Shielding chat continues - thread 2

[AuntieSocia1]

Shiny new thread for anyone shielding.

You can vent/moan/cry/chat/lurk whatever you need.

I am in England the letter says the same about gardens.

My best friend is medical (but on mat leave) and my partner (dont live together) is a statistician. Both of them think it isn't safe for anything other than absolute essentials and are continuing their own lockdown conditions despite neither having any health issues/or anyone they live with having any.

If that's how they feel then I trust their knowledge and interpretation of things and will not be leaving.

@SuncreamInTheWinter this is from my letter under the heading of looking after my mental health:

"• try spending time with the windows open to let in fresh air, arranging space to sit and see a nice view (if possible) and get some natural sunlight. Get out into the garden or sit on your doorstep if you can, keeping a distance of at least 2 metres from others."

I am a single mum of 3 and my 3dc are not going out so they've not needed to stay away from me. The last time we went out was the 14th March. They haven't left our property since. My neighbours annoy me by being close to the adjoining fence with visitors. We moved if they go outside. They have been out and about every single day several times and had visitors overnight and for bbqs. The guy (single dad with 40:60 custody) isn't working as he's furloughed so it's not like he's going to work several times a day. He could be in contact with all and sundry for all I know so we are keeping away from the fence. Yes, I am a curtain twitcher but his car is right outside our front window so we can't really miss the visitors and trips out. He's often out overnight too. I live in a very quiet and small street of less than 10 houses and gazing out of the window has become a full time hobby as it's my only glimpse of life in the outside world

Oh. I'm in England. Forgot to say. I am so grateful for our garden even though it's only small. I feel so sorry for those without a garden.

I've changed names a few times in the last few weeks. Each and everyone of my comments have been ignored. Much like me in society.

Comments on where @Swishtail ?

That's just how threads go sometimes unfortunately. So fast moving no one can reply to everyone. Can only see one under this name on shielding chat stuff. It's not personal- which should be proven to you by fact it's happened under diff names.

Sometimes if you @ someone else and ask them stuff /reply to what they have said and then at bottom add your thoughts etc as well then can catch peoples eye more to engage? Maybe worth a try if it is happening a lot. Def not personal.

I get what you mean about bbq and being frustrated. I'm happy not to do it for now but it's a slap in the face when they do it but dont keep the rules (imo anyway)

@Swishtail

it does seem weird that its been publicised tonight so late on

Timed so it can make the front pages of the Sunday papers (and keep Dominic Cummings off).

I’m so sick of decisions being made for political/popularity reasons rather than based on safety and known facts and figures.

@Swishtail it happens to us all I think. It’s just really hard to acknowledge everyone’s comments when things are moving quickly. Please do keep posting.

My best friend is medical (but on mat leave) and my partner (dont live together) is a statistician. Both of them think it isn't safe for anything other than absolute essentials and are continuing their own lockdown conditions

I’m going to wait until the daily reported deaths are lower than when we went into lockdown in the first place before I even think about going outside.

In fact I’m not really going to consider it safe to go out until the Queen emerges from isolation in Windsor castle.

My medical team told me right at the outset (as I had an appointment in the fiat week of shield) that for me, going outside to exercise daily was not an undue rusk, as long as rigidly distanced and one recommended early morning just in case it later proved to aerosolise more easily than believed (so much then unknown about it)

It is weird for BBC to be running the article early, at 10pm the day before announcement and in an article which then goes on to talk about the views of scientists who think wading restrictions might be premature

Also v pissed off that it contained this line ‘not all the elderly are shielding’. No, neither are all of any other age bracket, or all the pregnant. It’s not a category defined by age , and I expected better of the Beeb

If they really needed to say it at all (it was, weirdly) in a single sentence paragraphs, they could have said ‘Those shielding can be any age because it is based on underlying medical conditions’

It does feel very much like a "give them a ittle something to keep them quiet" move. We've been going out for a walk about 4 times a week for the past two weeks, but we are fortunate to live rurally and if we avoid the village we rarely see anyone at all. Having been in our house ( and garden, thank goodness for the garden) since March 10th our mental well being was being badly affected. We live in the area of highest R rate, so will be continuing to avoid people for the foreseeable.

I love the cute piggy picture. Gorgeous!

I'm another that adds to concerns that it's suddenly ' Hey ho , let's allow everyone outside ' I am shielding with my dh due to his various conditions. We isolated at the beginning of this as our own decision and then he received his letter.
We don't live near family and our friends also fell into the shielding group so having access to food deliveries and medication delivered has been a real help as the thought of having to shop is terrifying.
We fully intend to carry on as we are as we live in a high virus area ( Cumbria )

Morning everyone. Anyone else have a sleepless night? Been awake since stupid o’clock just thinking. Churning it over and over. And bloody coughing because asthma is awful. I don’t know why I feel so unsettled by the 10pm bolt from the blue because if it’s not safe, I won’t go out, but I do feel unsettled by it. A lot. Desperate to hear what they’ve got to say about us today.

It's a bit slapdash to announce that late at night! I'm seriously miffed that's our advice isn't coming from our specialist centres, we've had nothing from them at all since A letter that came at the same time as the shielding one.

I will watch the press conference and see what they say, we're a family of 6 so we can't go our with just one other member unless we run relays with the kids.
The only thing that might benefit any of us is that DH will probably jump at the chance to walk around the block at 5am every morning, he's struggling without exercise the most at the moment.

Any other time of the day there will be too many people any of the local walking spots are reported to be heaving.

I don't know how they can just decide to change things like this anyway, it's gone from June 30th no goi g outside the boundaries of your home to suddenly go out, just keep your distance.

It will muddy the waters, we'll be called lazy and work shy, gullible sheep etc etc now by those who are free to go out and have been for the duration, if we decide we don't trust the government and decide to stay in which I think many will.

Bit of silly humour...maybe they thought "hmm if we let all the people with respiratory conditions out and they cough lots and lots when out it might scare everyone else to go back in?"

To be fair that level of thought actually would have more logic than some decisions

(Disclaimer- I know people are shielding for lots of reasons not just resp!)

I am infuriated by use of the word "allowed" and Boris Johnson also using the word "captivity" in the press conference - perhaps he was trying to be light hearted but read the fucking room I don't think any of us are in the mood for shit jokes about this.

And, I swear to God the next time someone airily says "well it's only guidance you can choose to go out" I am going to lose my shit.

I don't comment on stuff I have no personal experience and understanding of (for example on MN step parenting or owning dogs and they are less contentious and awful than this) so why other people feel it's appropriate, or wanted, I don't know.

Unless you have received the letter/advice we did and live with a condition that means we needed to receive the letter, you have no fucking clue. A lot of shielded people live with life limiting conditions - how on earth do people think they can know what this feels like and are qualified to make pronouncements and give unwanted advice? Especially for those shielding children, I can only imagine what that feels like as I'm not in the situation despite shielding myself.

I said on another thread you wouldn't say to someone in RL "well of course you can choose to go out, nothing is stopping you except the very high risk of death if you catch it" which is what you are saying when you say "you can choose". It's minimising and belittling and shows a complete lack of understanding. I wish people would think about this before they speak.

"hmm if we let all the people with respiratory conditions out and they cough lots and lots when out it might scare everyone else to go back in?"
This just cracked me up (and made me cough more 😂). I was doing my usual asthma coughing in the garden yesterday. Normally try and keep it down because, you know, corona. But then neighbours had a big group of friends rock up. I may have ramped it up to try and frighten them off 😂.

@SuncreamInTheWinter that was an unfortunate cross post I meant I'm not in the mood for Boris Johnson making shit jokes, you being lighthearted about our own circumstances is fine. Awks.

PS I considered saying The Doghouse actually is as contentious and liable to fights as this issue is but decided against it. But I'll say it now

@TitsalinaBumSquash, that's my worry. I'm not in work at the moment - school - but I absolutely love my job. I can't wait to get back to the children but I will wait until it's safe and that's not yet. I'm not work shy but worry that others will think I'm lazy. The thought of being in a confined space with 15 children, some of them key worker children, fills me with dread. All we hear is everyone needs to get back to work. This is obviously one step closer.

And I've posted on the wrong fucking thread I need more sleep. Ignore me this wasn't where I meant to rant, obvs

Hi all, I have been lurking and occasionally posting on various shielding threads 👋

DS (3) and DH are both on the shielding list, although for different reasons. Neither have been out since 21 March except for hospital appointments for DH.

Very interested to see that the guidance will be shifting, which is what I expected. As the restrictions for the 'normies' gets stepped down it makes sense that we would do the same. Not saying that it is science-led or anything like that! Just that it makes sense from a policy perspective.

Can anybody send me a link to the information you are using to access your local R rate? This is the kind of data that DH (who is an analyst) will need to assess the risk.

Many thanks in advance!

@MyEyesightIsBadLetsGoForADrive oh yes the smug "well no one is forcing you to shield" as if we're all doing this for fun times. Those people need a good hard shake.

I think we kicked up a fuss so the big charities wrote that letter and now the government has decided to throw us a bone, but it will be our fault if we decide to take it and get sick, very much like the be alert crap they've said to everyone else.

Shielding is such a huge umbrella of people with different severity of needs and conditions, I think the first step should have been re grouping and letting professionals judge who this applies too.

They are talking about this on BBC now. Again saying it was only 'advice' all along...

Advice yeah? But for a bloody good reason!