Where are people catching it?

[ilkleymoorbartat]

Presumably people in Tier 4 are hardly using public transport, the buses in London are empty. Schools are off, pubs are closed. Everyone I know is obeying the rules, possibly going for outside walks with one other person. Where is this massive spread coming from?

My Aunt is a teacher, it was going round the teaching staff towards the end of term. She caught it, then a few days later her husband caught it from her.

My Dad is a bus driver, he came down with it a few days before Christmas and is still barely able to get out of bed. He isn’t sure if he caught it from a passenger, a colleague, or elsewhere, but they currently have 30 drivers off sick out of 120 in his garage. He seems to have passed it onto my stepmum (who has been working from home and not going out much).

My cousin works in a nursery. He lives with my Aunt and Uncle, and my Aunt has caught it from him.

So I currently have 6 relatives with it, all live in London and all either work with people or live with someone who does. The other half of my family live in Yorkshire and all work from home, none of these have caught it.

Everyone I know who is positive at the moment caught it at work. My partner caught it at work despite PPE and SD

We tested positive 12 days ago, ds bought it home from school

So I last left the house on 18th when our schools closed. I literally haven't left the house since even to go to the bins. Felt absolutely dreadful with a horrendous cough and cold but not really much of a temp. Tested on 21st, positive results on the 23rd. Again obviously not left the house since. We haven't seen a soul in that time. I haven't used public transport in years, no one has been in my house and I've only been to Asda on the 17th (I had no symptoms then) So my guess is for me, Asda. But I've tried myself in knots trying to work out how. I wear a mask. I walk the recommended distance away from people and I honestly can't work it out. Unless the kids took it home but everyone in my house tested negative.no one else has had symptoms in my house either. We haven't seen family since January as they are 2.5 hours away and my dad has cancer so we've been so so careful. I'm usually normally super healthy, pretty fit and active. Work in an office but obviously now from home. It's stinking awful. I think I feel remote human for the first time today but by god, it's been dreadful.

I live on a crowded bus route in London that serves 3 major hospitals. Between 6 and 8am it's crammed with NHS workers. Frequency is every 10-15 minutes. I need this bus to get to work, at a very quite tube station area. I have been coughed on.

My neice and nephew caught it at work and then passed on to parents .

@katieg03

So I last left the house on 18th when our schools closed. I literally haven't left the house since even to go to the bins. Felt absolutely dreadful with a horrendous cough and cold but not really much of a temp. Tested on 21st, positive results on the 23rd. Again obviously not left the house since. We haven't seen a soul in that time. I haven't used public transport in years, no one has been in my house and I've only been to Asda on the 17th (I had no symptoms then) So my guess is for me, Asda. But I've tried myself in knots trying to work out how. I wear a mask. I walk the recommended distance away from people and I honestly can't work it out. Unless the kids took it home but everyone in my house tested negative.no one else has had symptoms in my house either. We haven't seen family since January as they are 2.5 hours away and my dad has cancer so we've been so so careful. I'm usually normally super healthy, pretty fit and active. Work in an office but obviously now from home. It's stinking awful. I think I feel remote human for the first time today but by god, it's been dreadful.

Yes you would have caught it in the supermarket. It generally takes 3-5 days from exposure to developing symptoms which ties with your dates.

Masks reduces spread of large droplets it doesn't stop small aerosol particles and doesn't stop you breathing these in especially in areas which don't have good ventilation but high traffic areas.
It's the one part of government advice people don't really pick up on/understand when they say open windows avoid indoor crowded places etc its due to build up in the air with poor ventilation.

People think it's only if you "break the rules" your going to catch it. It's a pandemic because it's a very good virus at infected hosts.

Hope you feel better soon

He guidelines are only to minimise risk . They won’t eliminate it .

OP I have also been wondering this - I’m also in London and there is nothing open, as you say buses empty etc.
I haven’t been inside someone else’s house in months and that also goes for most people I know. Anyone I know who’s older or vulnerable is shielding. And the key workers I know are mostly working in a Covid-secure environment.
So I’m guessing that these workplaces are not that Covid-secure after all. Or maybe lots of people are breaking the rules and visiting each other’s houses (as there’s no other place to meet inside) but it doesn’t seem that’s the case. That does leave schools of course, but I don’t think it’s the case that all Covid cases can be traced back to schools either.

I’d love to know exactly where people in London are catching it so that we can all be more careful in those situations but guess it’s not that straightforward.

Everyone I know who tested positive last week (which was a lot) has only been to school and home again.

You realise a lot of people still have to go to work right?

The kids may have passed it on even though they tested negative. The tests aren't 100 percent accurate.

Actually now I remember getting an overground train just before we went into Tier 4 here in London and was quite shocked at how crowded it was, how many people weren’t wearing masks (including older and overweight people) and how much coughing was going on. I was quite nervous and stood near the door the entire time. But yes you could definitely have caught Covid there

People I know; DC got it at school or rugby - both within the rules - and spread it to whole family. Let's hope that strand doesn't go any further - they've all been SI over Xmas. Makes me mad when people blame rule breakers as if everyone with covid is a rule breaker. They're not, some are just unlucky and it's no ones fault.

I heard of the first case today of suspected transmission while having a permitted but ill-advised family Christmas indoors.

But with friends who are nurses, transmission in hospitals sounds very high. One safe ward left at the local hospital a week or so ago. Would be surprised if it was still 'green' now.

School, hospital/dentist, work, food shopping, those of us caring for vulnerable people. Many of us can't totally isolate ourselves.

In my circle, school or hospital

Are there actually any figures published which actually answers the question, rather than people just guessing? I looked but couldn’t find any.

Everyone I've heard of locally who's caught it in recent weeks is either school staff or a school child. Lots of them

@MintyMabel

Are there actually any figures published which actually answers the question, rather than people just guessing? I looked but couldn’t find any.

Not in the public domain no but track and trace/covid response/environmental health and Public health officials/government get a breakdown of where positive cases have been etc. This is confidential data though.

People aren’t socially distancing the way they were. I’m a key worker and on my way to work this morning - (tier 4 area) you would never have believed it was ‘lock down’.

Back in March when everyone was told to stay at home, my commute was noticeably quieter. That’s no longer the case

I have no idea where all the cars are going but it’s not quiet. Same with the supermarkets. There’s no 2 meter distancing these days.

Folk aren’t arsed anymore. Close the schools all together like but parents will still let they’d kids out and it will still spread because you can’t contain a virus - despite the best efforts. It’s impossible!

Also to the lady on a different thread who said ‘why shouldn’t people be allowed out in their cars’ well, the more cars on the road in this weather, icey, snowy conditions,the more risk of A&E being overwhelmed by crashes etc so there is something to be said for not driving about to get excercise!

@TableFlowerss I expect most of the people on the road have just a good a reason as you to be on it
You don't just have to be a key worker to still be going to work. You can be a person who can't work from home. There are lots of those too.

The kids may have passed it on even though they tested negative. The tests aren't 100 percent accurate.

@katieg03 this. Or if the kids passed it on to you, by the time they were tested (presumably at a similar time to you) they might have become negative.

I’m a bit sceptical about the virus being transmitted on a large scale to customers in supermarkets - I can see it would happen among the staff but not otherwise. However, I have modified my shopping habits so that I only go when it’s relatively quiet and there’s plenty of room.

The only two people who I know who have had it both got it on holiday (Greece) in the summer.

@formerEUcitizen

I heard of the first case today of suspected transmission while having a permitted but ill-advised family Christmas indoors.

But with friends who are nurses, transmission in hospitals sounds very high. One safe ward left at the local hospital a week or so ago. Would be surprised if it was still 'green' now.

I know of someone who visited 7 people on Christmas day (large household, not multiple households). Today they tested positive. Now all the others can do is wait and hope for the best.