Neighbours pis*ed off we're in our garden when isolating

[blakeway45]

Me, DH and 2x DC (age 4 and 2) are isolating due to DH testing positive (the issues that come with this could be a whole other post in itself!).

Neighbours know we are isolating as they know my MIL well.

Yesterday we spent most of the day in and out of the garden. We're all feeling fine, kids have been playing in their paddling pool and on their slide and I've been pottering about and sunbathing. We also had lunch in the garden as a family.

Neighbours are livid we're in the garden when isolating because we could pass it to them over the fence?! I appreciate COVID is making everyone worry in lots of ways, but we are not breaking ANY rules in doing and it's OUR garden?! I'd be going insane if we had no outside space! Although the gardens run alongside each other all the way down, the gardens are pretty wide, it's not like we're sharing a space or are massively on top of each other?! There's a fence and a great big bush between us for goodness sake!!!

They have text me and called my MIL saying they're not pleased we're outside while we have COVID and they'd appreciate it if we'd be more careful and not pass it along the street?!

AIBU????

She's entitled to her opinion. Doesn't make her correct though.
You are following all the rules. Totally just agree to disagree.

I must be thick.... can someone please explain why covid can’t be caught over the garden fence, if it’s airborne?
Is it because the covid particles will become dispersed? Surely they blow somewhere though????
I’ll run and hide now In case I’m being incredibly stupid 🙈

@blakeway45 You’ve done as much as you can wrt addressing ndn’s concerns. Wishing your family all well.

@Birkie248 You’re not being thick. It absolutely can be airborne, and risk depends on a lot of things - proximity, air flow, if someone carrying it happens to sneeze openly at the wrong moment. Unlikely to travel through a solid surface, though

Honestly, if your neighbour is that bothered surely they can just leave their home (since they aren't self isolating) and go and enjoy a local park or walk if they are so interested in being outside.

Enjoying your own private garden is nobody's business but your own.

[quote DoubleTweenQueen]@Birkie248 You’re not being thick. It absolutely can be airborne, and risk depends on a lot of things - proximity, air flow, if someone carrying it happens to sneeze openly at the wrong moment. Unlikely to travel through a solid surface, though [/quote]
Ha ha thanks! This did occur to me when I was in bed with covid with the windows open and I heard my neighbours chatting at their front door for several minutes. I thought gawd I’m breathing covid out all over the street here, but felt too ill to do anything about it.

Plus if your neighbours have Covid, you'd reasonably stay away from the fence and keep some distance.

@Birkie248

I must be thick.... can someone please explain why covid can’t be caught over the garden fence, if it’s airborne? Is it because the covid particles will become dispersed? Surely they blow somewhere though???? I’ll run and hide now In case I’m being incredibly stupid 🙈

It’s exactly that the Covid particles disperse outside , hence why since March you’ve been allowed to meet others in your garden . Also the fact the NDn will be more that 2 metres away the risk is extremely low nobody with some sense would worry .

@Birkie248 I doubt you were posing a risk in that situation! Hope you’re fully recovered now

Our neighbour's kids seem to be off school with Covid. They are bouncing on the trampoline next to the fence, coughing away. I don't feel it is a nice thing for the parents to do, as we are only a few metres away. During those very hot days it felt like we couldn't go in the garden, but they with Covid could. Obviously it is allowed (their private property) etc plus Covid disperses. But it wasn't that windy and their kids were shrieking and coughing often. It was a big crap of them. Plus they have elderly neighbours on one side. As I said, no rules broken, just a bit unnecessarily crap.

This is the most YANBU of all YANBUs. Your neighbours are beyond unreasonable and deserve a good slap.

[quote PinkSparklyPussyCat]@Doodlebug71 as you seem to be struggling to understand not everyone has ideal living conditions let me explain. I cannot isolate completely from DH. We have a one bedroom flat and, even if one of slept on the sofa, the other one would have no choice but to go through the living room. It’s not possible to get to the kitchen or bathroom without doing so.

I agree it’s a legal requirement to self isolate but it’s not a legal requirement to do so from each other so we’ll carry on as we are.

Oh and the cat will be going in the garden as much as he wants. He can’t get out of the garden so he won’t be hurting anyone[/quote]
Similar layout in our house. Have to go through living room to the kitchen.

It's just not always possible to be apart from your family in your own home. And if it was a child who tested positive how would it work anyway?

[quote Doodlebug71]Some interesting replies here, with some of you making it very obvious why CV is still a problem in the UK.

The justifications for refusing to isolate from people you live with, even when they've tested positive are just that Excuses.

If people are self-isolating, whoever tested positive should be staying away from everyone else in the household. Carrying on regardless, and insisting that everyone else can just get stuffed, is horrible.

It's a legal requirement to self-isolate. So no going out shopping, no walking the dog. None of that.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/self-isolation-and-treatment/how-to-avoid-spreading-coronavirus-to-people-you-live-with/[/quote]
Oh piss off.

You can safely ignore all the people moaning at you. Isolating with under 5s is horrendous - been there done that. I would not be adding to that by making a toddler try to treat a parent like a leper. If you’re going to get it, you’ll get it. I would just be very mindful about when and how you come out of isolation.

Seen your update OP agree to disagree and don’t mention again seems best outcome. If it was MIL who blabbed to them I would make point next time you see her you didn’t appreciate her sharing your DH’s personal info and the hassle it caused.

How would it work if i got covid or my son got it? I cannot isolate from him nor he from me as its just me and him. I couldnt shut him in his room and pop food through the door. Same as if i had to i couldnt shut myself in my room

See your point but sort of see theirs - although they can't really be moaning about it to you. In all honesty, I wouldn't be that comfortable sitting in my garden knowing the person sitting just over the fence was Covid positive. It's not inconceivable to catch it that way - just reduced risk. People saying you have been allowed to meet in gardens for ages - yes but that's assuming you don't have Covid/ are a contact of someone with it. I mean, would you want to be beside a family in the park where one of them was positive? Of course not.

@ArrrMeHearties

How would it work if i got covid or my son got it? I cannot isolate from him nor he from me as its just me and him. I couldnt shut him in his room and pop food through the door. Same as if i had to i couldnt shut myself in my room

Well it’s pretty impossible and unrealistic in a normal sized house with one bathroom and kitchen. My entire household got it in January after my DH was infected first. We all got symptoms within 3 days of DH.

Our neighbour's kids seem to be off school with Covid.

They are more likely to not have covid and be off school isolating as contacts of a positive case.

@ArrrMeHearties You would do what you could, I presume. WHO have useful guides. Cleaning, distance (separate space if possible), masks, fresh air ventilation - caution. Just to try and prevent it going through the family, and or into the community. What’s unrealistic or possible varies.

www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public

[Disclaimer - have taken your comments at face value, while understanding they may have been rhetorical :D]

@blakeway45

Thanks everyone. I sent a shortened version of my draft I shared with you and she came straight back to say we'll agree to disagree. As far as I'm concerned we shan't talk of it again.

This would have me laughing hysterically, but not very helpfully.

I assume you aren't exactly best buddies anyway as one assumes she's got all kinds of odd ideas?

Your neighbours are idiots. You need to be outside getting fresh air and enjoying the sun not cooped in the house just to suit the stupid neighbours

doubletweenqueen i was just wondering how it would work if god forbid either of us caught covid. Pure musing on my part after reading the thread

@Moonshine11

Tell your MIL to stop telling people your business

Exactly this.

They are loons .. sympathy for living next door to your MILS mates !!! ...