Is social distancing just a sop to the masses?

Good news, tho.
As you'll have seen, the numbers of deaths in Scotland have been going down and this screenshot shows that 74% of those known to be infected have recovered.

www.travellingtabby.com/scotland-coronavirus-tracker/

I haven't seen graphs for England or the whole UK.
I happened to come across this info, tho.
Over 60,000 more deaths than would normally be expected in the last few weeks, in the UK.
How to explain that, other than Covid being pretty dangerous, quizqueen?

These are the excess deaths over the last 40 years as reported by the Office of National Statistics. The peaks broadly coincide with major fu epidemics.

But covid isn't finished yet, dizzy blonde, and this isn't winter.

Covid won’t be finished ever I don’t think but we can’t isolate for ever either. I believe the estimated extra deaths for a recession is huge, far higher than covid. The reason it’s killed so many is because it’s new so no immunity. It’s also a very successful virus because it doesn’t kill a huge percentage of those it infects and therefore can continue to spread. Ebola is not so successful mainly because it kills a large proportion of those it infects so doesn’t spread as quickly although it is still rampant in parts of the African continent.

In answer to the title of the thread, the masses are ignoring social distancing by the look of Southend beach today, shown on the news - either deliberately or by pretending they do not understand.

I dont think we can isolate for ever, either dizzyblonde.
But how does anyone get the message across that easing restrictions doesn't mean getting back to what they normally did?

We spent a couple of hours on the beach yesterday. But there were only us and another couple about 100 yds from us, so I think that’s fine. Paddled but didn’t swim - bit nippy.

We will be social distancing until we decide the risk has reduced to an acceptable level. Probably when a vaccine has been developed - everything crossed!

I'm waiting for either a grey or a drizzly day to take GS to the beach. He doesn't care about the weather and loves it whatever it's like.

Well, if people don't adhere to social distancing for a while we will have to isolate forever. imo 2 metres isn't enough; it should be 3 but 2 is more manageable. The OP's opinion seems to go back to the original WHO advice when they thought the virus wasn't airborne. But it is. Hand washing is important but you're more likely to catch the virus from someone near to you coughing or sneezing [even breathing] than you are from picking it up from a contaminated surface. However, everything needs to be done to prevent infection until we have a vaccine/ better antivirals etc etc And that includes the mandatory wearing of masks in public places.

maybee I absolutely agree. This will go on for ever if we don’t social distance at a good distance. That is exactly what I am doing. Not that we go out much. We’ve decided to treat ourselves once a week and go out for an isolated picnic. This week the beach next week is planned a forest walk. If we turn up and it is busy we won’t stop but go on elsewhere.

Callistamon
I'm doing my bit towards getting the economy going.
For the second time this week I'm doing my neighbours mothers garden.
The lady has Alzheimer's. The gardener she had refused to come in although you go straight to the back garden without going through the house. I didn't even see the lady while I was there.
This lady's garden is the only joy she has. Although she doesn't know it's her garden. Very sad.

Well done MerylStreep

That is very sad, but at least it will look lovely and she can enjoy it.
The man who cuts our lawns is still working - we have not been anywhere near him but we can chat from one side of the garden to the other. That gardener sounds as if he or she is making excuses.