Tighter restrictions? What else can be "tighter"??

[R2221]

Schools closed, work places closed, nailbars, hairdressers, clothes shops, closed. My high street is dead and a couple of big shops are permanently closing down. We've been totally indoors, going out only to get grocery and exercise.

Oh, gyms are closed, no play dates, birthdays, dinners or even coffee with friends. WHAT ELSE CAN BE DONE TO STOP THE SPREAD??? What would "tighter" restrictions mean? To me, next tighter level means no grocery and exercise :(

My local hospital is totally full. I don't understand why.

They could restrict support bubbles to households where there is only adult in it

Be careful what you wish for. Unpaid carers provide £132 billion worth of unpaid care in this country. How do you think the NHS would fare if we all stopped it at midnight tonight. The collapse would be a lot quicker.

Why does Boris need to be in a support bubble?

@LJC1234

Do we really think they will remove support bubbles? This is devastating 😩

I doubt it. Hardly anyone who needs one would obey. Then you'll have newspapers full of hard-working women mostly in the sandwich generation being arrested or vilified for continuing to care for the old and the vulnerable for free. If the government were successful in stopping them doing all that unpaid work then the country would be fucked in other ways.

Also I guess they could stop the meeting with one other person outside for exercise. We weren't allowed that in the first lockdown until May.

Surely the most likely tightening is on treatment? Overstretched NHS means harsher rationing. Too old, too ill, no hospital. That's what the government wants to avoid on a large scale of course but it might be unavoidable.

@DobbyTheHouseElk

Why does Boris need to be in a support bubble?

Apparently to look after the child

I'm surprised that places of worship are still open. I go to church every week and assumed that they were closed like in the first & second lockdowns.
I also don't understand why coffee shops are open for takeaway.
I teach in a Primary school and I have 16 out of 29 children in, several of whom are clearly mixing with other households. They're quite open about it.

@DobbyTheHouseElk Boris has a baby under 1

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9130267/Carrie-Symonds-mother-moves-No10-help-look-eight-month-old-baby-grandson.html

Only school places for kw where both work out of the home and no other childcare is available. So no being collected by others.
Teens caught out breaking rules lose school/college place and parents fined. That would ensure more keep track of their movements and activities.
Close takeaway coffee and other shops where people are browsing rather than buying essentials.
Strict bubbles for single people only with tighter rules so they can’t be changed frequently so people can OLD etc.
No meeting outdoors with non household members
Close churches
Ensure workplaces can justify having workers in buildings rather than wfh
Curfew
No family trips when shopping

Most offices that I know of are still open, including my brother in law who is IT support and could completely work from home. My drive around the M60 when I am in school would suggest that there is no lockdown whatsoever; I see no difference to Septmeber and October.

Household mixing is still a problem I think; students in school are complaining that they aren;t able to hang out with their freinds during the day and we have had to send 10s of students away from the school fence during hte day. We call their parents and they appear to not care that their child is in a group of 15 hanging around sharing a few Dominos pizzas between them.

On that note; take aways and fast food need to close. People are piling into them near school and meaning people are spending more time at retial parks. Hitting up The Range, B&M and then calling in to a Subway because they are bored at home (literally a description from a friend of my sister).

@LJC1234

Do we really think they will remove support bubbles? This is devastating 😩
Please try not to worry. They won't do this.

food shopping within 5 miles

Can people please try to look outside of their bubbles and see not everyone is the same?
How do you propose that works for somebody who lives in the country with little or no internet coverage to do online shopping?!
Not everyone has a shop with a few miles.

Police have powers to entry houses and on the spot fines
You want police to be able to force their way in on a hunch you may have someone extra in the house they shouldn't have, or some nosey sod down the road with either no idea of circumstances or maliciously reporting?!

This place is madness lately.
It'll just fuel people's anxieties/mental health

Office workers who went back to work in an office during the the summer could work from home again but lots and lots of employers are refusing to allow them to

Maybe if they shut car parks at beauty spots that would stop people driving for exercise - my local woods are so busy compared to normal

Also close takeaways as them being open doesn’t exactly make people adhere to essential shopping only

Given that most people catch COVID in hospital followed by households would shutting nurseries and tightening up school places just send the same children to granny to look after? The Childcare bubbles seem more dangerous than schools and nurseries and creating more of them could cause a big problem

I despair of threads like this.

It’s winter, it was always going to be worse in winter, like all viruses and flu are worse in winter.
Shutting everything and stopping people from going out will result in even more people meeting in secret at home.
The majority of cases will be from household mixing and people who have to go to work. Society cannot just stop, everyone cannot work from home.

The people sick in hospital now will be from Xmas/new year and when people could still socialise in pubs etc. Lockdown and school closures haven’t had a chance to show in the figures yet.

Why do you want even tighter restrictions? People are not catching covid from exercising outdoors twice a day or getting a takeout coffee.

@LJC1234

Do we really think they will remove support bubbles? This is devastating

No, please try not to worry, I really can't see support bubbles going - despite what measures randomers on Mumsnet might want to happen!
They're vital for mental health/support and the Govt must think so too otherwise they wouldn't have introduced them in the first place.

So far I have followed all the rules. No mixing indoors or out. Local walks with dh. Missing my dgc who I have only seen for the one legal day at Christmas since August. Ext ext ext ...

But ...if they stop support bubbles I am not stopping going in to see my mother who will be 90 in March. She is doing her best and is a cheerful soul. We see her mid week, do her shopping and take her for medical appointments. She comes over for Sunday lunch. Other than telephone calls to friends, she is completely isolated. This has gone on 10 months now and I am not going back to the early days when I used to leave her shopping at the door then sit on the garden wall for a short chat. If they try to stop this level of necessary support I will be contacting my MP and I hope others would do the same.

Having said that, I don't think it's likely.

Also I guess they could stop the meeting with one other person outside for exercise. We weren't allowed that in the first lockdown until May.

Legally, we were. It wasn't publicised until we were told about it with much fanfare later on, but it has always been there from the beginning

The Army needs to be deployed and enforce the stay at home messaging.

I saw a thread here yesterday about a parter of a builder getting shirty because she wasn’t invited while he was working in the couples house.

The thread starter then said the partner had posted on social media complaining about the lack of an invite and underneath her post there was a flood of comments of people inviting her and saying things like “ well you know what it opinions are on the lock down”.

I see lots of people openly posting pictures of themselves breaking the rules. They don’t care. They think the Government are oppressing them and it’s their fundamental right to do whatever they like.

I am in Scotland and have been working over the weekend and the roads seem to be just as busy as any other weekend. These people are not going to work.

@alexdgr8

close churches nurseries playgrounds outdoor gyms only one shopper per trolley no entry to shops/buses etc without face covering. only walk for exercise from home, no driving there. food shopping within 5 miles no non-essential shopping masks to be worn when outdoors.

Fabulous. Closest supermarket to me is 10 miles...... will I just starve then?

Why do you think that's reasonable? Not everyone lives in a large town/city with everything on their doorstep

It’s not hard. Mandatory mask wearing in all situations outside of your immediate household plus full pay for anyone who has to isolate or quarantine - that would do it. As usual this government’s half measures will be far more costly in the long run.

Yep, let’s close hardware stores. Then every time someone has a minor (but essential) DIY job to do they can call an electrician or a plumber into their house.

The Army needs to be deployed and enforce the stay at home messaging

please tell me you’re joking?