Chris Whitty in The Times today - don't meet friends and family unnecessarily

[MrsMiaWallis]

"Emergency patients will be turned away from hospitals, causing “avoidable deaths”, unless the public starts obeying the lockdown, England’s chief medical officer warns today.
In a stark intervention designed to shock, Professor Chris Whitty warns that everyone who meets friends and family unnecessarily is a “link in a chain” that threatens the lives of vulnerable people"

Worth noting. I had to pick up a prescription from my local town and was surprised to see so many people - mainly middle aged women, some of whom I know and had always seemed like rational intelligent people - walking around town and chatting on the pavements, unmasked, no social distancing.

Apologies I don't know how to do share tokens.

@Hyperfish101

Chris Witty ‘knows fuck all’....😆😆😆Yes he’s a qualified and experienced doctor and epidemiologist. Ffs.

Haha. If he knew so much, we wouldn't be quite in the crisis we're in, would we? He's too weak to advise anything. I could present graphs very easily. He never knows the answer to any question.

nope this is different as its other people's lives you're playing with

Yes. This is the whole point. When people say they're happy to take risks, what they seldom think about is the risks they are imposing on any number of unknown strangers around them.

And those around them have no choice.

Why aren't people wearing masks outside?

Christ alive.

Hatstrategicallydipped

How do you know that he knows what he's talking about? All he does is present slides as far as I can see. Yes, he answers questions about the virus occasionally, mostly with a 'We don't know yet'.
Knows fuck-all.”

🤣🤣🤣
Do you know who Prof. Whitty is?

That expression of exasperation was to Hatstrategicallydipped

Chris Witty ‘knows fuck all’....😆😆😆Yes he’s a qualified and experienced doctor and epidemiologist. Ffs.

He had no background in human psychology or behavioural management and these skills are sorely needed as a corollary to the purely medical POV. Ditto economics, work productivity.

If the only goal anyone had was stamping out Covid, it would be fairly easy. But this isn’t the case. People need to work, eat, function as humans, maintain their sanity, pay bills.

It's ridiculous that just because he's a doctor, you take his word as Gospel.
Doctors differ, patients die.

I went out for a walk with DP yesterday and we saw 3 large groups (15/20 people, looking to be 3/4 households) wandering around/sitting on blankets/stood chatting in the 35 minutes we were there - no social distancing whatsoever, so yeah we are pretty fucked because people won't even do the most basic stuff

@Hatstrategicallydipped

It's ridiculous that just because he's a doctor, you take his word as Gospel. Doctors differ, patients die.

Do you distrust MSM and think the vaccine is a way to track us?

Hatstrategicallydipped

“I could present graphs very easily”

🤯

So who would you prefer? Carol Vorderman? Ant and Dec?

All football still playing lower leagues included! How can that be justified??

Graham Norton surely?

Incensed by the Government's fear tactics and playing the blame game, when it's their policies that have caused the current level of infections. Disappointed in Chris Whitty - I thought that he was his own man but he's just towing the Government line. But I suppose on his salary he's happy to do that.

The reason that we are seeing high infection rates is a direct result of Government policy two to three weeks ago NOT what people are doing now. That is the lead-in time from initial contact with the virus to potentially becoming seriously ill.

A week before Christmas it was still well within guidelines to meet up outside, go to the gym/shops/entertainment in those areas in the lower tiers. And schools had only just closed. Then we had the mixing over Christmas.

This is going to carry on for another couple of weeks at least.

Do you know who Prof. Whitty is?

Do you know who I am?

We need stricter measures ASAP for about a month to six weeks. Nurseries and childminders shut, garden centres and the like shut, takeaway places open for delivery only (i.e. no takeaway coffees), masks everywhere outside the home with on the spot fines for non compliance, KW children only allowed at school if both parents are KW AND both are working outside the house, employers told to shut offices with fines if they don't as there are way too many who still expect their employees to come in if they are "covid secure" (no such thing). Proper support for isolation including hotels for those who need to isolate from CV household members and enforced hotel quarantine when returning from abroad.

I work in mental health and completely understand the impact (believe me) but surely doing the above for a shorter amount of time is better than being in this constant stop start with no end in sight.

Hatstrategicallydipped

“Do you know who I am? wink “

No, do tell? A “scientist” perhaps?

I also think they should shut London parks tbh and children's playgrounds. I live in a flat with no garden with my 4 year old but we've had to stop going to the park as it's always utterly heaving and impossible to SD. Personally think those lucky enough to have a garden ought to leave public outdoor space for those of us without them but that's a debate for another thread.

We need stricter measures ASAP for about a month to six weeks.

How do you fund all that?

Which public services will be taking even more of a hit than they’re on the hook for already to cover what you’re suggesting?

@Emufakes

We need stricter measures ASAP for about a month to six weeks. Nurseries and childminders shut, garden centres and the like shut, takeaway places open for delivery only (i.e. no takeaway coffees), masks everywhere outside the home with on the spot fines for non compliance, KW children only allowed at school if both parents are KW AND both are working outside the house, employers told to shut offices with fines if they don't as there are way too many who still expect their employees to come in if they are "covid secure" (no such thing). Proper support for isolation including hotels for those who need to isolate from CV household members and enforced hotel quarantine when returning from abroad.

I work in mental health and completely understand the impact (believe me) but surely doing the above for a shorter amount of time is better than being in this constant stop start with no end in sight.

I'm not anti mask, however I'm not walking in a empty wood wearing a mask and not paying a fine if I was told to for that. Of course if you're walking around a busy town/city centre, or a busy kids park then sure but masks as soon as you step out of the house is just too far.

I feel for Chris Whitty. He was very clear when BoZo addressed the nation
telling everyone to have a good Christmas and meet up with their families and friends. He said specifically that he would not hug his grandma. Yet he can't stand there and scream ignore everything this government tells you!!!!

@MarshaBradyo

What he fails to comprehend is basic human behaviour. Humans are going to human. He is trying to blame all of us for people simply being human, when what he should be blaming is an inadequate health service.

He does know behaviour, he knew we’d get fatigued. He also has behavioural advice. Everyone gets it but we still need to cut transmission.

i've been WFH for almost a year I go for a walk or a run every day Go to the supermarket once a fortnight Corner shop once a week

Other than my wife, I don't interact with anyone.

I'm not anything special, I don't want a medal, but like the overwhelming vast majority of people there's pretty much nothing else I can do to cut transmission. And I can't get overly worked up about the odd person sitting on a park bench or an a couple of people occasionally meeting up for a chat outdoors.

Wearing masks outdoors may help

I'm waiting for the effects of the vaccine to kick in although I don't agree with the order in which it has been prioritised.

@Katie517

This comes down to the very basic fact that Chris Whitty’s view is one dimensional his job is solely to work on protecting the NHS and stopping the spread of Covid, he knows he will be able to put food on the table he knows his job is secure. Other people don’t they have other worries and concerns outside of catching/spreading covid mental health being one of them. Meeting with one other person for a walk outside is not what’s driving the spread, it’s hospitals, care homes, workplaces but they are not easy targets. Throughout the pandemic he has paid little thought to the healing power that even the slightest socially distanced human interaction can have. Mental health matters and it matters a lot. I will never be willing to sacrifice my mental health for something I don’t believe is contributing to the issues we are seeing so I will continue to meet a friend for a walk, get a takeaway and see my support bubble these are tiny things compared to what our lives used to be filled with and it would be cruel to take those away.

Totally agree

Fed up of being blamed when we did not cause this and are not to blame for the NHS which has deep rooted which way precede Covid.

I have been nowhere except the shops since Christmas Eve, I didn’t meet my family for Christmas. I haven’t been for a walk with a friend (and a coffee from a van) outdoors for 6 weeks. My kids have been nowhere since schools closed. I wfh and husband’s work is closed so he’s furloughed. Fucking fed up being blamed for this and the keenness some people have to remove even the slightest modicum of what makes life remotely tolerable for some people.