//You want to wander around unmasked handling goods?//
Yes. It’s what people do.
//I care about the small shops.//
And yet you seem to support a scheme which closes many of them down (some, undoubtedly, not to reopen).
//Unlike you I'm not going to buy my knickers and socks from stores that have billions behind them//
Lucky old you. Many people – especially those who don’t live in villages – have nowhere other than such outlets to buy their clothes.
//But if folk want to browse the food aisles then of course they will. Not everyone has the sense they were born with.//
I would be interested to hear what percentage of infections shops are responsible for. If it’s anything like those arising from hospitality outlets (which are being treated as plague pits, despite being the source of only around 5% of infections) then the restrictions you mention are virtually pointless.
// I thought we were talking about a few days/weeks here.//
Until 9th November comes, that is. Then you will find the 17 days is insufficient (because as sure as night follows day, even if the lockdown was effective, the results will not have been apparent by then).
I’m afraid this business is becoming an episode of mass hysteria stirred up by (in the UK’s case) four governments. That’s far more worrying than the virus which, for the vast majority of people who contract it, will cause them no serious symptoms.