06-14-2020, 10:45 AM
(06-11-2020, 01:31 AM)Okokok Wrote: I live on county line. One county masks are mandatory other one they are not, I shop in the mandatory one because everyone wears them. Now that the focus hasn’t been covid 24/7 on the news people act like it’s over and aren’t wearing masks or social distancing. I can’t imagine what the numbers of new cases will be in 2 weeks after all the protests. Here people are mostly wearing mask for protests but not practicing social distance because how can you in a protest.
Being on the line must produce some weird situations for you, like with the masks! Sounds sensible to go where people are wearing masks.
Anyway the UK government was very noncommittal about masks, saying there was a lack of evidence they protect you. Then that shifted to "probably better than nothing if you are inside". Now they are advising masks, and from Monday they will be required for public transport. The emphasis has shifted from protecting yourself, to protecting those you come into contact with.
In a wider sense the UK government have massively screwed up managing this pandemic, especially given that Italy was warning us and the government didn't listen. One of their scientific advisers has just said that if the lockdown had started just 1 week earlier there would have been half as many deaths. I know there is an element of hindsight, but there were people arguing for an earlier lockdown at the time. Indeed I did my own personal lockdown starting about 10 days before the official one.
Back to the masks... I think two things happened. Firstly UK gov emergency planning had been for a 'flu pandemic, so when it was a coronavirus they weren't prepared. Secondly they'd tried to save money and so the national emergency stash of masks and other protective gear was pitiful. I suspect they were desperate to buy up all masks available for the NHS (to protect doctors, nurses, etc) and really didn't want the general public buying them. Remember at that point people were panic buying toilet paper, and hand gel was like gold dust! The most positive view I can take of the UK government's actions is that they lied about masks to try and keep them for clinical use.
However they started out with very high compliance, people following the rules they'd been given. As things like the mask issue came to light the lies came apart. The result is trust in the government has plummeted. If there is a 2nd wave of C-19 in the winter, I don't think people will be anything like so compliant.
There have been BLM protests in the UK as well as USA. British people are used to police who don't carry guns and so a lot of American policing can appear aggressive. So that was the context in which the UK saw George Floyd being choked to death. People were horrified and generally perceived it as racist. So from that the BLM protests have actually been racially mixed - it's certainly not just PoC. The one I went to was nearly half White people. It was angry, but peaceful if that makes sense. The police stood back and let the protests go ahead. The one I attended had thousands of people but no arrests. People marched along several streets and there was a moderate amount of social distancing - no way was it the 2 metres we are being advised by government. I don't think I saw anyone without a mask, so I hope that and it being outdoors means there won't be too much transmission of the virus. Some people had organised and made masks for anyone who didn't have them, and there was free hand gel too. It seemed a sincere effort to be as safe and peaceful as possible.
Yesterday there was a backlash protest from neo-nazis and the very extreme far right. Not only was there violence and rioting, but it led to the surreal sight of men wearing swastikas giving a statue of Winston Churchill nazi salutes as a sign of respect!!! That made my brain melt.
Sorry, a rather long and unfocused post. However I hope it's interesting to hear how this is playing out in other countries.