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.

I thought you a solo person was allowed to meet one other person outside for a walk? I’m so confused by everything now.

@MrsMiaWallis

So last Sunday we were all told by Boris Johnson to send our kids to school. Monday the Govt. closed all the schools. We’ve been in and out of this ridiculous & unintelligible tier system for months. The Govt. did a U-turn over Christmas arrangements at the last minute. Whilst people do understand the gravity of the situation the reality is we’re all sick of confusing half-measures & changes to rules 24hrs beforehand.

We should have had decisive action right from the start, a proper sharp lockdown & ban on international travel. We’re an island for goodness’ sake, we could have, & should have got on top of this so much more effectively. People have lost confidence in the Govt’s ability to manage things & are getting on with their lives by making their own personal risk assessments.

I thought a solo person*

@SnowFields

My interpretation is that Chris Whitty doesn’t feel the government is doing enough and so he feels a moral obligation to do what he can to encourage people to not only follow the lockdown but to go above and beyond.

Huh? You think it was his decision to write this article?

He has the patience of a saint- I'd have resigned and said how bad Mr Johnson has been a long time ago.

On over £200k a year, I'd tough it out.

While I do go out for walks etc, when I read some of the comments I do feel there are people who are sticking their fingers in their ears and refusing to hear what we are being told. So many people trying to justify why things are safe, why it's only guidance, not law etc.

I'm in a London suburb, and I'm scared now in a way I have not been throughout the pandemic. I now know lots of people with covid, most mildly ill, a few very unwell, and one who has been hospitalised. I'm not as worried about getting covid as I am about me or one of my family needing hospital treatment for any reason. The hospitals are full.

For the next few weeks I'm going to stay at home as much as possible to protect myself, and also the many NHS staff who are struggling. That's my choice, and I know many of you feel differently. But if you're not in London I urge you to look at the situation here and try and avoid it becoming the situation where you are.

And nothing is “no risk” other than staying locked in ones house forever with quarantined food parcels being air dropped in the garden.

Even then, someone has to produce and transport the food, so you’re relying on others to take risks that you aren’t yourself.

There was one chance for high compliance. The government got that in March-June but they squandered the gains.
Our numbers after lock down 1 were low. So low. It could have been squashed right down at this point of borders had been very tightly controlled.
They weren’t. The public was freely flying in an out for holidays and visits. No checks, no tests, no quarantine.
Now people (and businesses) won’t (or can’t) listen. This is not a surprise. It’s completely predictable and what was forecast in lockdown 1.
Fear tactics are not going to work this time. Been there, done that.

JinglingHellsBells so please explain what happens if everyone stays home and the infection levels drop.

What happens next?

I don’t think it’s people meeting for a walk causing the spread it’s mixing households indoors then going to the supermarket. People going to work etc .
If you go to another household then go to the shops then work you are mixing with people and potentially catching spreading the virus. We can mask up , make it Covid secure but a virus will spread . It needs to be seriously thought about do employers need these people in the building? Do you really need to visit this person? .
I think if we all stayed home more it would dramatically reduce the cases .

@PhilCornwall1

He has the patience of a saint- I'd have resigned and said how bad Mr Johnson has been a long time ago.

On over £200k a year, I'd tough it out.

Silly comment. For someone like him with his standing, he could probably earn double that in the private sector.

@TheKeatingFive

And nothing is “no risk” other than staying locked in ones house forever with quarantined food parcels being air dropped in the garden.

Even then, someone has to produce and transport the food, so you’re relying on others to take risks that you aren’t yourself.

True

For the next few weeks I'm going to stay at home as much as possible to protect myself, and also the many NHS staff who are struggling.

But you're only able to do that because others are going out to work. Many don't have that luxury, even if they wanted to hide away.

@BiscuitLess so sorry that, glad they pulled through, really sobering story.
@wanderings you come across to me as in denial, hands over ears chanting "lalala", yes its easy to doomscroll and doom sells newspapers - but what the gov says and in particular whitty is the truth, you just can't seem accept it

Everything littlewhitedove said. With bells on.

I think one of the big issues in this wave is that businesses are putting their bottom lines ahead of the public greater good. They know that people will be more productive in the office rather than working from home with kids present.

The harsh reality is that by doing this, cases are going to continue to rise and those same companies will reweigh how productive their company is with workers at home with kids versus how productive it is with half their workers off with Covid. At some point, they are going to decide that home working is more productive, not less.

We should have had decisive action right from the start, a proper sharp lockdown & ban on international travel. We’re an island for goodness’ sake, we could have, & should have got on top of this so much more effectively. People have lost confidence in the Govt’s ability to manage things & are getting on with their lives by making their own personal risk assessments

Then they are idiots. The virus is more transmissible now. Unless you just don't believe that.

I am sick of lockdown but still able to use common sense and not so anti-government that I don't listen to the facts.

People who can’t work from home are still having to go to work and mix in this lockdown. I’m not talking about key workers, just anyone not able to work from home, many of these kinds of jobs require people to be in close contact. I suspect that many infections are happening this way.

Aaronpurr I am working, I meant that I'm not going out unnecessarily. I don't have the luxury of being at home all the time.

Silly comment. For someone like him with his standing, he could probably earn double that in the private sector.

He most certainly could and before Vallance went into his role, he most certainly did.

@notevenat20

Until someone can explain to me how meeting a friend for a SD walk out side is a transferring the virus then I’ll keep walking around my local village with one other person.

The new variant of the virus, b117, is much more contagious than the old one. That’s the first thing to remember. If you think of your friend as a smelly tramp (sorry friend), are you close enough that you could smell them? If so, you are too close.

This is a really good way of thinking of it- if you can smell their breath, perfume or BO you could be contracting CV

Unfortunately what really needs to happen is an end to support bubbles (unless actual care is being provided), childcare bubbles unless critical workers and no alternative, new baby bubbles ... nearly everyone I know is in a bubble, some in multiple as people are manipulating the rules to suit them. The shops etc aren't an issue nor most take seats but the ones with long queues eg our local Costa need click and collect from the front door, the queue is often 10-20 people long

@TheKeatingFive

The quicker we do this, the sooner this lockdown can be relaxed

Do people still buy this shit?

This was from my message. Please do elucidate why you think my comment is “shit”? Is it not absolutely clear that lockdown cannot be relaxed until case numbers come down? As was the case in March? (IMO the November one was far too short and we would not be in this mess now if it had not been released so soon). Or do you think the government will say “never mind hospitals are full etc please carry on as you were”?

More generally I do think others have also made good points about there being other unnecessary sources of transmission and arguments could be made for an even stricter lockdown. I also think the government’s handling has been shambolic but what each of us should do as individuals is up to us and government shambles does not excuse us from taking responsible behaviour

Or... companies won't realise this, but more people will be at home anyway, because they will be sick.

But people are complying. 90% as sage woman said yesterday. You’re never going to get 100% so it’s pretty much as good as it’s going to get. People on here seem to hang on every word sage says so why not on this? The problem is not a lack of compliance with the rules.