What have we become?

[jansman]

What has our society become?

Covid-19: North East households mixing 'against law' https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-54331421

We are social creatures. Mixing family tribe, to tribe, will now be ‘illegal’. So sad, so bonkers. But we can still go to the pub. ???

[peejay]

I just don't understand it - if only folks realised that "all" they need to is isolate as much as *reasonably practical for 2-4 weeks (at the same time) its would kill most of the virus transmission in its tracks, but because of the few entitled, the ignorant and the arrogant it's just going to keep going around and around and around for god knows how long.

*We all know that SOME people have unavoidable circumstance, but if they still took it seriously during their edge scenarios, then we could get it sorted sooner rather than later.

[Arzosah]

We are social creatures. Mixing family tribe, to tribe, will now be ‘illegal’. So sad, so bonkers. But we can still go to the pub. ???

And that's why there's not the compliance that there was, because people can see that not only is it not "one rule for me, another for thee" but the rules themselves are completely inconsistent. They're not "confusing", as the mainstream news channels have been saying (well, they are, but its another concept) they're inconsistent. People can't go to a family member's house, but they can book a table in a restaurant next to the same family.

[peejay]

But the concept just isn't hard to comprehend - stay away from people outside your immediate bubble - people KNOW who they spend time with on a daily basis, it isn't hard to work out.

A case in point. Before lockdown started to ease our neighbours were commenting on how desperate they were to be able to spend time with their parents (and so their parents could see the grand-kids). In my mind the response was simple - if BOTH sets of families were absolutely *certain* that they'd isolated fully, taking ALL precautions (hand-washing when required etc.) for a *minimum* of two weeks, then in my books they would have been completely fine to mix families. However, it's those folks who do the covid equivalent of sneaking a twix down on the quiet whilst they're telling everyone they're on a diet i.e. *say* they're isolating properly but in reality mixing with all-sorts or popping out for "essentials" that they don't actually need and then not taking appropriate precautions after etc. THOSE are the people I blame for where we are today.

[jennyjj01]

In my mind the response was simple - if BOTH sets of families were absolutely *certain* that they'd isolated fully, taking ALL precautions (hand-washing when required etc.) for a *minimum* of two weeks, then in my books they would have been completely fine to mix families. However, it's those folks who do the covid equivalent of sneaking a twix down on the quiet whilst they're telling everyone they're on a diet i.e. *say* they're isolating properly but in reality mixing with all-sorts or popping out for "essentials" that they don't actually need and then not taking appropriate precautions after etc. THOSE are the people I blame for where we are today.

Another case in point. My sister in Manchester continued to have grandkids to visit and occasionally stay... Almost forgivable, though I always feared the grandkids might bring covid home. But then I discovered that while she had them, my niece had had a big drunken house party of over 20 guests. That makes the whole 6l00dy lot of them pariahs to me. They can forget about any sort of Christmas get-together now they've shown such negligence. So annoyed. We might have trusted them once, but [expletive deleted] 'em now.

[Arzosah]

Another case in point. My sister in Manchester continued to have grandkids to visit and occasionally stay... Almost forgivable, though I always feared the grandkids might bring covid home. But then I discovered that while she had them, my niece had had a big drunken house party of over 20 guests. That makes the whole 6l00dy lot of them pariahs to me. They can forget about any sort of Christmas get-together now they've shown such negligence. So annoyed. We might have trusted them once, but [expletive deleted] 'em now.

I'm wondering about Christmas in this respect too. I'm supposed to be going up to London, by car, for lunch with my nephew and his wife. He could work from home, he did before, but he's going in to work. She's been breaking lockdown rules in another of the home countries of the UK. It's still a long way away, but I'm keeping my options open.

[Lemne]

The rule about house versus pub is because in the pub you are in public and the rules can be enforced easier as you are visible to others. That's why the law only applies to homes. I don't think it's going to matter much longer though as people won't do as they are told and pubs and businesses will be shut again soon with the same people who wouldn't stick to the rules moaning.

[grenfell]

We are social creatures. Mixing family tribe, to tribe, will now be ‘illegal’. So sad, so bonkers. But we can still go to the pub. ???

To a degree i can understand the seemingly disparity between home and pub. In our local there are several regular groups , we are generally all on speaking terms but stick to our own groups and don't mix. A couple of weeks ago my wife , daughter and myself popped down for a meal and there were several other families doing the same. Some we knew and passed greetings but we all sat seperately. Compare that to a home where generally visitors are family and friends rather than strangers and there's more likelihood of getting close to people.
I can't help thinking that peejay has hit the nail on the head. It would probably have caused less disruption and could well have been cheaper to have a total lockdown ( except of course for emergency services and the like)and drop a box of food outside everyones door for a month.

[jansman]

Thing is, we had a lockdown, and we got the job under control. Mind you , Rasputin, sorry Dominic Cummings did his Road Trip/ Eye Test,and Bojo had to ease up on the regs. That , frankly, opened the floodgates. But I digress; I see customers at work, who blatantly ignore distance / face cover rules. When challenged they eff and Jeff. I saw it again today in The Range. The t*at in question challenged a security guard who looked like Mike Tyson! He got short shrift, and was lucky he didn’t get smacked.

Most folks are being careful, but the minority ( as usual) are pushing the rules. Couple that with conflicting advice from government, you have the classic Clusterf*ck!

[peejay]

Indeed it goes without saying that the vast majority of life's issues are caused by the vast minority of humans.