19th July Lockdown Easing - Observations and Compliance

[LAX54]

Walking around Colchester this morning, (20th) there are still a few shops that have one way systems, maximum 3 / 4 /5 people in store at once, with at least one or two maintaining a 2 metre rule, and ''wait outside' the store to be called in

 

[takno]

Someone needs to ask St Nicola a few questions.

• Why is it OK to fly into Scotland without any form of social distancing? You can sit next to a total stranger, you are in a situation with a higher number of people per square meter
• It is guidance not mandatory on Scotrail, why is it OK for a Scotrail service to turn up at station x and continue to pick up passengers (to the point it is standing) but not an Inter-City service.
• If say the 1000 Edinburgh - London is cancelled is per preference that passengers should wait until they have socially distanced space on the next service (which could be late in the evening as most of the following services will probably already be reserved)

I have no problem with LNER only reserving window seats for journeys that go into Scotland as long as people understand that between Newcastle and London the train could be full (As they seem to accept with air travel). But I suspect even the most hardened SNP supporter would rather get from A-B on a "full" train rather than wait hours for an empty one just like they do in Scotland.

The key is here, they are making a big deal about it



The operators should robustly go back and say they are operating the same way as Scotrail. (They could also highlight the reason their services are so busy on Sunday and ask them if they want to stop operating on Sunday )

As far as I can see it's all just posturing. In order to placate the SNP, LNER may continue to make it slightly difficult to reserve a ticket to or within Scotland by putting a 50% cap on reservations north of the border, but most of what they appear to be agreeing to do is get the train managers to double up on pompous announcements. Scotrail allow people with open tickets to pile on to trains with very few controls, and I suspect LNER will do the same.

 

[seagull]

Observation at the Covid vaccination centre today: the "officials" taking registrations from the long queue of people stood in the blazing hot sunshine were insisting on everyone wearing masks immediately, even outside. I refused to wear mine until I went indoors, which didn't go down very well with the power-trippers, but when I said it's that or I go home and don't bother with the 2nd vaccination, they "softened their attitude".
They were rigorously enforcing the two-metre rule as well (outside).

 

[Huntergreed]

Observation at the Covid vaccination centre today: the "officials" taking registrations from the long queue of people stood in the blazing hot sunshine were insisting on everyone wearing masks immediately, even outside. I refused to wear mine until I went indoors, which didn't go down very well with the power-trippers, but when I said it's that or I go home and don't bother with the 2nd vaccination, they "softened their attitude".
They were rigorously enforcing the two-metre rule as well (outside).

And yet you could walk outside the vaccine centre, go to the pub across the street and gather there with the same people, maskless and packed in like sardines…

 

[island]

The operators should robustly go back and say they are operating the same way as Scotrail. (They could also highlight the reason their services are so busy on Sunday and ask them if they want to stop operating on Sunday )

Surely the “reasonably practicable” qualifier gives them a complete get-out?

 

[ABB125]

Far fewer people wearing masks today in Cornwall than yesterday in East Anglia. Though that may be to do with the weather...

 

[NorthOxonian]

Far fewer people wearing masks today in Cornwall than yesterday in East Anglia. Though that may be to do with the weather...

Probably a little, but there might be more to it. Polls have shown the South West to be consistently quite anti-restriction, and I've always found it to be a region where people "live and let live" more than elsewhere, so there may be less social pressure.

Polls have also generally shown the North East to be more opposed to masks and other mandates, and certainly mask usage here seems to be lower than many places mentioned in the thread - so it does seem like the two are linked.

 

[RPI]

Probably a little, but there might be more to it. Polls have shown the South West to be consistently quite anti-restriction, and I've always found it to be a region where people "live and let live" more than elsewhere, so there may be less social pressure.

Polls have also generally shown the North East to be more opposed to masks and other mandates, and certainly mask usage here seems to be lower than many places mentioned in the thread - so it does seem like the two are linked.

I live in the Southwest (East Devon) and its interesting that if compliance is low down here then initially we had some of the lowest rates in the UK for most of the pandemic, questions whether the restrictions work!

 

[Failed Unit]

I live in the Southwest (East Devon) and its interesting that if compliance is low down here then initially we had some of the lowest rates in the UK for most of the pandemic, questions whether the restrictions work!

Lower population density I suspect, if it is anything like Lincolnshire they will be firmly blaming the tourists if it does spike. Lincolnshire was hit by a peak last September, coastal regions heavily impacted, which was quick to be blamed on the tourists (bite the hand that feeds them). I see Cornwall spiked after the G7.

But I assume if I test positive in away from home, it gets recorded against the place I was tested. In Devon / Cornwall that would soon push the cases per 100k population to silly levels simply because it is recorded against the registered population rather than the tourist population.

 

[Grecian 1998]

As I've said rather flippantly before, the SW is full of people who moved to 'get away from it all' i.e. other people. Many of them don't get on with born and bred locals. Some people in the SW did social distancing long before it was ever named...

Other factors which appear to assist the SW are the relative lack of indoor industry to act as a spreader, and the fact the economy relies a lot on outdoor tourism, much of it not group based.

Back OT, cursory glances around Bristol last night indicated that mask wearing indoors still seems to be fairly high despite the hot weather. Not many signs setting rules though.

 

[martin2345uk]

ASDA in Chelmsford at 10:30 this morning, genuinely surprised to see almost 100% of customers in masks, and about 50% of staff

 

[jumble]

Chiltern Railways on board announcements still saying that you must wear a face covering over nose and mouth “fines and exemptions apply,” and “keep your distance” signage still present on board. At Marylebone the stupid one way system still in force and was still being ignored by most customers who took the most direct route to the Bakerloo line. The digital screen at Marylebone also said that you MUST (in capital letters) wear a face covering.

Jubilee train window stickers today still claims you can be fined if you dont wear a mask.

 

[Jamiescott1]

Tesco in town centre (2 floors, large store) had security on the front door limiting the number of people allowed in the store.
Sainsburys 3 minutes away have removed all screens and separate entrance and exit

 

[Mintona]

Would say it was around 60/40 in favour of masks on the train I was on this morning.

 

[Mojo]

Tesco in town centre (2 floors, large store) had security on the front door limiting the number of people allowed in the store.
Sainsburys 3 minutes away have removed all screens and separate entrance and exit

I seem to recall that Tesco’s said that they would retain the instore limits. Not sure if any other shops have said they will do this, even Waitrose who local to me were the strictest, emailed to stay instore limits are scrapped. Not surprising really given that in the past year they have invested in the red and green lights, and automatic person counting system. Not sure I’ve seen this in any other big shops except Aldi’s and Co-Op’s.

 

[jkkne]

Can't blame the supermarkets for keeping the screens etc up to an extent. They are operationally a pain to procure, setup and install.

There's bound to be a winter spiked u-turn in the Autumn or Winter

 

[WelshBluebird]

Can't blame the supermarkets for keeping the screens etc up to an extent. They are operationally a pain to procure, setup and install.

Its also worth pointing out that, and this applies for public transport and other places too, removing signs etc and reprogramming automated announcements are probably fairly low on the priority list of what those companies actually have to get done. Especially with staff shortages at the moment, I suspect a few of the cases of signs not being taken down or announcements being wrong is simply that they haven't had the chance to sort it out yet.

 

[bramling]

Can't blame the supermarkets for keeping the screens etc up to an extent. They are operationally a pain to procure, setup and install.

There's bound to be a winter spiked u-turn in the Autumn or Winter

One would really expect the screens to stay. In most cases they aren’t massively intrusive, so best keep them until such time as they really definitely aren’t needed.

 

[_toommm_]

I seem to recall that Tesco’s said that they would retain the instore limits. Not sure if any other shops have said they will do this, even Waitrose who local to me were the strictest, emailed to stay instore limits are scrapped. Not surprising really given that in the past year they have invested in the red and green lights, and automatic person counting system. Not sure I’ve seen this in any other big shops except Aldi’s and Co-Op’s.

John Lewis Partnership is keeping screens and hand san until January at the earliest.

 

[kingston_toon]

Northern line around 12:00 today was 80% masked on the train, but very few had them on while waiting for the train on the (open) platform. Thameslink through the core was lower, around 60% masked, and I at noted at least two people boarding masked, looking around, seeing others nearby unmasked and taking theirs off. I didn't see any Thameslink staff wearing masks at all.

Only one member of staff was masked in a Co-op I used in Central London. Customers around 50%.

 

[ExRes]

Went into Currys and Tesco (superstore) this afternoon, all staff in Currys masked 50/50 customers, in Tesco one security guard and six staff, including tills, no masks, more customers masked than not, ages were right through the spectrum, some obviously 20ish wearing masks, some obviously 60ish not

 

[Mojo]

John Lewis Partnership is keeping screens and hand san until January at the earliest.

I was talking about limitations on customer numbers.

 

[MDB1images]

I suspect the latest infection/death rates has more to do with mask use indoors(Transport/shops) since the legal stance went, probably dictates mask use more than people being in either a pro or anti mask camp does.

 

[Failed Unit]

I suspect the latest infection/death rates has more to do with mask use indoors(Transport/shops) since the legal stance went, probably dictates mask use more than people being in either a pro or anti mask camp does.

A lot has changed at ones. I suspect the mask debate will get the most column inches. But spreading will be down more to other things such as pubs / clubs. That said if the rate doesn’t spike next week all bets are off. I can see how the Euro final May have spiked things with people gathering in homes to watch it. But like any science experiment, change lots of parameters at once you have no idea which one had the impact on the outcome.

one thing is for sure it will be next week before any changes can be seen in the numbers from Yesterday.

 

[Busaholic]

Observations from Penzance today.

Tesco about 85% customers masked, only saw one staff member unmasked out of about a dozen. Costa Coffee, one out of five staff unmasked when dealing with customers, but others pulled them down or took them off when taking a breather(!) Customers, about 60% masked, but skewed by a group of Eastern Europeans both unmasked and paying no regard to even old-style social distancing!

 

[Ianno87]

Just got challenged in my local Spar by another customer for wearing a mask.

Male customer* (unmasked) chatting to lady on till. The lady says "I've never worn a mask, and I've never got ill**"

Male customer (to me): "Why are you still wearing a mask"
Me: "The pandemic isn't over yet"
Him: "But why when you don't have to?"
Me: "Because it's no hassle"
Him: "Does wearing it not stress you out?"
Me: "Well no, not really"

He literally couldn't walk out of the shop fast enough, tail between legs, after thinking he was being dead manly..

Is this the new form of mask-tivism?


*Not the sort of person you'd want to encounter on a Street late at night. Also looked like he didn't wash very often, and could easily have me in a fight

**Obviously missing the point somewhat, but let's leave that for now.

 

[Class 33]

In Poundland, there's a big notice on the window saying something along the lines of "The pandemic is still not over. Please help us by wearing a face mask and keeping your distance.". And there's PA announcements going off mentioning "Please help us by wearing a face mask and keeping your distance. We're still in this together.". God, I'm fed up of hearing things like that! These announcements shouldn't exist now! Time to move on from all that now. Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy that face mask and social distancing restrictions are finally finally scrapped. Life is so much better without all that unnecessary nonsense we had to put up with for months and months and months. But just a shame that some shops/venues don't really seem to want to let go of these restrictions yet and still having announcements and signs like this in their stores/venues.

There was about 70% of people wearing face masks when I was in that Poundland earlier. And I noticed one woman customer looking at me like a bit of dirt as I was not wearing a face mask. I don't like this sort of attitude towards those of us who choose not to wear a face mask. Anyone else here noticed anything like this?

 

[MrTurbostar170]

Northern guard announced that you should be wearing a mask unless exempt earlier today, also seen similar stories on twitter, to which the response is "staff may not be aware of the changes" which is hard to believe.

Good amount of people not wearing masks on Merseyrail.

 

[Skimpot flyer]

On a London Overground service this evening, I looked around and counted (spread over 2 carriages I could see)
14 unmasked (self included
22 masked

Surprising, given that those who only wear them in fear of being fined would, you might think, be as reluctant to go naked this week as they were last week?

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I nipped out for milk this evening ( at around 18.45 ) to a Little Tesco. About ten customers in the shop, including myself. Only two of them were masked. Half the staff had also removed their masks.