Reporting COVID-19 violations

[Superzob]

It's a pity that some of the responses to Bkin's post on this subject became so unhelpful that replies had to be turned off, because this is an important issue about health, and nothing to do with "snitching" or dictatorships. Perhaps any responses to my post could be more agreeable (I'm a sensitive person!).

Firstly, there needs to be an understanding about what is "advice" and what is the "law". The law is at legislation.gov.uk/uksi/202... (for England, though the legislation for other parts of the UK is similar). There is nothing in law about 2m social distancing, because this would be impossible to enforce (and I say this as someone with 36 years experience in law enforcement). So the Government have taken a different approach to this and banned gatherings of more than 2, which can be enforced, at least to some extent given that "gatherings" are not defined. However, I think most people can see the logic of this in terms of the infection risk.

Which brings me to the issue of what is reportable and what the authorities can actually enforce. You can. of course, report anything which infringes the guidelines, but the authorities cannot enforce it unless it also breaks the law (and please don't use this as an opportunity to reopen the debate on a certain Government aide!). Consequently, if you are of a mind to, you could restrict reporting to issues which are covered in law, such as gatherings (for instance, Manchester police have reported having to break up hundreds of house and street parties every weekend - these are clear breaches of the law and considerable contagion risks). I would tend to ignore fleeting gatherings because they won't be there when the authorities arrive (unless they are identifiable by other means) and present little contagion risk. Of course, it is up to the various authorities to decide their own priorities, and I wouldn't want to censor reports but, realistically, I would expect the police to concentrate on large gatherings (and there seem to be plenty of them!) which seem to me to be the worst offenders.

[Hidden]

Yet it takes just one infected person to take the pandemic to another country, county or district.

[Damon1864 Volunteer in reply to Hidden]

I agree. Have a great night and stay safe 😊 Bernadette xx xx 🌈

[hypercat54]

Thank you for explaining the difference between law and guidelines. That is helpful.

[Caspiana]

Hello Superzob , 👋

Yes, I can see where you are coming from. I think if there were a party or a large gathering in my neighbourhood there would definitely be people calling the police and the police would break it up at this time of crisis. So far this hasn't happened and people are very considerate in general. I would not however be watching people on my street and as you say report unplanned meetings. I do see my neighbours saying hello to each other and stopping to chat. In fact I can't see them but I can hear them. I don't look out my window specifically to see what's going on, I leave that to my neighbour two doors down who seems to have appointed herself as the neighbourhood watch. 😄 I don't think that's my business. I am also happy when I hear my neighbours having a quick chat. They are all not so young, and unable to see their families right now. many live alone. So it's a relief to know they can stop for a quick catch up or their lives would be so isolated. Everyone wears masks all the time.

I think the post mentioned was well intentioned but not well put across. Written language is a funny thing. You could write the exact same sentiments using different nuances and get much more positive responses. It's all in the words and mannerisms.

I hope you are doing okay. We are about to start the rainy season here. A month of rain and extreme humidity. Take care.

Cas xx 🙋

[Croydonia in reply to Caspiana]

Caspiana, you are the voice of reason!

[Caspiana in reply to Croydonia]

Hahaha 😄 I wish Croydonia . 👋

[Hacienda]

Thank You Superzob, You have explained it all very well. Have a Good Saturday. XXX C.

[lynisa48]

The problem for me is that the government are easing lockdown when there still over 300 deaths in other countries that is down to under 100 and why are we no longer seeing the figures for Europe and USA to me that show if there restrictions are working, I belong to a Spanish expats group and over there they are aware that if they step out of line there will be consequence I went by car for a ride out to the beach 5 miles distance and it was heaving no social distancing no police either why couldn’t police with a megaphone told them to disperse

[Hidden in reply to lynisa48]

well said

[Superzob in reply to lynisa48]

2greys posted a link to the John Hopkins University website (gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/..., which shows the current position with coronavirus throughout the world, and is more up-to-date than anything HMG has produced because it is updated several times a day. The most important data is the logarithmic trend - you are basically looking for a horizontal line (as with China), as this indicates a zero rate of infection, and you can see we are not far off that.

As for your other point, I can't really comment as I wasn't there, but I do think that the easing of lockdown has resulted in a complexity of messages where we are in danger of missing the basics: ie, wash your hands (an obvious precaution) and social distancing (which we know works because of the significant drop in infection rate after its introduction). Almost everything else is detail and it would be a pity if the basic messages got lost in it.