Aylesbury residents urged to stay home to save lives after busy weekend sees local sites packed with visitors

That is the urgent and stark message from the NHS, our Buckinghamshire MP's, Thames Valley Police and Buckinghamshire Councils as Aylesbury Vale and Buckinghamshire enters a vital 48 hours to help curb the spread of COVID-19.

On Monday Prime Minister Boris Johnson issued the toughest guidance yet and restricted people from leaving their homes.

People should now only leave their homes to:

Go shopping very infrequently for food

To carry out one form of exercise a day

For medical reasons or to care for someone who is vulnerable

In very certain circumstances to travel to or from work, if working from home is completely impossible

The measures will be in place for at least three weeks and will be enforced by the police.

A busy weekend across popular Aylesbury Vale sites saw local attractions such as Coombe Hill, local parks and Waddesdon Manor packed with local people as people continued life 'business as usual'.

One reader reported seeing about 50 children at the skatepark in Aylesbury on Sunday, and Wendover High Street was packed out on Saturday with many residents enjoying an open air market.

However, our Health Secretary Matt Hancock described those who didn't obey the social distancing guidance as 'selfish'. And their actions have no doubt led to these stricter 'lock down' measures.

Aylesbury's MP Rob Butler has said the situation has been really, really difficult - made worse by the fact that is was Mother's Day.

He said: "I know it's been really, really difficult not to go out, especially on Mothering Sunday. It's natural people want to see their friends and family.

"But it is extremely important.

"We need to stay at home to save lives, and only go out if it's absolutely essential, for example to go to work if it isn’t possible to work from home, or to go shopping for food or medicines.

"And if you do have to go out, it is vital to keep to the advice about social distancing.

"The rule is simple: stay at least two metres apart from anybody else. two metres is about 6ft 6in, or about the length of a bed.

"This can be the difference between life and death."

The consequences of not adhering to this can be stark, and puts many other people at risk, added Rob.

He continued: "People who don't comply with social distancing are putting everybody else at risk: the nurses and the doctors who are saving people's lives, the teachers who are caring for the children of our key workers, the supermarket staff who are making sure that the shelves are stocked so that we all have food to eat.

"People who don’t comply with social distancing are putting at risk their parents, their grandparents, everyone who's ill, everyone who is vulnerable.

"We are fighting an invisible killer and social distancing is one of our key weapons to beat it. I know it's hard, I know it's new, I know we're asking people to do something they've never been asked to do before, but if people don't do what they've been asked to do, the Prime Minister has been very clear.

"Stay at home. Stay home, save lives."

Our MPs in Buckinghamshire have also added their voices to the disbelief that people are not obeying social distancing laws.

In an open letter from all Buckinghamshire MPs, they have pleaded with the general public to heed government social distancing advice but this appears to have gone largely unheeded over the weekend.

The letter reads: "The best way to halt the virus is to stop it spreading, and the best way to do that is by social distancing.

"So if you possibly can, work from home, don’t mix with other people and wash your hands frequently with soap and water. If you’re especially vulnerable, please take very seriously the advice on shielding.

"If you’re young, please remember you can spread the virus too – so Stay Home, Stay Safe."

Thames Valley Police have also put out a call for people to stay home and observe social distancing rules and will enforce the latest clampdown.