Different views of the same pandemic

I read a blog this morning that spoke directly to what is currently worrying me – one company, two offices, two vastly different pandemic behaviours.

I live in the south of England. Read golden sand beaches and warm(ish) water. So when we encounter a “heat wave” by English standards, the beaches are crowded by large groups seeking to party, hang out with friends, and generally reek destruction. The council struggles with the amount of rubbish being scattered, the number of cars parked illegally, and the complete and utter lack of respect for anyone trying to follow the social distancing rules.

The papers report that the majority of beach goers are from London or Birmingham, a 6-hour round trip from here. The Emergency Department is full of sunburnt idiots after beach scuffles. What does this mean? All of them have to be treated as COVID cases due to raised temperatures, most likely due to dehydration and sunstroke.

Most of my colleagues and fellow volunteers are staying home, ignoring the loosening of lockdown rules, and continuing to behave as if they could get the virus at any time. The locals are avoiding the beaches that their tax pounds are paying to have cleaned every morning before the hordes descend. Each time I have I have been to the beach to swim, I have chosen to go after dinner, as the sun is setting, and even then it is full of partiers and drunken hubbub, sunburnt bodies gleaning in the setting sun.

I struggle to comprehend that so many people think so little of the people around them, think so much of themselves, that they do not see the problems that they are causing. A £35 parking ticket is worth it for a day on the beach with 50 of their closest friends.

Teachers are scared, they have to go back into schools with their bubbles, and I follow every rule that the school puts in place – no touching of any item, only observing children outside during playtimes, face masks, hand sanitiser, no entering into any other class bubble. I am just as anxious as the schools, but I know that they need answers and help with their children, so I will break out of my own safe bubble and enter into theirs for a couple hours a week. All while there are people out there who are happily risking the lives of everybody around them by simply not staying away from each other and choosing parties over safety.

Bars open this weekend. I am expecting carnage. Already a city has been put back into full lockdown. We are a ticking time bomb, just in time for the summer holidays that will bring more crowds and more hysteria.