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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To be confused and torn? Matt Hancock said one thing, Government website says another....

41 replies

Bluesheep8 · 08/08/2020 08:10

I'm in one of the locally 'locked down' areas. The one that was announced on Twitter at something past 9 2 weeks ago.
Matt Hancock was interviwed on BBC breakfast the following morning and clearly saud that residents in these areas CANNOT go to someone else's house or garden, or have anyone else in theirs. When questioned as to whether people could travel out of the area and go in someone else's house and garden, he said YES.
Conversely,The government website says we CAN'T go in a house or garden in another area. I'm torn about visiting family...WIBU to?

OP posts:

SueEllenMishke · 08/08/2020 09:35

*needs

LangClegsInSpace · 08/08/2020 11:14

Hat Mancock is wrong.

(a) no person may participate in a gathering in the protected area which consists of two or more persons and takes place in a private dwelling, including a houseboat;

(b) no person living in the protected area may participate in a gathering which consists of two or more persons and takes place in a private dwelling, including a houseboat, outside the protected area.

www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/828/regulation/5/made

(amended to include Preston: www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/846/made)

hatesomethinchangesomethin · 08/08/2020 12:05

Friend of mine went on holiday last week from Greater Manchester to the north east and has been out and about all week going literally everywhere.

Ginkypig · 08/08/2020 12:16

@Bluesheep8

Hancock clearly said not to meet in gardens in my area but can do so out of the area. Gov't website says we can't. So I'm now having an ongoing debate with family about it. I just want to do the right thing.

Well what do you think the right thing to do would be considering that your area has been designated an area with a higher prevalence of the virus?

Risk the chance of taking it to another area with you?

Deciding it's not worth the risk to others and staying within the area until restrictions are lifted?

SueEllenMishke · 08/08/2020 13:03

I live in the NW. there have been no cases in my ward for at least 28 days and the numbers before that were incredibly low....they were equivalent to 0.5% of the population at the peak and infections peaked in April.
I've been WFH for 4 months and have barely left my village.
We're going away to an area outside the NW on Monday. I really don't think we pose a risk to anyone. However, the benefits we will get from a break away will be immeasurable. Not to mention we'll be spending money which the economy sorely needs.

Starisnotanumber · 08/08/2020 13:34

Lady on our street is now sat on garden chair on pavement with her daughter on another chair a couple of metres away garden is not being used at all . Kids playing on bikes in the street.
We are in greater manchester appears to be within guidelines though but causing more problems as you have to go into road to get past them.

Original poster

Bluesheep8 · 09/08/2020 08:44

*Well what do you think the right thing to do would be considering that your area has been designated an area with a higher prevalence of the virus?

Risk the chance of taking it to another area with you?

Deciding it's not worth the risk to others and staying within the area until restrictions are lifted?*

Common sense would say the latter. But the government are saying that people can travel. And they are. 2 of my neighbours have been away during the last week and my parents town is full of visitors from locally locked down areas. It's absolutely ridiculous.

OP posts:

AllTheUserNamesAreTaken · 09/08/2020 08:58

Friend of mine went on holiday last week from Greater Manchester to the north east and has been out and about all week going literally everywhere.

The F&Qs on the gov website confirm she is allowed to do that

I’m in the affected area of GM and am going away for a few days in a couple of weeks. Assuming the same restrictions are still in place then I will be going.

I don’t see anything wrong with abiding by the rules but not going over and above them.

Original poster

Bluesheep8 · 09/08/2020 10:05

But what I'm saying is that the rules are stupid. If we're in local lockdown why are we allowed to travel? It defeats the whole object surely?
As I've said, the rules state that I can visit the seaside town where my parents live, go in and out of pubs all day long, but not sit in their garden

OP posts:

AllTheUserNamesAreTaken · 09/08/2020 10:08

Oh I entirely agree the rules are stupid

BYGIDAFY · 09/08/2020 10:10

@Bluesheep8

I'm in one of the locally 'locked down' areas. The one that was announced on Twitter at something past 9 2 weeks ago. Matt Hancock was interviwed on BBC breakfast the following morning and clearly saud that residents in these areas CANNOT go to someone else's house or garden, or have anyone else in theirs. When questioned as to whether people could travel out of the area and go in someone else's house and garden, he said YES. Conversely,The government website says we CAN'T go in a house or garden in another area. I'm torn about visiting family...WIBU to?

You can travel out of your area but you have to stay in a hotel. The guidance is really clear.

Original poster

Bluesheep8 · 09/08/2020 10:17

You can travel out of your area but you have to stay in a hotel. The guidance is really clear.

Yes I know it's "clear" I'm just saying that it's ludicrous. If there are an increase in cases in an area and it results in local lockdown, then lock it down. Properly.
Effectively, I and all other residents of locally locked down areas are allowed to go and spread it in another area.

OP posts:

BYGIDAFY · 09/08/2020 10:19

@hatesomethinchangesomethin

Friend of mine went on holiday last week from Greater Manchester to the north east and has been out and about all week going literally everywhere.

As long as “literally everywhere” didn’t include meeting others in their homes or gardens, then this is fine.

Original poster

Bluesheep8 · 09/08/2020 10:24

But it makes no sense. Lock an area down properly or don't. It serves no purpose whatsoever. So I go to my parents town and happen to see them in a pub I'm allowed to go to. Am I supposed to ignore them?

OP posts:

Original poster

Bluesheep8 · 09/08/2020 10:25

Oh no, wait, I'm allowed to be 1m away from them in a pub but not 2m away in their garden. Clear as effing mud.

OP posts:

BarbaraofSeville · 09/08/2020 10:27

The rules are as they are (not meeting in homes and gardens) because it's been identified that transmission has been due to people meeting in homes and gardens, so that's been outlawed.

Hotels, restaurants and other businesses are required to have regular cleaning regimes in place, which is why the risk in those places is lower. No-one is enforcing any particular standard in private homes.

As for Matt Hancock getting it wrong on TV, that's obviously a serious error on his part. But OP, if there is ever any doubt as to what the rules are, the only place you should look is gov.uk, because that's official published material that has been checked several times and approved.

Lots of government ministers have got it wrong in spoken interviews, even Boris Johnson managed to fuck up the rules about who can still go to work in his scripted address to the nation at the start of lockdown, so anything spoken, or anything published on other websites, including on Mumsnet, should be taken with a pinch of salt because it's wrong at least as often as it's right.

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