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AIBU to think that these are the areas where people are ignoring lockdown

116 replies

desperadochilli · 23/01/2021 12:55

Just 31 councils have a rising covid rate, I guess people aren't doing lockdown as effectively in those areas

AIBU to think that these are the areas where people are ignoring lockdown
OP posts:
desperadochilli · 23/01/2021 15:28

Why? It's what I think - they are still rising despite lockdown and it's people going out and about who are spreading it.

OP posts:
SlayDuggee · 23/01/2021 15:35

West Devon has one of the lowest covid rates in the whole of the country. There could be a single care home or factory outbreak that has caused the figures to rise this week. Just because it is rising doesn’t mean that people aren’t following the rules.

FindHungrySamurai · 23/01/2021 15:39

Don’t be ridiculous. A new strain is moving over the country in a wave and hitting the weak spots (eg factories, care homes). It’s passed through London and the Home Counties and has just reached a few more rural areas.

Three weeks ago my urban region was shooting up and Shropshire was static or decreasing. Now we’re decreasing steadily again but Shropshire is increasing. Is that because the people of Shropshire had a compliant Christmas and then randomly decided to party their way through January whilst we suddenly realised the error of our ways and started to behave? No, it’s just maths.

HugeAckmansWife · 23/01/2021 15:44

yes but people are going out about mostly because they need to - to work, to buy food, to deliver or groceries to shielding people and to have some kind of social contact to stay sane after a year of this. I just was out for 3 hours for a walk with my partner, who I don't live with, can't bubble with and have barely had any kind of close relationship with for a year. We didn't touch once - not even holding gloved hands as we both have vulnerable parents. On our walk there were hundreds of others (pretty riverside) but for the most part people are spacing out, standing aside etc. The coffee stall at one point is doing a good trade but again, people queued sensibly and stood about far apart in the fresh air - really minimal risk and has to be balanced with the reality of this going on as long as it has. Lockdown 1 was a novelty, short-term and everyone mostly went for it hard, including workplaces but that level simply isn't sustainable longer term, either economically or on a human level. Transmission is rising not because of rule breakers but because the level of interaction that is needed now, a year in, is higher than it was in March, plus new variant, colder weather etc.

aintnothinbutagstring · 23/01/2021 15:56

OP, do you live in an area that's been hit by the new variant of Covid? I can tell you in the first wave of Covid I knew no one that had had the virus, now in the this second wave, I am in the minority of people in my workplace that hasn't had it (we can't work from home), same goes for my DH that works in healthcare. I've worked shifts where we've had more agency staff covering than normal staff. Lockdown or no lockdown, this new variant is something else and is spreading like wildfire in workplaces.

TonMoulin · 23/01/2021 16:02

@desperadochilli

Why? It's what I think - they are still rising despite lockdown and it's people going out and about who are spreading it.
Yes but that doesn’t mean that people are not respecting the lockdown.

It’s more likely that these people have to go to work and don’t have the option to stay at home. Remember all the clothing factories in Leicester with no social distancing etc etc? If covid spreads there, it’s not the fault of the people working there. It’s the fault of the owners who are imposing non covid secure environment.

Plus of course you have the long list of some (all?) of those areas to be poorer etc... which are also a known factor.

I’d be VERY careful to do any finger pointing when some areas have had rates of infections over 1000 per 100.000 but aren’t on that list. And areas in that list (like Middlesbrough) have never gone much over the country’s average rate of infection.....

TonMoulin · 23/01/2021 16:08

Btw @desperadochilli, would you also say that the reason we are in lockdown is because people in the south/south east have been reckless in unnecessarily meeting up with people etc... just before christmas so they ended up with crazy infections rates that means EVERYONE ended up in lockdown?

I don’t think so. So please, don’t make assumptions that those areas are automatically not following rules either.

NameChange84 · 23/01/2021 16:08

One of the cities close to my hometown is on there. There are two major hospitals plus a private hospital, which are the major employers in that city. After that major employers are factories and several large supermarkets. There are hundreds of care homes surrounding the city for everything from the elderly to children with disabilities and rehab units and supported housing. There’s a huge Christian and Muslim Community and the places of worship, of which there are several dozen, are still open for public services. The University and College courses for Medicine, Nursing, Dentistry, Pharmacy and Teaching are going ahead as normal. Goes without saying with so many employed as key workers in the area, most of the kids are still in school. Many multi generational households too where you might have adult children who are doctors, nurses, pharmacists and teachers all living in the same house as parents and grandparents. Plus lots of students in private student accommodation. Many people commute by train and bus.

The vast majority of people in that city ARE abiding by the rules but by its very nature it’s never going to get down to zero transmission.

I can think of the road that one of the major hospitals lies on. Directly opposite is a supermarket, a coffee shop in the supermarket plus a Costa, a Greggs, a Subway, a Pharmacy, a school and two churches. You always see people in the supermarket in uniform from the hospital and I’ve often been in the church (pre Covid) alongside medical staff straight off a shift who go there for peace and reflection. The coffee shops are all open for takeout and are always busy with both staff, patients and their relatives, as is the supermarket. Parents who work at the hospital take their kids into the supermarket straight after or before school. The rest of the houses are mainly bungalows or dormers on quiet estates so lots of elderly people living there who are also in and out of the supermarket. It’s no wonder that it’s an area of high infection rates. It’s just the demographic.

Lifeinaonesie · 23/01/2021 16:13

So you're saying whole areas are ignoring lockdown? How absurd! Choosing to follow the rules (and I don't know how you don't, it's not like I can force a restaurant to open for me) is down to individual households. in my street we have people who openly have big gatherings and others who haven't put a foot outside their door for a year. Saying a whole area isn't following the rules is laughable. As others have said its more about demographics and industry.

MyOwnPrivatePaddlingPool · 23/01/2021 16:14

One area of my home city has a huge number of cases compared to other parts of the city. That is entirely down to care home outbreaks. Most of the increase in cases here in Scotland seem to be down to either care home spread or hospital acquired infection and that has been the case throughout the pandemic.

Watchingbehindmyhands · 23/01/2021 16:14

How ignorant. We are on there - and we’re behind the peak last time and weren’t any way near as reduced as other places when everything was opened up. How dare you suggest people aren’t following the rules. This is a deprived area with thousands reliant on minimum wage work and our major industry - tourism and entertainment- decimated as a result of covid. Lots of people doing their very best to keep the roof over their heads and food on their plates. Maybe see the bigger picture, eh?

cptartapp · 23/01/2021 16:15

My area is on that list. The conversations at lunchtime with my work colleagues re weekend plans are eye opening. All just tweaking the rules in their own little way.
All nurses.

Waxonwaxoff0 · 23/01/2021 16:16

I live in one of these areas. Manufacturing is a big source of income here and a of local people work in factories. So we are all having to go out to work as normal. It's easy for Covid to spread in those conditions.

tatutata · 23/01/2021 16:19

Yeah, naughty people. I suggest shaving their heads and parading them through the town square with a sign around their necks for collaborating with the virus. Is that better?

PoppiesinOctober · 23/01/2021 16:22

*We can’t go to most shops, hairdressers, beauty salons, restaurants, pubs, cinemas, soft plays or museums. We can’t go to someone else’s house or even see more then one person, and if we see a person we can’t hug them. Most children can’t attend school.

But there are cars on the road, so must be normal life, hey?*

Hahaha. This.

Bored shitless of seeing the 'But there are cars on the road!' argument.

Yes, there are. Some people, like my DH, can't work from home. Doesn't mean we aren't in a fucking lockdown.

middleager · 23/01/2021 16:22

I really dislike the thread title and tone.

As a family, we Wfh and get food delivered yet my child still caught Covid. At school, because of the high rates, not because he somehow failed to follow the rules.

A relative aged 59 caught Covid in hospital and died. He was in hospital for something else. He did not break the rules.

PoppiesinOctober · 23/01/2021 16:24

@desperadochilli

Why? It's what I think - they are still rising despite lockdown and it's people going out and about who are spreading it.
So you believe that all the rises are down to nasty rule breakers?

Get real.

Ponoka7 · 23/01/2021 16:27

@desperadochilli, so if you don't want people out and about, how do we keep essential shops/services going? How do we access appointments/shopping/carryout support bubbles/get exercise etc?

rhowton · 23/01/2021 16:48

Worcestershire only went in to lockdown at the beginning of January! We were having a great time in tier 2 for a month. Our numbers are coming down, just not as fast as people who haven't been in higher tiers or locked down before us. Malvern Hills still only have 200/100,000 which is lower than most places! Our numbers have been consistently low throughout the past year so we will come down quite quickly, I'm sure!

vodkaredbullgirl · 23/01/2021 17:13

Well we have been rising where I live. We have a major hospital, shops that are open are Boots the chemist and Specsavers and Vision Express all other shops are shut. Any place not selling food are closed.

A factory near have had many staff self isolating, after a person tested positive and died. People are still going to work as they and I are essential workers.

With this new variant, there is going to be more cases.

I go to work and go to the supermarket, don't go anywhere else. Schools are still open to essential workers children and vulerable.

NoOpinionNoProblem · 23/01/2021 17:22

That's quite assumptive and a bit naïve. My area has had quite a low infection rate until before Christmas and then massively spiked, but I'm in new strain territory. Nobody's behaving any differently than before, although probably more people working this lockdown. We had hoards of people in my local beaches from all around the UK in the summer, busy restaurants and pubs, and our rate was still low. Lots of things can influence an infection rate, not just whether people are "behaving".

HarryLimeFoxtrot · 23/01/2021 17:27

By that logic, my electoral ward is ignoring lockdown because cases are rising here but falling in the other local wards. Except that the figures are driven by an outbreak in the prison which happens to be in my ward - and I’m pretty sure they’re as locked down as it is possible to be Hmm

B33Fr33 · 23/01/2021 17:28

I live in one of those areas. I'd agree. Fuckers won't stop seeing their 50 squillion close relatives and mates around here.

FrostedMittens · 23/01/2021 17:29

I live in an area of Worcestershire that is still rising the fastest. We were in tier 2 but surrounded by tier 4 by xmas. Our local gym was shut because it was full of tier 4 areas. The shopping centre was getting stupidly busy because of tier 4 people coming to us.

We are a weeks behind the tier 4 areas that were like this beginning of January. We will drop again soon

Butiwantto · 23/01/2021 17:35

Redditch and others have higher rates due to outbreaks at local prisons or care homes etc - don’t be so quick to jump to conclusions Hmm