I am ashamed of my fellow countrymen

People in the UK have to start taking this coronavirus seriously. It has the potential to kill millions of people worldwide unless it is stopped in its tracks. You only need to read reports from people who have suffered from the virus and reports from doctors who are treating patients with the disease to know how horrible and painful it can be. In the worst cases, when death comes it is probably a mercy. In even the mildest cases, it is something that people will never forget.

Boris Johnson advised people to stay away from pubs, clubs, theatres etc and what happened? They ignored him, even his own father said he'd still be going for his pint of beer thank you very much.

Then the Prime Minister told people that pubs etc would be closed but they could still go out and get some fresh air and exercise.  In fact, he positively encouraged them to go out for the sake of their mental and physical wellbeing. However,  he advised them to maintain a social distance of 2 metres. When he was asked, "how would you maintain social distance between a group of 5 year old children?", he had no answer.

Well, Brits certainly did go out over the weekend, in great numbers. There were so many people in popular places like markets, the seaside etc, it would have been impossible for them to stay 2m apart but actually, they didn't seem to care how far they were apart. It was almost like they were sticking two fingers up to the Prime Minister and his advisers. The fact that they felt well and had no symtoms did not mean that they were not carrying the virus on them ready to infect as many people as they met. Clearly, the message is not getting through - probably because it is not strong enough.

Pam spoke to her best friend from schooldays yesterday. She said that the beaches in North Norwich were crowded with people. They were going to take the dog for a walk but would chose what they thought would be a quiet lane. I hope they managed to find somewhere secluded but from reports in the papers, I doubt they would be so lucky.

Worse than that all that though, there is a report in the Independent of large crowds of youths coughing and spitting at frontline emergency workers dealing with a serious incident on Saturday night in West Yorkshire. After the coughing and spitting, motorbike riders came along and threw eggs at the police who were dealing with the incident. The youths were attacking the very people who are attempting to protect  them and their lives, the ones they will rely on to keep them safe when things get worse as they surely will.

The British only need to look at Italy and what happened there. People in Italy thought that Covid-19 was just like a normal winter flu and so carried on with their normal lives. They were advised to stay in, to maintain social distancing but like the Brits, they chose to ignore that advice.

On March 5th the death toll in Italy rose by over 50% and so the authorities decided it was time to take a stronger stance and impose control. As the lockdown set in, over the course of a week police charged more than 40,000 citizens for flouting the quarantine rules.

Even if Boris decides to impose control by law, the same will likely happen in Britain. People will continue to ignore him and put more lives at risk. Like the Italians, the British people know best.

Folks, it is not about saving the National Health Service as Boris keeps telling us, it is about saving the lives of our friends and family - sparing them from this horrible disease that won't go away until we stop it. I hope and believe that we can beat this terrible virus but not if we keep sticking our fingers up and burying our heads in the sand.