Pokemon Go keeps cranking out events and even more to catch, but you probably shouldn't leave your house to play it. Police in a district in Rochford, which is located near Southend in Essex, called out players in a now-deleted social media post. In the post, they mention mostly 30-year-old men who were venturing out and playing the popular mobile game.
This is what the post said before it was deleted, courtesy of Southend Standard:
Whilst patrolling, our community policing team have had cause to speak with a number of different men aged 30+ over the last week, who seemed to feel it is acceptable to attend certain public places within the district, to hunt Pokémon.
Honestly, yes, you did read that correctly.
If that happens to be someone you know, please remind them of the following information shared by our partners at Rochford District Council.
As many are no doubt aware, the UK is in the midst of dealing with a new strain of COVID-19. As a result of that stricter lockdown measures were put in place. Residents were asked to only venture outside for exercise and essential reasons. Apparently, police in Rochford did not feel Pokemon Go is an essential reason and wanted to remind the public of that.
The post got a mixed response from the public and spread online rapidly. Readers pointed out that these players didn't really violate any restrictions, and were actually outside getting exercise and just happened to be playing Pokemon Go. Niantic, for its part, has always stated in every new update for the public to follow local health and safety guidelines. At least they are being responsible.
While Pokemon Go has always been a social game since it debuted, COVID has changed that with social distancing measures and people being discouraged from gathering to take part in raids. The game made almost $2 billion in 2020 despite challenges from the pandemic.
The game has a community day event coming up featuring Machop and of course, the Kanto Tour. Some in the UK especially are now re-thinking if they will even go outside to participate or simply sit those out. The other side of that argument is that if people are just heading outside alone to exercise while playing the game, they are respecting local health guidelines.
No matter which way you look at it, COVID is still affecting everything in 2021 - including catching them all.
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Source: Southend Standard