Further Restrictions 'Stricter than March' Needed

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From the Telegraph today:

Sage advisers are calling for a lockdown tougher than the one seen in March as they argue the current restrictions do not go far enough.

Professor Susan Michie, a health psychology professor at University College London who sits on a Sage subcommittee, said more stringent action was needed.

While around 90 per cent of Britons are sticking to the rules there are also "more people out and about”, Prof Michie told the Today programme.

"It should definitely be tightened,” she said. "This is quite a lax lockdown because we’ve still got a lot of household contact, people go in and out of other’s houses. We should have stricter rather than a less strict lockdown than we had in March.

“You have this wide definition of critical workers and therefore you’ve got really busy public transport. There's also this new variant, and we have the winter season and the virus survives for longer in the cold.”

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Do you think they'll follow through with this? Reduce the amount of children in schools, ban support bubbles, heavier policing of people going about their daily lives?

@benedicto

Support bubbles are essential for those who really do need them and are really isolated. The current criteria for support bubbles are fine. The problem is the abuse of them. To prevent this, it would be relatively simple for the government to create a website where you list the one support bubble that you have and the reason for this. That would stop people having several or creating new ones everytime they want to socialise with someone different. it is quite easy to enable those that need support bubbles to have them and stop the abuse of this lifeline without removing them altogether.

Exactly this. I spend 4m without my boyfriend, it would be wholly devastating if we now went without each other for an indefinite amount of time especially since we haven’t broken the guidelines once

I’ve complied all the time. But I would not comply if 1) support bubbles banned and 2) walks were not allowed (already don’t comply with once a day ).

Meanwhile my elderly neighbour has had visitors every single day since March

@FizzyFanta1

The problem is 1. too many people are breaking the rules and 2. there are too many permissible reasons for people to be out and about.

I’m just back from the park with DH and it was absolutely packed with people walking about and sitting on benches with takeaway coffees.

We need a proper lockdown- only key workers allowed to leave home. No popping to the supermarket, popping out for a walk or popping for a coffee.

Insane

We live in central London and all I can see is compliance with the measures - no mixing, everyone I know works from home with the exception of NHS staff

There is nothing to do, we take our daily walk in the park and that’s it. From my personal perspective I don’t see what more I could possibly be asked to do

@BarbaraofSeville

Bubbles would be fine if contact was limited to what's essential, eg dropping off a child with a grandparent.

But many will be 'in a bubble' but hugging, eating together, sharing cars and other behaviours that aren't allowed.

That's exactly what I've noticed around my area.

@Viviennemary

The bubble nonsense was the beginning of the end IMHO. Cancel the lot of them.

Er, please don't or my elderly, widowed, cancer-recovering mother won't see a soul. She has an infection at the moment and I need to make sure she is really OK, which I can't do over FaceTime or by phone.

I think most are following guidelines but a lot are looking for ways around....several people I know have several support bubbles....others drive miles to the beaches for walks

Every workplace and every bus

What do expect those of us who have to use public transport to get to work do? Give up work?

MN land is full of people who can WFH.

SAGE may recommend something but as was shown after 21 September, it does not mean government will act on it swiftly or at all.

What we have at present is some restrictions, which other than places that have to be closed, is almost wholly reliant on peer pressure or fear. If by some chance you are caught, you get little more than a parking fine in essence, not something that would cause hurt or inconvenience such as points on your driving licence, or a travel ban with your passport withdrawn.

It's a stay at home message, except we live on a large estate and half the cars were missing this morning (as they have been all week between 0900 and 1700). The main road is as busy as usual. On the one occasion we went to the supermarket, during the working week, all the 'essential shop' car parks were rammed. Families shopping together, people lifting masks to sip takeaway drinks round the supermarket, chatting as they go. One of our neighbours lives by himself but I seriously doubt his support bubble owns three different cars (all the cars I've seen outside his house as I walk past in the last week). I need some clothes adjusting and my sister was trying to tell me that I should contact our local seamstress, travel to her house, get her to adjust them on me and then leave them with her for adjusting because that's an 'essential' journey so the seamstress can work. Rather than just putting it off for a few months and her obtaining government support (which should be more meaningful than it is). We've taken to walking very late at night, because when we go out for our walk in the daytime there are too many large groups of people wandering around together. Both my BIL and SIL have been told by their employers that they have to come into work, even though they can both WFH. SIL has been told the company 'can't' get her a laptop, even though her line manager asked for one. And the Airbnb down the road, which has been doing a roaring trade for months and sees no sign of stopping (we are in an ex-Tier 4 area).

I feel sorry for the people who are being civic-minded (like the two lonely lads playing a very distanced - and boring - game of football on our green yesterday) because for them this is going to drag on so much longer than it needs to.

I don't understand why people don't understand that if everyone bends or breaks the guidance and law, just once to suit themselves that adds up to a seriously high level of unnecessary interaction. None of the things I've listed above are 'huge', none of them are massive parties, or reportable offences, but they all contribute.

I'm not worried about catching the virus again. I am worried about having something else go wrong, e.g. a kitchen accident, and being unable to get medical help.

I totally agree it's needed and I hope it happens. The key worker list is too broad. I work in a College and we are ALL key workers under the scope even though a lot of us (such as myself) are not critical at all and can easily work from home. But if I was minded I could have DS in school.

So there are too many children in the schools under the guise of having "key worker" parents and too many employers forcing employees in under the same. Plus too many people just not complying. Garden centres etc should shut too - there's too much non-essential retail open IMO.

So for me:

Close all non-essential retail
Tighten the key worker definition and restrict school places
Harder work from home message
Stronger enforcement of the rules

Why not just weld us into our homes?

@Viviennemary

The bubble nonsense was the beginning of the end IMHO. Cancel the lot of them.

Bubbles used correctly don’t introduce any risk and are very necessary for many people.

I wish people would stop referring to rule breaking as “bubbles”. This isn’t bubbles this is just people breaking the rules.

Contact is allowed in bubbles, that’s the whole point.

To talk of s telling them is just cruel

Of stopping them, even

@WouldBeGood insane that people are taking walks in the park, or insane that the poster wants to ban this?

A lot of this seems quite draconian and I think there might be some privilege from those not understanding why others struggle. I live in a three bed house with a big garden, we have £30 to meet the threshold for home delivery, my children have eachother for company. My friend in a one bed flat with her 3 year old who is expected to work full time and can't afford to put the heating on. Not so much.

My support bubble is a two hour drive away. We don’t know anyone where we live (moved during lockdown #1) well enough to support bubble with locally. We fall under child under 1 on 2nd December group. We fill car up locally drive straight there, stay inside for a few days and drive back. It gives me someone else to help with DS for a few days, and some sanity back. It’s a huge lifeline for us not just as parents but for DS who has hardly any other interaction during his little life so far. He’s slowly settling into nursery but the staff have said he has separation anxiety as he’s never been apart from us.
We both have key worker jobs, both working from home, both couldn’t do it with him here before anyone jumps on me about nursery.
We do nothing else, before today I hadn’t left the house since Monday. Everything delivered.
Oh and as I work in health I might be moved from my work from home job back into clinical as the hospital is so short staffed.
So yes, I will be devastated if they stop the support bubble rule.

Ah shit, I think you might be right and we might be in for something stricter. My dcs aren't at school anyway, so I guess it won't make much difference to us. Still though. Not looking forward to more restrictions.

I also know of people who are just ignoring or not clued up on the new restrictions anyway. Not sure what can be done about that though, as that isn't the government's fault. But the rest is 100% on bojo and chums.

I’m just back from the park with DH and it was absolutely packed with people walking about and sitting on benches with takeaway coffees.

And you were one of them.

@Viviennemary

The bubble nonsense was the beginning of the end IMHO. Cancel the lot of them.

You're not on your own I take it?

I find it hard to understand why some people just will not stick to the rules. Don't they want us to get out of this predicament? On the other hand, I guess it is easy to do - only yesterday I was desperately bored. My DH suggested I went for a drive to our local farm shop, I was tempted but just thought I would be as bad as all these other people if I did, so I stayed at home! I suppose it would have been a bit different if I had NEEDED food.

Not everyone can work from home! What bloody planet are some of you on.

So what’s the difference between this one and the first?

More shops open
Allowed to meet 1-1 with anyone for exercise
More pupils in schools
Universities open
Construction sites open
List of keyworkers longer
Offices open
...