it.

I was making AN OBSERVATION. Not a criticism. I just found it interesting that in a park two minutes from Tesco, the protocol that applied in one place, clearly did not apply in the other and you could have thrown a stone between the two, they were that close together.

I think it's great that mums, dads and kids are enjoying the fresh air, outdoors and limited daylight as we head into winter. I just wonder how that ties in with Lockdown, and the ways that we interpret it?

I'm pondering, thinking about it, ruminating ... not criticising. Hence me asking 'how people interpret lockdown'.

Tesco is indoors and a park is outdoors

@dementedpixie

They are outdoors so masks aren't really required

That's true but then they were sitting side by side on benches, with no social distancing. Just a few inches between each person.

I saw some people earlier talking at a bus stop and they were all wearing masks. These are just things I observe as I drive/walk around.

I'm not making a judgement what's right or wrong, just noting the fact that this tiny play area was packed with people, not wearing masks, not socially distancing during a period of full lockdown. Clearly their interpretation of what lockdown entails is different from others.

Please don't think I'm criticising anyone. I'm not. I'm just making an observation on what I personally saw on my doorstep.

My son tells me that half a mile up the road it's very different. Parents wear masks, they stand apart, they don't socialise after school in public play areas. Multiply that over our whole island, and it's obvious that from area to area, town to town, region to region, people interpret lockdown in different ways.

I agree with PP, it’s simply because masks are only required indoors.

Sorry but the kids will have been in school all day with each other and if the virus really is as contagious as we think then what's the point in parents wearing a mask outdoors with other parents of their children's classmates?

Comparing an outdoor playground to an enclosed shop like Tesco's is setting up a not very good straw man argument really.

The schools may have asked parents to wear masks at pick up time
You are judging tbh

@Mumblechum0

I agree with PP, it’s simply because masks are only required indoors.

If you were talking to someone really closely outside, so sitting side by side on a park bench along with three or four other people, during lockdown. Would you not be inclined to wear a mask or attempt to socially distance yourself in some way?

I think I probably would. I think the people I saw chatting at the bus stop (and much further apart than those on the park benches) wearing their masks, is kind of what I would do. Incidentally the bus stop and the park are less than a quarter of a mile apart.

I just find it fascinating how people interpret CV restrictions in different ways.

Bus stop people may have masks on as they would need to wear them on the bus, or they just got off the bus

@dementedpixie

The schools may have asked parents to wear masks at pick up time You are judging tbh

I'm not judging anything or anyone. How many more times do I have to reiterate that?

I'm making observations based on my own personal experience within a small geographical area.

People standing at least 2m apart at bus stop. Chatting but socially distancing and wearing masks.

Parents in packed play area with kids. Not socially distancing and not wearing masks.

It's all about how different people interpret lockdown. I'm asking for people to contribute based on their own observations/experiences, not inviting people to stick the boot in. I'd have posted in AIBU if that was the kind of response I was looking for.

Hopefully someone will wander by who actually understands the purpose behind my post and responds accordingly so we can get some sort of discussion going.

I was sitting on a park bench with a friend yesterday, neither of us wore masks, I had Covid a while ago and yes, I know that doesn’t necessarily mean I can’t get it again, but there are only 7 confirmed Re infections globally so I’m very relaxed about the risk.

I only wear masks because it’s required indoors, not through any fear whatsoever.

I guess my friend feels the same, we got takeout coffee and both ripped our masks off as soon as we got outside.

@Mumblechum0

I was sitting on a park bench with a friend yesterday, neither of us wore masks, I had Covid a while ago and yes, I know that doesn’t necessarily mean I can’t get it again, but there are only 7 confirmed Re infections globally so I’m very relaxed about the risk.

I only wear masks because it’s required indoors, not through any fear whatsoever.

I guess my friend feels the same, we got takeout coffee and both ripped our masks off as soon as we got outside.

Thanks for that Mumblechum0

I've also met friends in parks, beach etc. and we haven't worn masks but then it was just us. The two of us.

What struck me about what I saw yesterday was loads of people, parents and kids in such a small space, albeit outside. So you can't go and visit your mother, or grandmother, but you can go to the park and be in close proximity with 100 other people, none of whom are making any attempt to socially distance?

So it is the fact that they are outside is what makes the difference? I think that's what people are saying so far.

But then surely, colds, flu and other viruses and illnesses are transmitted 'outside' so why not Covid?

I think it boils down to the fact that most people really really hate wearing masks, and only do so when they absolutely have to (unless there’s a particular reason to fear catching or passing on Covid, which for huge swathes of the population, especially younger people, just don’t feel).
But I don’t know, I’m just projecting 🙂

As others have said, it's outside so the risk of transmission is much lower. And with all activities stopped, of course play areas will be busier than normal.

However, I often see arguments similar to these (from this thread) which don't make sense to me:
"for their parents who are all exposed to whatever level of risk every single child in that ‘bubble’ and every member of their family and anyone they choose to spend time with"

and

"Sorry but the kids will have been in school all day with each other and if the virus really is as contagious as we think then what's the point in parents wearing a mask outdoors with other parents of their children's classmates?"

These arguments only work if there is a 100% certainty that CV will be passed on to contacts which is definitely not the case. I've seen estimates that the chances of someone with CV passing it on to someone they live with, so people in very regular close contact, is only 50%. If parent A has CV then yes, there is a risk that parent B catches it due to their children being in the same class. But the risk is much higher if A and B are also in direct contact with each other.

Another example of a poster on MN making up their own rules.

Because life is too short, masks aren't required outdoors, the parks are open, children are a nightmare without exercise and most people like a bit of human contact.

I think that the issue is that you are comparing different situations when you probably should be comparing different people. With the two schools unless you were watching them go from school to the park you don't know that they weren't wearing masks and socially distanced at pick up and if they went from the park to the shop they wouldn't put a mask on again. Likewise at your son's girlfriends school there are probably some who obey the rules at pick up then head to a park which might not be as obvious as next door but she isn't invited/ doesn't want to go. Some people find it really hard to go without interaction/ wear a mask. For others it is not such a challenge.

The children in my school wear masks only when in corridors between lessons - in breaks and lunch etc when they are outside they are. lol over each other-just as intertwined as they always were do would be pointless for them to artificially distance in the park!

I'm concerned about the playground here, it's tiny and packed. There's currently 15 cases in my health district and 10 are connected to the primary school, according to the gp there was a sleepover party prior to lockdown with 6 of them, plus their parents/siblings etc are now infected.

If people don't take it seriously then they can't really complain when the government starts closing schools.
But they will.

We are not in lockdown. The Government has closed various things ( sadly so for many business owners and employees) but life in general is exactly the same for most people.

What we had over Spring/Summer was a lockdown.....I’m not quite sure what this is.

Calling it a lockdown when it isn’t, is why a lot of people aren’t taking it seriously.

I think the interpretation that 'we're outdoors, so we don't have to wear a mask and it's ok to be as close to people as we like' is risky.

Also that 'the DC are in contact, so direct contact between other members of the household makes no difference' is also unwise.

DC can play outside school, subject to SD so no reason not to use playgrounds. But the rules in school are different to permit education, something held to be necessary, and contacts outside the necessary ones for the things society as a whole considers vital, just add to risk. Which is not helpful right now

I agree if someone fell asleep a week into the original lock down and woke up now, they would believe we were out of it. Obviously pubs and hospitality have been massively hit again but many high Street shops are still open, we've been on a day out to a national trust place, obviously schools are open etc.

What I don't get is what is different between what we're supposed to be doing now and tier 3? I read the sage report summary the other day and they were saying when we come out of this lock down it will only have been worth it if everywhere goes straight into tier 3. From what i can tell this is essentially the same as right now, we're basically just in tier 3 as a whole country?