[Closed] Is anyone else still following Covid advice?

Facebook is toxic and if you delete it you will be happier.
Most people are abiding by the rules otherwise the infection rate would be much worse.
That said I don’t remember to wash my hands as often as I did in March time which is silly.

A lot of the people following (or exceeding Covid advice) are at home and you will rarely see them in a shop and never in a pub.

Yes, many adhering to it all BECAUSE of the type of people you mention op.

We are because my missus is in a high-risk category. Scares me a bit to think the kids will be going back to school soon with loads of kids of people who don't give a shit.

Seconded re Facebook though, my life is better since I deactivated my account.

Pretty much managing to stick to it and be cautious but I do find I'm getting gradually less stringent as time goes on with stuff like hand washing and quarantining the post.

All a bit moot though, as I return to school next week...

TBF plenty of people have no idea what the rules are

My mum was saying today how she was planning to go round to their friends for a 65th birthday party on Monday, with a fair few others of a similar age

When I pointed out that wasn't allowed, she was genuinely surprised saying restrictions had been lifted & schools were opening next week anyway 🙄

I'm in work 3 days a week now & rules are very strict

We are yes. Currently isolating pending test result on our youngest. Pretty sure it's just her normal trick of throwing a temp but you can't be 100% sure.

Yup. I go to outdoor pub gardens, refuse to sit with large groups of friends when I know some are less than diligent and I don’t hug someone I haven’t seen around for a while.
I’m deemed standoffish and weird. So be it.

TBF plenty of people have no idea what the rules are

Ashamed to say I'm in this group. Use gel when see it, wear a mask in shops. Went to a pub for dinner twice since lockdown and it was largely normal.

Haven't been asked to any parties so haven't had that dilemma. What are the rules on gatherings then? School return does make the rules largely futile imho.

Yes still sticking to the rules which we implemented ourselves back in March prior to lockdown. We live in Scotland so our 7year old is back to school and I'm in the high risk/ex shielder category. We have already caught a cold from her which she doubt caught in school so am unsure exactly how this is going to end.

We are because my missus is in a high-risk category. Scares me a bit to think the kids will be going back to school soon with loads of kids of people who don’t give a shit.

I’m in exactly the same boat. Not been out for a meal or to the pub and any journeys other than to and from work have been kept to a minimum.

Yep. Shop visits kept to a minimum, with mask since that (close the stable door after the horse has bolted) rule came in, try to keep 2m from anyone else even though they don’t.
Haven’t been to a pub or restaurant since before lockdown. I live in Bradford district so we’re in local lockdown so haven’t visited my mum since March, nor the in-laws since Christmas. Working from home.
My car is doing [i]a lot[/i] less miles as a result, a tank of dirty diesel is lasting about 6-8 weeks instead of 8-10 days.
Apart from not visiting relatives I could get used to this

On the same vein there are a lot of pubs, restaurants etc doing virtually nothing, and in turn customers just get blasé and slip back into 'normal' behaviour, especially with a bit of booze thrown in.

This is what happens when the gov guidelines are so open to interpretation. The same is going to happen within schools for sure.

In my business staff wear a mask, and did even before it was compulsory for customers to. We just always felt it was necessary, both for safety, and to send the right message to customers so they follow the rules. In general it works although we've had a handful of arsey customers.

I'm adhering to the rules personally but judging by the amount of houses I'm delivering a shop's worth of party food and drinks to lots aren't. Haven't been to a pub or restaurant myself but on driving past a lot of them there is very little social distancing going on. Mask use is also waning in shops here (Wales) so I'd say there's a large part of society that think we're back to normal. Try saying that to the vulnerable people who are still in isolation due to the real fear of getting it.

Ish, I'd say.

I'm not that sociable outside of the children's clubs/school environment so untill those things are up an running again my contact is limited.

I've visited a few friends in the last couple of months, been on one or two bike trips too, not sure what the current restrictions are tbh.

Visited parents a few times, regardless of advice. My step mum is confined to her house and has been for the 3 years or so. Her friends would normally drop by regularly to visit, but that stopped and her only contact would otherwise be her career for 2 hours week.

My mum is also on her own since my step dad is in a care home with dementia. My mum would care for him on a daily basis, but that stopped since lockdown began and he is not doing well. I don't think I will ever see him alive again.

I fear for the mental health of my parents at the moment.

I use a mask if I go the shops, but I find I go less because of the requirement to do so.

Aren't we just using common sense now. Those you see hugging each over in pubs are the ones with little common sense. That's the problem with common sense, not everybody has it.

I culled all my Facebook contacts except close family, partly because I was so sick if seeing so many people I thought had more sense clearly flouting the rules.

We've never gone as far as quarantining post - not sure that was ever "the rules" - and none of us are in the at risk categories. Still regularly handwashing, strict on masks.

We've eaten out where we've seen precautions are in place. Kids have met a couple of friends each in a distanced way. Main rule I've broken is helping my parents by driving them to appointments and to go shopping. Can't stay distanced in a car, we are all happy to run that risk, but kids won't be seeing them after the return to school

Aren’t we just using common sense now.

To an extent, although people who you would think have common sense don’t. Bloke at work decided to go to Spain last week With his family. This was a highly paid intelligent man.

I’ve not been to the pub inside since the restrictions were eased, or joined the local running club this year.

Our lad is back to school in 2 weeks. We won’t be seeing much of the grandparents for a while because of that.

Idiots will be idiots, appears David Icke has more friends at the minute

Our lad is back to school in 2 weeks. We won’t be seeing much of the grandparents for a while because of that.

That is what I would see as great sense but I feel most parents won't be doing the same.

I would have said that most people are following the rules. But it seems that things are slipping as the number of people not using face masks on the train and in shops seemed to increase greatly in the last week.
From the history of pandemics "There has always been a second wave due to the complacency of the population". I guess we will repeat.

Yes! Though to the point it’s almost to my detriment! Only seen my parents and brother together one weekend, all outside. Have popped and had lunch with one friend, and her and her partner came to ours for dinner one evening. Two take aways in 6 months. Otherwise masks all the time, hand washing, WFH, only one of us goes in a shop, etc etc. We are currently away in our van and we are carrying our own toilet to minimise interactions, I stood outside on the ferry to Arran and I general avoid everyone! However I does mean when I am confronted with a situation outside all of this, I panic (including whether to have a 5 min shower in an empty, well ventilated block!).

Reality is p20 is patient facing at work in 10 days time...that is a far greater risk to us. But I just want to do the right thing for others, and protect the people I cross paths with.

I don't think I've seen anyone in a shop not wearing some sort of face covering.

A far as I know, yep.

Visited my mum and sister last month and didn't hug, kept socially distant, even though it sounds like we all got Covid in March (mum through my sister, who went to London and came back with something nasty, but decided to visit mum anyway; me through my better half, who doesn't seem to have got it via work at NHS, but rather on the bus that was fully of coughers just before her nightmare ~5.5 weeks began).

Give how how my better half suffered with pneumonia-like symptoms of really laboured breathing, I worry about all her bloodline relatives that we live close to, including a number of 60-95 year olds.

I leave the house for work, dressing changes on my healing lanced abscess, bit of shopping and cycling. Not much different to pre-Covid, but ventures into public are as brief as I can make them. Next month's proper holiday (ironically in Burnham-On-Covid), first of year after Center Parcs shut all their villages three days before our booking (although by that point better half was already Covid infected), will be quite surreal.

The rules arrived late and weren't strong enough. Since then there have been firm lines of guidance that are ignored by the government (Cummings). The relaxation of the rules came to appease commerce.

It's clear this government is far more interested in the economy than in the health of the population. So even if the rules are logical, why would people trust and respect them?

I'm guilty of seeing more friends and family at the same time than I should no doubt, but largely that has been occasionally, with gaps between and I have few other regular interactions.

Honestly - no, not really. I have a young family (and a heavily pregnant wife), so we're not exactly going out partying or having groups of people over. However, we basically continue our lives as best we can. I can also say that, looking around me, we are not the anomaly, either. I don't feel like the way I behave is that different (or problematic) to the people I do meet, or otherwise encounter in my daily life. I've also been back in the office for the past few months, and some of my colleagues have been on site the entire time.

Current position around here seems to be pretty much business as usual. People milling about in close proximity, a mix of masks and no masks in shops, restaurant and pub tables inside spaced as per normal, ie as many as possible per sqm.

Which is why we're still treating it virtually the same as we did back in June. Online shopping only, working from home, no pubs, no restaurants, kids meeting only with the kids of families who have the same attitude.

Obviously, all bets are off in the next couple of weeks. Community transmission is not low enough around here (or anywhere, frankly) to offset the risks of transmission through schools - kids travel to school here from some areas which have only just come out of local lockdown.

Few weeks' lag and then it's game on as soon as the temperatures start dropping again. The only reason the next spike may be smaller is that it has already run through our care homes and hospitals with no obstacle in its path, so the law of diminishing returns will apply.

So even if the rules are logical, why would people trust and respect them?

Because by following the logical rules and guidelines it may stop my friends and family catching it?

Some people seem to be being contrary just for the sake of it, and far too many others seem to try and use the government's rubbish handling of all this as some sort justification.

Question for those who admit they aren't sure what the rules are at the moment: why don't you look for them then? They're there on the gov.uk website and for once it's actually pretty easy to find the info you want

I read the (regular) updates on gov.uk … it takes ages … only a tiny proportion of the population will be bothering with that. We should still be having the daily briefings, with radio and TV covering it.

Many people are (mostly) following the old, tighter, advice given… rather than work out exactly how the rules have changed… others are doing the opposite, and acting as if the situation is back to normal… I’m not surprised at either response.

I was shocked yesterday, half of Glasgow were up the Cobbler, including a group of 20+, a group of 8 ladies who were trying to push past on the summit cave/scramble, and a couple of blokes who despite half a frikkin' mountain to sit on decided they would sit on the same rocks as us on the way up. Paths are difficult, but I would say on the busy path down (we took different route up) less than half the walkers made any attempt to do the '2m waltz' and just keep a gap.

We then made the mistake of going for chips in Helensburgh, out first 'take out' as a family since February,and discovered that was a huge mistake. The place was hoaching with families, disability scooters, lines of OAP's sitting close by and of course I'd forgotten how narrow the seafront is there. We ended up wearing masks on the street and deliberately parking/sitting up near the sailing club to get away from the crowds.

On both fronts it was like everything was normal. I can cope with things being busy, heck we contributed to that as a family of 5, it was that lack of avoidance, masks and seeming awareness that got me - and the huge groups on the hill.

It’s clear this government is far more interested in the economy than in the health of the population.

Trouble is that you cannot uncouple the two absolutely. eg: A cold winter and fuel poverty causes ca 10K excess deaths per year. Increase poverty because the economy has crashed and that number will rise. Same with poverty = poor diet = long term health issues and so on.

I'm not saying we should let the virus run riot, there is a balance to be found. I don't know what that balance is and I'm glad I don't have to. I don't trust the bunch in charge to either though.

It works both ways… not controlling the virus has an economic effect.

also true. It's a balancing act.

I am still attempting to follow advice at least in the spirit of the guidance

Matt, I'd say you probably over reacted, you were outside and not in contact with most of those people for more than few seconds (maybe apart from when you went for chips), same with people isolating the post and shopping, it was never necessary.

Main transmission has always been airborne through close proximity to someone for 15 mins or so. This is how it is generally transmitting at the moment, through family groups who are meeting up and totally ignoring the rules, people packed into pubs and out leisure shopping. It's going to get a lot worse with the kids back, that's a lot of extra people (adults and students included) who will suddenly be having a lot of high risk activity, lots of mingling, inside for extended periods. A bit of hand gel and mask wearing isn't going to help a lot ( I'm not advocating you stop, it's still worth it to remind us everyday covid is still here).

also bear in mind the community prevalence is in the region of 1/1000 to 1/10,000 order of magnitude according to which estimate you read. There's actually a relatively small chance that anyone you saw yesterday is carrying and doesn't know. Multiply by chance of transmission.....

Again, not saying we should just forget it and run riot; absolutely not.

same with people isolating the post and shopping, it was never necessary

We’re still doing it.

Question for those who admit they aren’t sure what the rules are at the moment: why don’t you look for them then?

In short, because I don't trust the rulemakers and would rather guage my own risks.

I consider myself to be a pretty sensible person and I think I've got a fair handle on the risks of various activities to me and my family of catching it and suffering with it.

Edit to add, this works both ways. At the start I was more cautious than the guidance required because I suspected they were too slow on this.

Don't go shopping or anything. Break the 2m rules when exercising today but not facing each other. Tend to meet people outside even though going inside is aloud. We do have a out of rules bubble with my parents and my partners mum but both have very very little interaction outside us.

We definitely break the rules but exceed the rules in other areas so on balance I think our overall risk profile is good

Yes - and will be stepping up shielding from next week ready for the next wave. I am carer for my wife who has health problems.
Our doctors still does not know when it will be able to give the winter flu jab so booked it at Boots (?) for next month.
All shopping is done early morning because the town is packed with trippers and holiday makers and they all know that social distancing does not apply when you are on holiday.
Not eaten out since March.
Gym cancelled although beginning to waiver on that.
Still plenty of bike riding. One of the big bonuses of lockdown was it forced me to explore my local area and a it turned out to have some very great places for off road riding without using NR2.
Managed to link up the interesting bits and now got a 50km circuit using road, track, green lanes, country lanes, gravel and cheeky footpaths.
Hardly ever see anyone except at week ends so avoid them.
Garden is looking good but still not dug that pond.

Matt, I’d say you probably over reacted, you were outside and not in contact with most of those people for more than few seconds

I thinl you're right.

However, why was there a group of 20+ (see left of my picture, that line of people on the edge, plus more) up a hill.
In town it was more how close folk were sitting together with strangers to have ice cream / chips / sunbathe.

But I agree, we've been away from crowds for 5 months, ergo it was odd.

When the rules/advice are blatantly stupid, or arbitrary, why would you not break them?

Two examples..

The local council put up a marquee with local beer, ice-cream, pizza, etc. You need to book a two hour slot for a table, but there are picnic blankets available until 8pm. The council wouldn’t allow blankets after 8. Can anyone suggest a Covid related reason for this?

A one way system around the local pub meant that rather than walking straight through an open door, passing nobody, I had to walk past every other occupant of the pub to get to the official exit.

It’s very noticeable that those of us who have been on site in work for a length of time have a very different view of ‘the rules’ than the home workers.

Pretty much. Maybe slipped back a bit on the handwashing and this thread has been a good reminder.

Most locals are still abiding by the laws, maybe flaunting some of the guidance (in particular the 8 folk from 3 households bit). It's noticeable that lots of tourists are being less stringent.

Bloke at work decided to go to Spain last week With his family. This was a highly paid intelligent man.

Don't really see a problem with this. It depends on where and how you go. If they're clubbing in Malaga every night then probably not a good idea, whereas if they drive there and went hill walking in a remote area, bugger all chance of catching it.

We've just come back from cycling in the Pyrenees, staying with friends in a tiny village and kept ourselves to ourselves, probably less likely to catch it there than being at home in a city.

TBF plenty of people have no idea what the rules are

I've got to admit this is me, but seeing as how I dislike pubs, parties and shopping I expect I'm doing ok. Not really sure what tye "rules" are for group bike rides but I havent ridden with more than 3 or 4 people since March or whatever.

Really feel for those with families and work commintments that put them in close proximity to others for extended periods. As a singĺe occupant and work that can easily be done whilst keeping social distance protocols mmy life a lot easier than for many.

Never listened to gov't advice, started wearing a mask in shops/ confined spaces end of March, wash and sanitised my hands. That's about it really. Met with family 'bubble' for the 1st time in 6 months a couple of weeks back and the occasional meet up with friends outside. Like stumpyjohn, I believe the highest risk of contagion involves being in close proximity to a carrier for 15 minutes or so, so avoid that with the sole exception of meeting up with the family.

Given that outbreaks and local locdowns haven't evolved into the exponential spreading of the virus that we've seen elsewhere recently Id say most people are being reasonable. There's a few morons about for sure but so far not enough to have an exponential affect on the numbers.

We’re still doing it.

It's not doing any harm but it almost certainly is doing nothing to protect you (however as this is science not politics nothing is 100%). Look at the risk.

1. Chances of the post having come into contact with any Covid Virus - low.
2. Chances of it being a high dose contact if it has - low.
3. Chances of the virus still being viable on paper after 24 hours - low (probably a bit higher for plastics and glass, but still pretty low).
4. Chances of any remaining live virus being a significantly high viral load to infect you - low.
5. Chances of you transferring enough viral load onto your hands - low.
6. Chances of you transferring enough virus from your hands to your face - low.
7. Chances of enough virus entering your body - low.

So chances of infection through this route - negligible.

Even being sat in a crowded pub at the moment, the chance of getting infected is low, the number of infected people in the population is low, but if there is someone infected you stand a reasonable chance of getting it as all the other risks associated with the transmission path are fairly high. However if people continue to congregate that low level of infection in the population will ramp up exponentially and when it gets to levels people notice again it'll be too late. Personally I'm not going out as much as I used to (and I'm wearing a mask, hand sanitiding, WFH) not because I'm worried about getting it, but because I don't want it to become prevalent in the community again. That's the attitude we all need at the moment, risks to most of us are low but they won't be in future if current behaviour continues. This will be massively compounded when schools go back. My view is shut pubs, restaurants, beauty salons and indoor leisure activities again to offset the additional mixing caused by schools reopening, divert all furlough money etc. into these sectors to help them stay shut.

It’s not doing any harm but it almost certainly is doing nothing to protect you (however as this is science not politics nothing is 100%). Look at the risk.

1. Chances of the post having come into contact with any Covid Virus – low.
2. Chances of it being a high dose contact if it has – low.
3. Chances of the virus still being viable on paper after 24 hours – low (probably a bit higher for plastics and glass, but still pretty low).
4. Chances of any remaining live virus being a significantly high viral load to infect you – low.
5. Chances of you transferring enough viral load onto your hands – low.
6. Chances of you transferring enough virus from your hands to your face – low.
7. Chances of enough virus entering your body – low.

So chances of infection through this route – negligible.

I'm not sure how you get to 1 ...
The postie is delivering to 2000 houses in a run ... many have gates etc. the postie needs to touch.

Skipping 2 for now...

So 24 hours is irrelevant when the round is a few hours.

back to 2 ... our postie has specific instructions to post the free paper or deliver by hand so he has to do EVERY house... so what is a significant dose when you're thumbing through a news paper and sticking your thumb in your mouth?

Personally I’m not going out as much as I used to (and I’m wearing a mask, hand sanitiding, WFH) not because I’m worried about getting it, but because I don’t want it to become prevalent in the community again. That’s the attitude we all need at the moment, risks to most of us are low but they won’t be in future if current behaviour continues. This will be massively compounded when schools go back.

All bets are off ... there is really no point taking any steps at all beyond passing it to a vulnerable person once schools go back.
Much as I don't want to be pulled into supporting herd immunity by the back door there really is no other option.

I really do wish folk would stop using Return to School as an excuse for not taking other preventative measures. The risks are cumulative. Being careful about everything else we do is what makes Return to School possible.

Exactly.
Mrs_oab is back teaching. That doesn't mean we're back at a pub, not washing hands and abandoning face masks.

With a 4 yo, 2 yo and 9 week old and all the kids clubs suspended we see virtually no one anyway, plus I still work from home. Like a lot of people weve felt more fed up recently and tbh have broken guidance to see people and lift mood, partly as we expect to be beck in lockdown as we head into winter and we get the feeling the government are almost promoting a, ' make hay while the sunshines' effort. So the girls did a (very well run) ballet class, we've taken them to playgrounds half a dozen times for the first time since February (although we've tried to be on other equipment to others, but isn't always possible), we've done 'eat out to help out' 3 times and we've visited both sets of grand parents. We do still apply sanitiser and regular hand washing and wear masks on the rare occasions we are in a shop. However we all picked up a small snuffly cold last week so which makes it very clear to me how difficult it is to do anything 'safely'. Safe, no, lower risk.... Maybe. Eldest starts school and middle one nursery next week. I've a new job and may well be in the office a few times a week. I'm nervous about the winter and expect to be back in lockdown. I'm not sure when exactly but it feels unlikely that we will avoid a second wave.

Scotroutes,

The risks are indeed cumulative. Every little helps. Altering your behaviour because others have changed theirs is not going to protect you or others. There is no upside to this approach, It is simply lazy.

The science eludes us with this one and you can't rationalise it away. Not having the intelligence to outwit the virus I proceed with and air of superstition. I don't care about being right I just don't want to be wrong. So again, whatever we do just remember that every little helps.

Stumpyjohn,

What you're suggesting is a proportional and managed approach, recognising the cumulative and exponential nature of the threat. This whole story has pitched the liberties against the lockdowners, It never had to be this way. Adopting hygiene and mask protocols at a much earlier stage could have had a much less detrimental effect on the economy (and death count). Opening and closing specific sectors at different times according to percieved risk would have provided better data as to how and where the virus was spreading and both economic support and medical care could have been delivered in a less wasteful way. there's nothing in what you say that couldn't have been implemented six months ago.

Stevextc

1. Because very few people have it, and many of those will have symptoms and not be at work.

And were back to catching it off gates again, you're not a farmer are you? Its not Novichok, it's not high transmissible through touch, it doesnt last long outside, UV breaks it down. The critical point is every time it is transferred surface to surface it's diluted, multiple transfers will result in it being diluted to ineffectual levels, if this wasn't the case it would have ripped through the population by now.

Significant dose to catch it thumbing the paper and licking your thumb, huge, it won't last seconds in your mouth or digestive track, touch transference is through the nasal membranes and eyes.

Risk assessment is all about proportionality, understanding the mechanisms and weighing the risk vs hazard severity vs impact to daily living. This is something the UK population is terrible at, everyone wants absolutes and are quite happy to get all worked up about obscure risks whilst ignoring the really big ones everyday, like smoking, drinking, driving, drugs, not exercising, being overweight, not wearing a seatbelt, etc.

Inkster, fully agree, I was talking about moving forward, I don't think hospitality should have reopened at all, pubs, cinemas, restaurants, are all much higher risks for transmission than your friendly postie. Furlough scheme was great to start, allowed businesses to send people home immediately while they adjusted, initially it wasn't about saving jobs it was making sure everyone stayed at home. It should gave started to morph into long term support for industries that couldn't adapt safely back in May, at that point retail, manufacturing, office workers had put in place mechanisms to allow work to continue, but no Boris likes a pint and prematurely thought he had got Covid done, it was only a couple of weeks ago he was saying it will all be over by Christmas, we won't have a vaccine until the new year and it might not be effective.

Currently doing our best. Handwashing on entering the house. Masks where appropriate. Giving other people 2m if at all possible. Not mixing much.

But the kids are going back to school, so I think it is going to be a waste of time.

Remember back at the start? We were talking about a handful of identified individuals, and now we are looking at 41.5k deaths. This thing is (as we know) highly infectious and it keeps you in circulation long enough to spread it to enough people before you even know you have it. Schools going back is, in my opinion, the right thing to do. But wave 2 is coming.

But the kids are going back to school, so I think it is going to be a waste of time.

See my previous post.

Quarantining your mail for several days on the basis of your postie possibly being a virus super spreader from opening gates on his round sounds like top drawer paranoia / lunacy to me.

The other thread on masks for school kids is even more worrying , which such vocal support of making minors wear soggy grubby muzzles and the growth in fear of human / social interaction that will come with it I find very concerning but hardly surprising given the hand wringing nature of this forums regulars.

As a self employed construction worker I never had the option of working from home , or benefit from furlough paid holidays , state handouts & employment protection that many on here seem to enjoy , so i've had to work through lockdown on the same dirty , poorly sanitised building sites that I have worked on for the last 20 years so my outlook on the risks and hazards posed from this pandemic , or anything else for that matter , are probably more grounded than those that have simply shut themselves away for the last 5 months.

As such I feel absolutely no concern whatsoever in going to the pub on friday nights and booking a trip abroad next month.

Hiding behind the curtains indefinitely in fear of a virus that has a survival rate of around 99.5% and that cant possibly be stopped or eradicated anyway just doesn't fit in with my over-riding philosophy of life , you only get 1 chance to live so best not to waste a single day living in fear otherwise all your doing is waiting around to die.

So I only pay the the most basic lip service to the official advice / restrictions and go about my day as normal because what I hear from the Gov't & media these days is mostly bollocks.

Those in shock from reading my comments may wish to consider a sit down with a cup of tea.

See my previous post.

Agreed. I'm not changing my approach because the kids are going back to school. Every interaction (or potential interaction) is an opportunity to do the right thing, and I am going to continue to do the right thing.

Kids going back raises the risk, but I'm not a toddler (or Dominic Cumstains), I know it doesn't mean we can just throw caution to the wind.

Those in shock from reading my comments may wish to consider a sit down with a cup of tea.

Maybe, but it sure as hell won't be within two metres of you.

Can anyone suggest a Covid related reason for this?

Evenings. Alcohol. Only vague distancing possible. Enough said.

Look at the risk.

The risk, each time, is vanishingly small. Just like every other risk. It’s about minimising the number of all those tiny risks. Over the course of 18 months, they soon add up. You can no nothing, and be lucky. You can try and do everything, and be unlucky. But minimising the number of chances to become a link in the chain that leads to the death of a loved one or stranger is informing all my behaviour, still.

Much as I don’t want to be pulled into supporting herd immunity by the back door there really is no other option.

Herd immunity by exposure isn’t going to happen. There are clearly other options. A quick virtual tour of countries around the world will show you some.

I'm following and/or going above and beyond the advice.

I've lost close family, another family member went to a funeral and caught it, had 4 weeks in ICU and I understand he is struggling now (mid 40s).

A close friends dad spend 10 weeks in ICU and against all odds survived. He has gone from being independent and living life to someone coming in 4 times a day to help wipe his arse.

I know plenty who have not changed what they have done throughout all of this. Just hope they don't live to regret it, or not.

Some of us are not following the 'rules' because we recognise that the risk of serious illness/death is minuscule and we don't need the government to tell us how to live our lives. Have you looked at a graph for the death rate recently? It's a joke. I'm far more likely to die crossing a roundabout on my bike.

Someone else who doesn't understand Cause and Effect

Have you looked at a graph for the death rate recently? It’s a joke. I’m far more likely to die crossing a roundabout on my bike.

Just as relevant, have a look at hospitalisation rates, and try to work out why we’re being told about positive tests and not how many people actually have symptoms.

@Jamz "I'm alright Jack"

I think it's a similar line to the footballers in Aberdeen. I suspect the 350 they infected may have a different view.

Is anyone else still following Covid advice?

Yes, I do.
Most of my friends do too as they have medical condition.

Yes. Mostly because I'm a carer for my mum, partly because I'm antisocial anyway, and I suppose it helps that I'm in Scotland so there's less things going EVERYTHING IS FINE.

Does anyone seriously want to eat in an enclosed restaurant?

Something on German TV the other day saying that enclosed spaces, be that bar, restaurant, train, department store, etc... are the places where you are most at risk. Something to do with the concentration of aerosols.

You're less likely to catch anything, be that covid or common flu, whilst being outside than you are in an enclosed space.

I've not been sat inside a restaurant or bar since March.

I've been sat outside, but really don't fancy sitting for an extended period in an enclosed space.

we don’t need the government to tell us how to live our lives

I hope you don’t drive.

Boombang (sorry to hear you’ve been touched so much by this already) and others make an important point… concentrating on the death figures, especially now they only include people dying in the first four weeks after infection, ignores all those with poor or very poor health outcomes from the virus… this could lead to complacency.

Why should I follow it, its just a hoax to cover up child trafficking.

For governments to control us.

For businesses to profit from.

Etc etc, apparently. I read some stories on what people believe its unreal.

Anyway back to thread, sort of, like others said use common sense about it. But not religiously to the letter of the laws.

brownsauce, you wrote...

as a self employed construction worker I never had the option of working from home , or benefit from furlough paid holidays , state handouts & employment protection that many on here seem to enjoy , so i’ve had to work through lockdown on the same dirty , poorly sanitised building sites that I have worked on for the last 20 years

You chose to be self-emloyed and have, therefore, chosen to accept whatever that entails.
It certainly doesn't give you a special level of wisdom or insight; nor does it give you a right to claim your views of the risk and hazards of CV19 and everything are 'more grounded'
than most others - that is laughable.
Your comments demonstrate nothing more than a lack of understanding and a cavalier attitude.

Paying basic lip service to regs/laws shows absolutely no regard for others.
As you work in construction, I hope you pay more than basic lip service to site regs and H&S legislation.

I'm not going to comment on the negatives in this thread.

Instead, it's heartening to read about those that altered their lives in profound ways even when they are probably at little risk of a bad outcome themselves...Only done in order to try and keep people they will never know or meet safe. My little family for one appreciate it.

I’m far more likely to die crossing a roundabout on my bike.

I checked the other day. Usually approx 5 RTA deaths a day, so twice as likely to die of Covid than on the roads?

(Figures rounded for the hard of thinking)

Mainly. We both WFH. The only bike ride I've done with someone other than a member of my household was one with another couple in mid July, where we stayed outside and distanced the whole time. I've eaten out a few times but again only with OH apart from one day where we met my sister outside at a cafe. We've holidayed but in the UK within 2 hours of home.

The only people who've been inside my house are one other couple (actually in his role as a bike mechanic picking up something I wanted him to work on but they're also friends so he and his OH came over and we had a longer chat) and the guy who came to service the burglar alarm.

A couple of minor non-compliances - an afternoon partly indoors with two other households at my grandmother's house (but all being careful as she's 95). I gave my nephews a lift somewhere as a favour to my sister. And a few (single figures) hugs with family.

As a self employed construction worker I never had the option of working from home , or benefit from furlough paid holidays , state handouts & employment protection that many on here seem to enjoy

Ummmm...

https://www.constructionmanagermagazine.com/what-support-available-self-employed-construction/

Maybe no good because you were massively under-reporting your income for tax purposes? 😛

I checked the other day. Usually approx 5 RTA deaths a day, so twice as likely to die of Covid than on the roads?

So, using your stats in the same way, that’s roughly the same level. As in, you’re not 10x, or a 100x more likely to die of Covid.

So, you are almost as likely to die during your next journey as to catch Covid and die of it.

Well, twice as many people dying of X rather than Y is definitely not 10x or 100x, I'll give you that.

1. Because very few people have it, and many of those will have symptoms and not be at work.

And were back to catching it off gates again, you’re not a farmer are you? Its not Novichok, it’s not high transmissible through touch, it doesnt last long outside, UV breaks it down. The critical point is every time it is transferred surface to surface it’s diluted, multiple transfers will result in it being diluted to ineffectual levels, if this wasn’t the case it would have ripped through the population by now.

Significant dose to catch it thumbing the paper and licking your thumb, huge, it won’t last seconds in your mouth or digestive track, touch transference is through the nasal membranes and eyes.

It's really not very long since the UK was saying it can pretty much only be transmitted through touch...
All my neighbours and 90% of my avenue have gates... (we don't but ?)
All those gates are touched when they taker out the bins ... bins full of all sorts including nappies, tissues etc.

I really do wish folk would stop using Return to School as an excuse for not taking other preventative measures. The risks are cumulative. Being careful about everything else we do is what makes Return to School possible.

Because putting 1000+ kids in a school together and prohibiting them from wearing masks makes as much sense as sending Covid positive patients to nursing homes who didn't even have basic PPE are were actively being prevented buying it.

There really is no need to force kids back, prevent them wearing masks in class or most certainly have them all back at once. Like the care homes they will blame the schools..

The risk, each time, is vanishingly small. Just like every other risk. It’s about minimising the number of all those tiny risks. Over the course of 18 months, they soon add up. You can no nothing, and be lucky. You can try and do everything, and be unlucky. But minimising the number of chances to become a link in the chain that leads to the death of a loved one or stranger is informing all my behaviour, still.

Come Wednesday Jnr is in school... we spent time with Gran and said our goodbyes, perhaps for the last time face to face. Now he has no choice but sit in classes with kids with no masks so short of hosing him down when he comes home the overwhelming risk can't be controlled. OH will be back teaching at primary.

I'm not saying we aren't being careful but we can't visit gran or see many elderly friends once he's back at school.

Herd immunity by exposure isn’t going to happen. There are clearly other options. A quick virtual tour of countries around the world will show you some.

Of course it won't actually work... hence why I'm reluctant to be a part of it but when you have a government dead set on trying anyway it seems pointless fighting it.

Thing is, @brownsauce, it's not (just) about YOU. Your post reminds me of a bumper sticker I saw " If you don't like the way I drive, stay off the sidewalk "

Yes. Only person we saw was wife's best mate - but that was put on hold (Gtr Mcr), although is relaxed where we are next week - good job as MrsF has lined me up to build decking for her mate - been on hold a month.

Not mixing with family, other than socially distanced outside. Been out to eat a few times recently, but only where pre-booked and happy with distancing.