I attempted to go into a Costco (large warehouse-style bulk retailer) this summer, and even though it was not crowded by coronavirus standards, it was unnerving. Too many people not quite distancing enough, even with masls, people wearing their mask below their nose, etc. I failed a morale check and routed, leaving the brisket in the freezer.
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To me it looks more and more like the government has over exaggerated this variant to absolve them from blame for the expected huge second wave hitting at Christmas time.
With the consequences blowing up in their face.
It felt like I went out on a limb concerned about lack of evidence (correlation vs causation) but increasingly there seems more and more questions (variant decreasing or staying level in some regions, detection in other countries months ago).
What a clusterfuck the UK is at the moment. Mishandling, erosion of trust, corruption, deteriorating international relations.
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On the other hand - given a choice between a more infectious mutation or the UK government exaggerating for political reasons - I’d probably choose the latter option.
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For me mask wearing is a nice reminder that I’m entering a public place and that I need to be vigilant. It reminds me to not touch anything unless absolutely necessary, being careful how I open doors, and careful about my proximity to other people. The simple act of putting my mask on, off, on, off reminds me of all that.
I can also sort of understand the line of thinking if someone wears a mask all day long, they could easily forget about being careful about all the other precautions they should be taking. But then if someone is wearing a mask all day it seems like they are out in the public all day when likely they shouldn’t be. I think in this case the problem is not so much the mask wearing but then not following all the other guidelines.
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The content we’ve all been waiting for 
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I have recently had to spend 3 hours wearing mask, visor, disposable gown and gloves while trying to do something. I genuinely don’t know how healthcare workers can do it day after day.
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Yeah, this is kind of the behaviour I am pointing to which worries me a bit. I see it a lot from the US in particular. I do think it is a psychological problem really. I know this was the reason why our government was very skeptical for a long time concerning advising people to use masks, since at that time, the R rate was pretty low here and most everyone followed Social Distancing rules etc. (they also worried about shortage for hospitals in the beginning)The worry was of course that people would behave differently if they got told to wear them.
I think we have done it in a relatively logical way here. Where many congregate, masks are now mandatory (airports, collective transport in cities in general), but the government has never stopped stressing social distancing and that we are supposed to keep minimum 1 meter distance to absolutely everyone but close kin, and preferably 2 meters. In a way this has worked out for us, since we are so drilled at social distancing (relatively speaking), so I have seen little “bad mask usage” in Oslo and elsewhere other than the odd person.
But as long as our R rate is so minuscule, there probably isn’t that great a point in making it state-wide. People do not respect the law/norms if they think it is downright unnecessary and stupid. It is better with regional restrictions where the R rate his higher, and then the rest of us can socially distance away this pandemic (note: I am speaking only for us, and our country is not like in mainland Europe, but mountainous, fjord-ridden and demographically very different).
Anyway, got to admit. I miss the small things. I miss the tiny things, like shaking hands with a friend and such. I met a girl in a grocery shop in another town the other day, we went in the same class in college together for a long time and I kind of wanted to give her a hug and she kind of wanted to give me a hug, and then we had the most awkward elbow greeting ever ! 
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I just looked at the FT website for the latest case and death curves for the UK and US. First time I’ce done that in a little while.
And all of a sudden from out of no where @SBYM makes an appearance.
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So, can someone explain how this has all been exaggerated for political purposes? Seems a silly thing to do given the £ is nosediving again, and that would of course have been a reasonable expectation.
And this UK government would never do anything that harms its economy…
Sorry, couldn’t resist.
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One argument is that rather than being blamed for mishandling the epidemic, a new strain could be blamed for the rapid increase in cases.
Then by extention the wider hit from the falling £ and border closures can be the result of either not foreseeing that would happen or that it would happen anyway due to brexit…
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But there is a new strain?
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Claiming its new, more serious, and therefore nothing they could do to to defend the UK from everything that’s going on with closures etc. it gave them an excuse for locking down London and cancelling Christmas, something they promised that they wouldn’t do.
I think it’s largely backfired. No one believes them anymore and the rest of the world has seemingly lost patience.
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Depends on your level of trust in the government 
This second wave is a failure of policy, track and trace and control. A new variant shifts blame from government to a biological event the government could not reasonably account for. It’s not their fault for cancelling Christmas.
I am hesitant to take it a step further and say they wanted the chaos now to shift blame from Brexit. But I do have my fears the government could act in this way.
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Yes its easy to see a conflation with brexit and spin doctoring on economy; but every source I have checked indicates the strain is real. The UK even submitted a report to the WHO. If true, there is no strain, this is infinitely dark, the darkest since WMD sexed up.
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I think the question is not whether the strain is real but whether the claims about it being a lot more infectious are correct.
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Thanks, at last an answer. Do we have any evidence that claims about increased infectiousness are incorrect?
Since masks became available in our country, I’ve experienced countless situations, either in the streets or in stores, supermarkets, postal buildings, banks, where people literally came up 10 cm next to me, despite of all the recommendations to keep distance. Often elderly people, or young ones. First I reacted and tried to educate them when it happened. Now, I just back off quickly, I can’t be bothered anymore.
Before people had to wear masks here, they were absolutely respecting social distancing. But it seems that they think they are safe with that bit of tissue on their muzzles, and have massively changed their behaviour. That’s why I haven’t been that surprised by the monstrous surge in new cases we’ve experienced over the last six weeks or so.
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