What social distancing?

The only way we can survive this thing is by taking responsibility for each other's health. When people ignore social distancing rules, it's not just their own health they are jeopardising. It's the people they come into contact with, then the people those people contact, and then the people those people contact.... And so a single case of the virus easily becomes hundreds.

As I have said before on here, I won't be reporting my neighbours because I have no idea what they are doing. I am quite anti-social and tend to ignore what goes on around me. However, if you see a breakdown of the rules that worries you, then snitch on them. It's for the common good. Do you think that, in the war, people were right to snitch on their neighbours if they broke the blackout rules? Again, it was for the common good, to protect people's lives.

We are not playing here. This is a plague, sure enough. It is horribly destructive and we don't know enough about it. We've got thousands dead, poor buggers undergoing the ordeal of being on ventilators, younger people dying of heart attacks and strokes or facing a future of damaged lungs, hearts or kidneys, now children dying or damaged too... And all the time, healthcare workers have to risk their lives and see patients and colleagues die. No, it's not going to be back to normal for a long time. Yes, we should take baby steps if we want to get society running again. Yes, twitch your curtains and snitch on your neighbours if you think it will save lives. If enough people ignore the rules, then the rules will protect nobody.

OK. Rant over.

I have sympathy with *rosenoir's point of view, - but then I think that one of those construction workers may pass the virus on to others who may then go home and pass it on to their family, and an adult may go shopping and pass on the virus in the supermarket whilst their young son may go back to school and pass on the virus to one or more teachers.... and so it goes on...

And I think it's a pity that the rules are now somewhat blurred as it makes it much harder for the police to assert that people are breaking them, and thence stop them

The young lady who helps with my horses is hoping to go to Uni this Autumn but has been told it will not be before the end of October.

So if it’s not safe for the young lady who looks after your horses to go to university before October Rosalyn69, why is it safe for five builders to work in a confined space with no attempt to socially distance themselves, even whilst drinking tea or coffee in the front garden?
Plus Rosalyn I’d love you to explain why you consider it selfish for people to care about their own safety and the safety of their family? Why do you regard it as selfish for me to wish that my doctor daughter should not get Covid19, and that if she does get it, why is it selfish to hope that she survives and is able to be a mother to her six year old twins and her two year old child?

Bluecat
You are right in your assessment of the dangers of not social distancing. However I won’t tell any authorities about our neighbours builders as it doesn’t directly affect me. However, it could indirectly affect me should one of the said builders become infected and require medical care from my daughter or her husband.

The problem is that the 2m rule is only guidance and can not be enforced. The Government stopped short of including in the Covid legislation.

There are levels of exposure to virus depending on:

Distance from carrier

Open air or indoors

Duration of exposure

Weather conditions

Personal hygiene of all parties concerned.

Viral load of the carrier concerned.

Not all construction sites have been open. Two of my relatives had their huge housing site shut down at the start of the lockdown. It could easily have had lots of workers as it was so vast a site but they closed down. They have only very recently just started tentatively with few workers, one way systems, wide spaces between parked cars and PPE.

Couldn't agree more. I'm on my 10th week of shielding.
I'm 76 years old and my daughter lives with me.
I've stuck strictly to the guidelines and yet three of the houses down the he road regularly all meet together in one of the gardens at least three nights a week until at least midnight.
Absolutely infuriates me. At least a dozen adults and children.

Thank you Aurora
I agree it’s annoying because the more this sort of thing goes on, the longer the rest of us will be incarcerated in our own homes. However much more seriously, the longer this sort of thing goes on, the more of our selfless NHS workers will contract Covid19 and possibly die. For doing their jobs. It really shouldn’t be too difficult to follow the guidelines. For those who aren’t selfish anyway.
Stay safe Aurora.

Lockdown was put in place to ensure that the NHS and hospitals were not over-whelmed. This has been successful.

BUT, the virus will not go away -,however long some people stay at home. And, of course,their staying at home, depends very much on many people not doing that so that they can continued to be supplied with food, medicines,etc. etc.

Yes, there will be a second wave, hopefully nowhere near as high as the first. But the virus is out there and until such time (not very hopeful), that an vaccine can be found and administered), it will stay out there.

More and more people will contract it - the over-whelming majority will only have very minor symptoms.

The final policy is still Herd Immunity.

There will be a third wave, hopefully even smaller than a second wave. It has to happen at some time. The virus is not just going to go awaty.

For those that have serious other medical problems, then they may need to stay isolated, (if they can).

In the meanwhile, whereas no vaccine, the treatment is getting better and better and medics know more and more about this virus.

So, stop being worried about your neighbours, if they are disobeying the complicated and contradictory rules, they are only probably helping towards that final Herd Immunity which will benefit us all.

I’m not so much worried about my neighbours as worried about my daughter and her husband who are NHS workers, and in contact with Covid19 patients. The way I see it, the longer people think it’s okay to flout the rules, the longer this wave will go on and the longer my daughter and her husband will have to go on putting themselves in danger, and their three little children of six years and under are at risk of losing their parents for longer.
I cannot see anything unreasonable about following the guidelines, but many people are simply selfish. They do what they want.

I've no intention at all of not worrying about people who knowingly increase others' chances of catching the virus.

That's the thing, it's knowing but not caring enough unless it's something that impacts negatively on you or yours.