Taking an essential walk, for medication, down the Old Kent Road today and you would not know anything was wrong. This is not a good thing. As Nicola Sturgeon said, "life should not feel normal" at the moment. For many it seems, apart from there being more free time, things carry on very much as though we are not in the middle of a global health crisis. Those walking in the middle of the pavement, or jogging there, just carry on when you try to move away from them; they may give you a 'look', but graciously accept that people are trying to stay safe at the moment. The thought it actually doesn't make much difference when others try to move away if they themselves don't keep their distance too, making it impossible to stay two metres from them, doesn't seem to occur. A bus stop is crowded with people, so many it would be a great surprise if they were all from the same household, so to stay two meters away from them too you need to dodge traffic. The road is filled - how much is really necessary is debatable. As is how much pollutants contribute to the virus spread. Refuse trucks and towel delivery, presumably for hospitals, seems understandable. Large scale building materials (for sites where workers are still called in) car washes, so many private vehicles, coughing cyclists - really? The cyclists have no helmet as is usually the case either; it's just apparently a time of less, not more, restrictions.
In Tesco supermarket, the queue outside is marked by 2 metre spacing and the security manage one in one out (though paths cross as this happens). But inside is different. Already coming into the place, past the groups scattered outside, it is necessary to go all the way round to the side entrance to keep contact to a minimum. But inside is the worst. The floor is again marked with 2 metre distance markers, but the aisles themselves are not wide enough, people are not kept to a single file, they turn corners and back round so so walk past anyone coming the other way, people wander about or stand in the middle including staff who must re-stock shelves and you have to squeeze past, so the so-called 'distancing measures' are useless, a bad joke this April Fools'.
The PM's 'advice' is not getting through. The economy won't be up to much, if this is all about protecting it, if there's no-one left to buy anything. At this rate, after today, it feels like we're heading for a massacre. God I hope I'm wrong, but somebody needs to get a grip. A priority should be to close all stores, and concentrate all resources on home deliveries - good luck booking one of those. Perhaps smaller stores could stay open. At least there must be stronger controls over what is happening in shops - Aldi seem to have it sorted, only a few in at a time, so it can be done (UPDATE 3/4/2020: no they do not. Iceland seem the only place to have it sorted now - we'll see if this lasts UPDATE 27/4: Aldi much better now). Also we unfortunately need people to get the message that everything is not just 'alright'. This isn't about a police state, though that will come if things don't change, it's a heath emergency, and the things that need doing - helping others, being considerate, being aware - are still the preserve of the minority. The message has to be clearer and stronger. Is Johnson surreptitiously going ahead with the 'herd immunity' nonsense - because most scientists say this should happen when you have a vaccine, not before - trying to cull those who he'd claim didn't follow the rules so it's their own fault (even though those following the advice/rules may be at risk because of those flouting them)? Or is the advice the best, and we'll be grateful in the end? Nobody is sure it seems. Personal responsibility cannot be blamed if the message is weak but, at the same time, more people need to do what is clearly right, rather than putting others at risk as they do treating this as a long holiday. We need some sort of grass-roots campaign (don't we always at the moment, whatever that tells you) - #BeAware, #WakeUp, #Don'tBeSoBloodyStupid, or something. In the meantime...
No comments:
Post a Comment