AIBU about other peoples visitors

The tier system is open to misinterpretation as some of the rules make no sense. People are tired of rules and will just do what they want. No wonder the cases of coronavirus are rising alarmingly. It is hard on all who have done their best to keep themselves and others safe.

But why can we not have a set of clear and consistent rules that people are happy with and obey.

Far too often people are allowed to get together - cafes, pubs, restaurants - where even though there is social distancing, masks are not required because people are eating and drinking (and chatting and laughing) but made to wear them in churches, where there is definitely social distancing and no singing or talking to each other etc.

If people are to obey rules they need to respect those making them and be confident they make sense. Currently, with those in the public eye, including MPs, treating these regulations with scant respect themselves, and many of the regulations inconsistent and confusing, is it surprising people treat the regulations as lightly as do those that make them.

It is a crying shame that too many people are arrogant and selfish. If visitors are just that..friends popping over for a cuppa & chat to relieve the tediousness of lockdown then I would be tempted to inform.
Science/ research is suggesting that infection is often passed on in enclosed spaces & that in private homes people are more likely to forget what 2m is!

It doesn't help if we choose to ignore the guidelines because they're 'not working' - of course they won't work if we continue to ignore them.

Flygirl, this awful time in our lives has also brought out the best in many people. So many volunteering to help deliver food to those who can't get to the shops. All those small local businesses who are struggling to keep afloat yet offering free packed lunches to children who need them.

Flygirl
Agree 100%. My dearest friend ( and neighbour) turned into the neighbour from hell. At one point at the beginning even going as far as to question people who didn't live in our close but parked here.
Questioning people as to why they were eligible for a home delivery. I don't know what brought her back to being normal, but thank god she did.

Anyway, the rules are shot through with inconsistencies.

Why for example, can I meet up with 5 other people, all from different households when I cannot meet with 6 other people from the same household.

Surely, the presence of people from 6 different households, which is legal, is far more likely to lead to COVID being passed from one of those households to the others, compared with meeting up with one household with six people in it, which is illegal because the group size would then be 7.

Biba70 - and I am very sad that we have gone so far down the very deep rabbit hole that we feel "justified" to "report" people for attempting to just live; without even a second thought as "the right thing to do". Very dad indeed. I am also very sad that people cannot see beyond the Covid scaremongering and realise just how far we have degenerated as human beings over a few short months. That's far scarier to me than any damned virus, how people are so easily turning on one another. I am at a total loss at how low we are stooping to even consider writing a post like this in the first place. Divide and rule is working like an absolute dream.
Let's just hope you all don't need your neighbours to help you out in a crisis in the future after stabbing them in the back.

I think it's a combination of things, but not least that there are swathes of people; families, friends, who have never changed their behaviour at all.
For multiple reasons, I suppose.

I have read today that case numbers are rising quickly in our area. So I am wondering what is causing the increase if people are doing as asked. It is because they are not. I am pleased to read that many on here have similar thoughts to mine and wish to keep not only themselves and others safe but to feel equally miffed at those who think they are above the guidance. It is a shame that some people feel they have to resort to nasty comments.

That bit of my post was a reply to maddy really.

But it applies to anyone who has contact with someone who has contact with someone else.

If you are keeping your distance you are not going to be infected by anyone, not even from the person your neighbour infects who infects their child who infects your grandchild who infects you because you will be keeping your distance from your grandchildren, now they are back at school.

Two things I want to say.

You may keep your distance from your neighbour but you may not keep your distance from the person your neighbour infects who infects their child who infects your grandchild who infects you. That's the way a virus works.

But more, the analogy with Nazi Germany has been brought up here and in other threads. The Jewish people in Germany were not breaking the law or putting others at risk. They were the victims. I think it is wrong to make that comparison.

Indeed those who are callously and deliberately taking actions that spread the virus to the vulnerable, who care nothing for the deaths of others are the ones who should have the comparison made.

maddyone. My views precisely.

Incidentally my husband and I did tell the air hostess that a man wasn’t wearing his mask when we flew to Kefalonia recently. She initially said she couldn’t do anything because she couldn’t discriminate. She then went and fetched another member of the crew who did tell him and he then complied and wore his mask. This was important because had he been Covid positive and not showing symptoms, then he could have infected many people on the plane. However seven or eight people in my neighbour’s house won’t infect me because I’ll always keep my distance from that neighbour.

Hetty
I said in my post it was an extreme example because it is an extreme example. However I would not report my neighbours, even if I knew they had more than six people in their houses. I’m not even trying to make pathetic excuses, I simply wouldn’t do it unless the breach was big, as I said earlier, in the case of a big party. I cannot think of anything more sad than a person counting out the number of people going into their neighbour’s house and reporting them because there were seven instead of six. Mind your own business, look after yourself, concern yourself with what you are doing and not with what other people are doing.

I haven't reported anyone, though I've toyed with the idea, because I think that over the months, my neighbour has been in contact with far more people than those who are partying.
So have her 5 adult children, their children, and a huge assortment of friends.

maddyone, there is no comparison to be made between reporting lawbreakers - and reporting 'for being Jewish or dissenters of the regime'. I think it's ridiculous (and insulting) to try to do so.

The reluctance to report is, of course, the traditional 'mind your own business' attitude that normally applies and serves us well.

Nothing is normal right now, though, far from it. Public health is threatened, people's lives are at risk.

My priorities include staying safe and protecting my family. They easily overcome any worries about reporting people. I have reported them and will continue to do so. They will be fined. Word will get around. People will (hopefully) change their behaviour and lives will be saved.

I'm doing my very best - who else is reporting and making a change? Any of you? Or (as I suspect) are you just making pathetic excuses on here?

''A family that had to hide away 80 years ago fearing their neighbours would expose them? A leader who's catchphrase about everything he was doing was "fuer ihrer Sicherheit" (for your safety) which swayed and conned a whole nation? .....'' of course Flygirl. But did you read my post?

What were the intentions behind the above- and what is the intention and desired outcome of the current limitations? One was sick prejudice, and death. Currently, it is to save lives ... and unless people do follow rules, we will be in lock down for a very long time, not seeing our families, and people dyind around us. I am very sad you can't see the difference.

But I agree with the EasyJet crew that have refused to take off when a passenger was refusing to wear a mask. It is law to wear a mask on public transport, and aeroplanes are public transport. I have heard of this happening three times I think, and the crew were correct. Apparently then security escorted the offender off the plane. I certainly don’t want to live in a fascist state, but I do think the law should be observed, especially on an aeroplane where other people would be at risk from that one refuser. Having more than six people in a house is a different matter.

Whatever the rules, the appliers of the law (the police or COVID wardens) always have some discretion in knowing when to not notice and when to throw the book. I think they will go for those having large parties or large family gatherings. I do not think they will be going door-to-door making everyone present stand in a row and be counted and then search the house to check in case anyone is hiding in a wardrobe or under a bed.

If they do we will know definitely that we live in a fascist state.

And the rule of six is also the law. People should not have more than six people in their house. If they do they would be breaking the law. I’d still be very hesitant about reporting a neighbour though for having seven people in their house. I have to live here afterwards.

I totally understand that suzie and I’m not at all sure that either the media or the government help people to understand the difference between the rules, which are legally enforceable, and the guidelines, which are general advice. It’s against the law to go into a shop without a mask, people could be fined, but sadly people get away with it. I think the rules, the law, should be enforced.

suzie You are absolutely correct in everything you say in the above post, but nonetheless I wouldn’t report a neighbour unless the breach was enormous ie having a massive party with many guests.

I agree maddy absolutely. I’m just fed up with people posting untruths on GN and apparently not understanding that the rules have the force of law and are there for a reason.

suzie You are absolutely correct in everything you say in the above post, but nonetheless I wouldn’t report a neighbour unless the breach was enormous ie having a massive party with many guests. The reason is that as one poster said up thread, it becomes reminiscent of WW2 in Europe where people were encouraged to report on their neighbours for being Jewish or dissenters of the regime. It sounds an extreme example, but I’d just as soon not report my neighbours. However I would take great care if I met them outside or over the garden wall; I would ensure I didn’t get near to them. In the end it’s up to me to keep myself as safe as possible. I realise that by doing childcare for my daughter we take a risk, especially as their parents are doctors, and as my son in law said, they have definitely come into contact with Covid19. Up to now, despite their being in contact with Covid patients (as is one of my neighbours who is an ITU nurse) none of the family have contracted it from them nor have they contracted it. Therefore I assume that the precautions we are taking are working, so long as we all employ them sensibly.