People don’t really understand the purpose of the restrictions, do they?

[Notcontent]

My DC has already had Covid and I am not in any vulnerable category (and probably been exposed already). On a personal level, the restrictions have had a very negative effect on my life and I also feel that the way the Government has handled everything has been very erratic and inconsistent.

BUT, “we are where we are” and I fully understand the purpose of the restrictions - they are there not necessarily to protect me personally or my DC but to halt the spread of the virus and therefore reduce the number of people who will get really sick with it.

But it seems that a lot of people still don’t get it and say things like “well, it should be a personal decision” or “we are having a party because none of us are vulnerable”.

@dreamingbohemian

I don't think it's surprising that people don't see the point in the rules when there has been so much inconsistency with the rules

I think 9 months on most of us understand the 'spirit' of the rules (despite the difficulties with the constant changes and tiers)

YABU. Can only speak for myself, I do understand the purpose of the restrictions, but not the purpose of the people implementing them in the UK.

The entire British govt has been a shitshow since Boris and his troupe of clowns were elected. Their actions have not been linear, consistent or effective. Huge mistakes made re public transport, education, care homes, in fact in every single area of public life. Confidence undermined to the point that I no longer listen to what they say.

YANBU, and people just don't get it.
Individually, it doesn't matter if one person goes to visit their mum or sister, or has 10 people over for Christmas.
But collectively, when 1000 people do it, it leads to this massive spike we're seeing now.
But it's OK, because people do their own risk assessments, apparently.

@Noellodee

There is not a health service in the world that can cope with unchecked exponential spread. You could have 4 times the capacity, and if cases are doubling every week, that extra capacity would last a whole fortnight. The only way to prevent any health service from being overrun is to prevent the exponential demands that are being placed on it.

People who say that our NHS is not fit for purpose forget that public satisfaction with our NHS peaked during the Blair years, at which point we were said to have the best value for money health service in the world. I'm sure there was plenty of money being wasted, but waiting lists were down and outcomes were improving across the board.

Blair trebled the NHS spending, much of which was wasted. No wonder the public satisfaction improves if you throw unsustainable amounts of money at it. The complete failure was that it wasn't long term sustainable. The NHS started to suffer again as soon as the spending levelled out. That's because it wasn't spent wisely on long term solutions. The NHS got locked in to long term expensive contracts, many of which were unnecessary, which is why it's now financially crippled.

I understand the point of the restrictions completely, I still think they make no sense when schools are open

On average children who have missed education because of Covid and lockdowns are 22-50 months behind, any further loss and we've essentially destroyed an entire generation. Thats a little more important than having pubs open or seeing mates.

I understand the reasons behind the restrictions, and have complied for the most part. I don't expect anything to change long term around the nhs and its funding, if anything it may now be easier to privatise it.

I disagree that it's a 'vast majority' not complying, it's just that instances of non-compliance makes for a better headline to stir up some hysterics (a la mumsnet).

As much as I agree that a lot of people don't understand, there is a different point of view.

I have two friends that are facing terminal illnesses because we spent the first lockdown trying to keep the NHS from being overwhelmed. I have one primary school child that suffered during the first lockdown and a toddler that is missing out on socialisation.

I am also alongside my children facing a Covid bill that will be ever growing and will likely never be paid off in my lifetime.

I have no friends that are struggling but there are thousands of people struggling to keep a roof over their heads and feed themselves.

I feel that everyone in favour of restrictions are the ones that lack understanding.

I get annoyed with the people who say “the government have been inconsistent”, “the rules don’t make sense, pubs shut at 10pm, can the virus tell the time”, “masks are pointless because they are not 100% effective” and so on.

Yes the government have been a shit show, and the rules are a bit inconsistent and bonkers. But the simple matter is the virus is spread by human contact.

Limiting human contact is the only way to minimise the spread. And that’s the aim. If we wanted to completely stop the spread, we would all be locked in our houses and not allowed to leave for any reason.

It also gets my back up when the same people then are in uproar about non essential operations being cancelled, cancer treatment delayed “because they are putting too much focus on covid”. And fail to understand that because we haven’t don’t enough to limit the spread, covid is overwhelming hospitals and there isn’t the resources now to treat everyone, and hospitals have to treat the people who turn up at a&e first.

@BamboozledandBefuddled what - you and your family intend to deal with all illness, accidents and emergencies at home from now on?

Yes, and I'm fed up of people proclaiming that 'lockdowns don't work' because cases weren't zero by the end of it. Of course they weren't. They were never going (or meant) to be.

Yes limiting contact is the answer. But as you say, it's not possible to limit all human contact, so decisions must be made as to when contact is allowed. And it is in that decision-making that people criticise the government for its choices.

I think it's fair to criticise for inconsistency because this is what opens the door for people to rationalise breaking the rules.

On average children who have missed education because of Covid and lockdowns are 22-50 months behind

4 years behind? How have you calculated that?

I think what annoys me is people making up rules or changing the rules to suit themselves. Friends, co-workers, neighbours can apparently have inlaws and DC and DC's partners/child from anywhere in the UK inside their homes whenever they want 'because we're all part of a bubble' but since I am single I have 'bubbled' with another single friend nearby. We have not been in each other's homes but we walk together in a local park each day. We get hell for it because we're 'not allowed to meet with anyone other than family'. I can't see me walking with one person in open air is any riskier than 3 or 4 separate households travelling to meet inside someone's home. Also what I'm doing is actually allowed!
I'm having to bite my tongue these past couple weeks and it's definitely changing my relationship with some people.

Children cant be 22 months to 50 months behind for a pandemic that started in UK less than a yr ago. My child has missed alot of school due to illness and due to being ECV hasnt been since March. Child has made more progress by a chunk of time home edding than was happening with frequent absences in other yrs.

@user1497207191

And I'm not interested in protecting a health service that hasn't been fit for purpose for years.

Prize winner of the most stupid post of the day.

So, I presume that poster doesn't want any treatment if they fall ill or have an accident if they aren't interested whether we have a functioning NHS or not!

Speechless!

I'd love to use the NHS but both availability and the standard of care have been so piss-poor in this area for years that we have been forced to go private several times. I'm talking about all aspects, including seeing a GP. Yes, we're very lucky to be able to afford it but don't expect me to have gratitude or concern for a service that we pay for and are never able to fucking access. Especially as after the last time my mother was finally admitted to hospital, I lodged five separate complaints about the utterly appalling 'care' that she received from nursing staff.

BamboozledandBefuddled "I'm not interested in protecting a health service that hasn't been fit for purpose for years"

A fine example of the nonsense people are basing their decisions on. You actually thought it meant taking all these precautions "as a favour to the NHS" and didn't realise it meant "because if we don't we won't have a functioning medical service when we need it"

It's not just you. We have whole threads dedicated to not understanding what is going on. This crisis has been very revealing.

On average children who have missed education because of Covid and lockdowns are 22-50 months behind, any further loss and we've essentially destroyed an entire generation. Thats a little more important than having pubs open or seeing mates.

I work in a school, I understand the impact on education and how important it is. My argument wasn’t that it’s less important overall than going to a party. It’s that to some people socialising is more important than school because they have nothing to do with schools. They have nothing to lose by schools being closed, but they feel they have something to lose by not seeing friends for another few months. All I’m saying is that I think it’s understandable.

People can only be expected to sacrifice what matters to them for the sake of what matters to other people for a short amount of time. That time has now passed and the good will has gone. We can’t expect people to continue to curtail their own lives for other people Whalen they have less than nothing to gain by it.

@Trackandtrace

Children cant be 22 months to 50 months behind for a pandemic that started in UK less than a yr ago. My child has missed alot of school due to illness and due to being ECV hasnt been since March. Child has made more progress by a chunk of time home edding than was happening with frequent absences in other yrs.

So have mine. But not all parents are able to teach and most importantly have the educational level and time to teach their children. This in them means that the gap between children that had the advantage of educated parents and children that don't is ever growing.

The same people who vote to leave Europe - they just don't understand the bigger picture.

People were never going to buy into long term restrictions that make little sense. I understand the point of the restrictions completely, I still think they make no sense when schools are open.

But @NailsNeedDoing you don’t understand.

In order to keep schools pen, which is really essential for so many reasons, and to keep people in jobs (again obviously a good thing) we ALL need to exercise extra restrictions elsewhere to ensure we contain the virus transmission as much as possible.

It’s a balance between a very restrictive lockdown (Paris, China, Melbourne etc) or a free for all (USA).

I wish people would understand this..

Even with the number of cases and deaths since March, I still know people who think covid happens to ‘other people’ 🙄. Having had it myself, be it fairly mild, the effects after are much worse and there’s no way to make it better other than to not over do it.

It’s a balance between a very restrictive lockdown (Paris, China, Melbourne etc) or a free for all (USA).

I agree this is what the government have been trying to do, but I think what we see now in practice is that perhaps it's not a very effective approach. Sometimes a balance just gives you the worst of both options, due to human psychology and how people tend to react to things.

I think it could be more effective if there was a lot more investment in public hygiene measures as in SE Asian countries -- more decontamination of public areas, temperature taking to enter shops, effective tracking. There's no reason not to do all this except sheer incompetence.

but I think what we see now in practice is that perhaps it's not a very effective approach. Sometimes a balance just gives you the worst of both options, due to human psychology and how people tend to react to things

Yes, I agree. I think a very restrictive lockdown, and then an actual thought through PLAN might have been a better bet!

This government is a shower of shite, & totally incompetent, but that's not a good enough reason for us citizens to understand how the virus transmits, and all do our bit to control that.

But some people are selfish, or stupid, or both ...

“This. And I'm not interested in protecting a health service that hasn't been fit for purpose for years.”

@BamboozledandBefuddled you might be less keen to make a political statement if you were in the middle of a medical emergency like a heart attack or something. You’d be glad of the nhs then....

@annevonkleve

I understand the point of the restrictions completely, I still think they make no sense when schools are open

Schools = education. Education is important.

Pubs = parties. Parties are not important.

It's very easy to understand but lots of people like to wilfully misunderstand including my own, normally quite intelligent, dc.

Also

No schools = no healthcare or other key workers who are parents

No key workers = total carnage

“I'd love to use the NHS but both availability and the standard of care have been so piss-poor in this area for years that we have been forced to go private several times. I'm talking about all aspects, including seeing a GP. Yes, we're very lucky to be able to afford it but don't expect me to have gratitude or concern for a service that we pay for and are never able to fucking access. Especially as after the last time my mother was finally admitted to hospital, I lodged five separate complaints about the utterly appalling 'care' that she received from nursing staff.”

@BamboozledandBefuddled I work in a private hospital, many of the staff also work in the nhs, me included.

If anyone becomes very ill in our private hospital, guess where they get sent? Yes the local nhs hospital for itu/hdu.