To think that advice to walk for shielders is last minute and unhelpful?

[StayinginSummer]

My mother and friends are shielding, and have been really confused by the latest message to go out for a walk and see another person. I’m not a fan of the governments response overall, and I see this is another way too vague and ill thought out message.

Firstly - going out for a short walk on your own at a quiet time is a far lower risk than meeting up with another person not from your household. They have lumped it together as if it is the same thing.

Secondly - the people I know would love to get out, however many of them are elderly and this very last minute advice has put them on the back foot. The ones I have spoken to have been slowly for weeks putting in place strategies to cope with not going outside ever. Now they feel that staying in puts them in the position of being ‘overly cautious’ or now having to justify to others why they may not feel they can.

Shielders are one of our most vulnerable groups, and we again have let them down I think. They should have got a very, very clear set of messages, it could have been a short video, a leaflet - with options to go for a walk or meet another person - but clearly showing which was lower and greater risk, with advice on how to be as safe as possible.

They could also be clear to shielders that we do not have a robust contact and tracing system in place so any hotspots near them will not be clear until this is done.

[ChilliCheese123]

People are allowed to make decisions for themselves you know, they always have been

People who sit there waiting for exact ‘rules’ from the government baffles me. Use your own brain. Just because the advice has now changed, it doesn’t mean you have to do exactly what it says ?

[kirstinm]

@curtainsforme

You can't be serious? A video or a leaflet?

Shielding people are physically vulnerable, not idiots.

Thank you. I'm a 28 year old phd student who is shielding (though I do make my own assessments and go for walks etc). I've already received a letter from the local council telling me 'not to give out my credit card details' and 'don't answer the door to people I don't know.' A leaflet or a video telling me how to stay two metres away from people? No thanks.

[Nonnymum]

I don't understand why their alert system has changed. First they introduced it with a big fanfare saying it would make sure the right decisions were made at the right time. We were at 4 then and they said schools wouldn't go back and no loosening of social distance would be made until we were at 3.and I think shielded people would stay shielded until we were at 1. Now we are still at 4 and a lot of changes have been made. Also they used to show the alert slide at every conference now they don't show it at all.

[Panicbuying]

I think the current government approach is shambolic but I’m not an idiot and don’t need a special leaflet or lots of time to understand that I’m now being advised that I can go for a walk every day (and of course I could anyway, the shielding guidance has only ever been advisory- I have been out running first thing in the morning most days and rarely seen another human being)

[pinktaxi]

What's confusing about going for a walk and meeting family or friends at a 2 m distance?

[Coronabored]

My mom is shielding and will not go out just yet. She isn't an idiot, she can see the difference between advice and being told she has to do something. Nothing confusing at all about the message. Do your own risk assessment like the competent adults I hope you are.

[Mrsjayy]

The English alert system has changed to distract from the Dominic Cummings hoha imo t's just throwing glitter on a turd that is why it is "guidance" that people can follow or not.

[StayinginSummer]

So all of those saying that the advice is crystal clear and I’m patronizing, and everyone can make up their own minds.

Do you all know the difference between going for a walk on your own and meeting up with someone from another household?

Do you know the risk at present in your particular area?

Do you know which households are higher risk e.g. healthcare workers than others?

You have really good up to date information in order to make up your minds?

[ChilliCheese123]

@staying there’s a very easy to use facility on the bbc website which tells you the number of cases and deaths using your post code so yes I know exactly what’s going on here. Having several frontline nhs worker family members I ampretty up to date with everything.

I don’t think it takes a genius either to work out that Meeting someone from outside your household increases the risk of transmission; however that risk can be massively minimized by staying in the open air and practicing good social distancing. The virus is unlikely to jump 2+ meters outdoors and enter your respiratory system.


I think you’re conflating ‘shielding’ with ‘elderly’ (aka technophobic) they aren’t the same thing

[BogRollBOGOF]

Yes to all of those questions. It's not that hard to get hold of a local newspaper to find out local risks.

Some people arw more dettached from the media. DM is "shielding" due to her age and doesn't do technology and therefore only gets her news from the doom-mongering BBC and Daily Mail. She's sound of mind and these are her own choices. The government isn't turfing her out of the house or parachuting visitors into her garden. As a grown-up in her 80s, she can choose whether to take advantage of this relaxation.

The same way that some others who are shielding may have decided all along that the benefits of cautiously getting out have overridden the balance of health hazard.

[Panicbuying]

I know you mean well staying but asking if I know the difference between going for a walk on my own and meeting up with someone else sounds even more patronising to me I’m afraid- of course I do, I’ve had a transplant not a lobotomy. I have access to the same information everyone else does so I’m well aware of the shortcomings of our track and trace approach, current estimates of the R number etc- in face I imagine I probably know more about those things than many people as my main pastime these days seems to be reading papers in medical journals and poring over the news in the hope of finding some positive indications for people in my situation. Of course I’m scared of getting Covid, I’m an extremely fit and otherwise healthy 40 year old and I’m not ready to die yet- but I will have to continue making my own risk based judgements based on the information available to me as I have done all along.

[Kazzyhoward]

Shielding "advice" has always been just that - advice.

It's no safer to go out for a walk today as it was a month ago. Surely most people are intelligent enough to understand why they were advised to shield?

My OH is shielding and had an infection. The GP refused to come out and refused to issue a prescription without seeing him, so he had no option but to break shielding to go to the GP surgery. He's just been to the local hospital today - for an appointment that was booked a couple of weeks ago - the bookings clerk wouldn't have known they could go out today, so, again, breaking shielding was "allowed".

I'm starting to think all this Covid situation is making people unable to think for themselves.

[Is2020OverYet]

"I think you’re conflating ‘shielding’ with ‘elderly’ (aka technophobic) they aren’t the same thing"

I'm shielding, in my 40s and have a masters degree in Computer Science. The sudden change in advice is unsettling.

[curtainsforme]

*So all of those saying that the advice is crystal clear and I’m patronizing, and everyone can make up their own minds.
**
*Do you all know the difference between going for a walk on your own and meeting up with someone from another household

*Do you know the risk at present in your particular area?
**
*Do you know which households are higher risk e.g. healthcare workers than others?

You have really good up to date information in order to make up your minds?



OP, again, people are shielding based on their physical health, not because they are stupid.

They do not need to be spoon-fed any of the above.

[FourTeaFallOut]

It's no safer to go out for a walk today as it was a month ago. Surely most people are intelligent enough to understand why they were advised to shield?

Well, I think you are wrong. A month a go the spread of the virus was such that a far greater percentage of the population had coronavirus in the community then than they do today. And furthermore, better treatment options have been mapped out in that time. So, yes, I'm smart enough to understand that - even though I'm shielding 😁 thanks

[kirstinm]

@StayinginSummer

So all of those saying that the advice is crystal clear and I’m patronizing, and everyone can make up their own minds.

Do you all know the difference between going for a walk on your own and meeting up with someone from another household?

Do you know the risk at present in your particular area?

Do you know which households are higher risk e.g. healthcare workers than others?

You have really good up to date information in order to make up your minds?

Yes to all four questions (and have consulted with my doctors regarding my personal risk).

Your first question - are you really asking if we can manage to work out the difference between those two scenarios?!

[FrodoTheDodo]

Yes I know the answers to those questions 🙄

[iVampire]

DM is "shielding" due to her age

so not shielding - there are no age categories on the shield list.

Choosing to live in strict isolation because you are flu-jab vulnerable is not the same thing and it’s wrong to appropriate the terminology for a different group.

The government isn't turfing her out of the house or parachuting visitors into her garden

Not with this announcement, no. For as she is not in the shield group, so she will never have been advised by the government to stay at home

As a grown-up in her 80s, she can choose whether to take advantage of this relaxation

This relaxation does not apply to her, because the first restriction did not.

I know that sounds tetchy, but as other posters have noted, the assumption that the elderly are the most vulnerable is wrong.

[kirstinm]

Whoever said 'I've had a transplant not a lobotomy' thank you as I'm actually snorting with laughter..completely nailed the way that a lot of people see us at the moment!

[Coronabored]

I know. When did shielding become code word for total imbecile.

[Ze1tGeist]

i’m shielding (‘proper’ shielding on advice from the NHS and my GP, before anyone questions if it’s real shielding or not) and won’t be changing anything until it’s clear that a second peak isn’t on the cards.

i’ve been having a socially-distant coffee in the garden with the friend that collects my meds weekly, and i’ll carry on doing that. i won’t be going to Ikea tho.

the virus hasn’t gone away. the methods of transmission haven’t changed. today is Day 77 and it’s no different to Day 1. for the government to imply that the risks are somehow lower than they were yesterday may well come back to bite them on the arse. i’ll stay where i am until the science changes.

[Kazzyhoward]

A month a go the spread of the virus was such that a far greater percentage of the population had coronavirus in the community then than they do today.

A month ago, I could go out and have a walk for an hour or so and barely come across anyone else, and if I did, we'd leave the 2m clearance, so tiny risk of catching covid. Now, a month later, everywhere is crowded so you need to pass a lot more people, many of whom make no attempt to maintain 2m, especially joggers and cyclists, so the risk, whilst still small, is a lot higher.

[FourTeaFallOut]

That isn't true for where I live Kazzyhoward, if anything it is a little quieter but I live on a large housing estate so we haven't seen an increase in foot fall as people have returned to work.

[StayinginSummer]

Well well done @kirstinm and @FrodoTheDodo for knowing absolutely everything and being able to weigh up all the risks.

I take it you don’t care about anyone how genuinely doesn’t. Like my mother. And my other friends. They are totally confused and no they are not thick. Jeez this is not only about you and yours.


Do you know the rate in your area? The actual prevalence?

No because the data is not being given.

[StayinginSummer]

@Coronabored honestly shame on you. You just don’t give a shit that some shielders are totally confused by the latest advice. So what if it is crystal clear to you? Many people look to official advice to weigh up their risks and don’t feel in full possession of the facts in order to make a decision.

It doesn’t make them imbeciles or people ‘with a lobotomy’. Honestly that is so offensive to other shielders who are totally confused.