can someone please sum it up

[cherrylovex3]

please no omg I cant believe you even have to ask this, I'm asking to explain to my nan and grandad/mum aswell.

I dont live with my mum, I live with just my partner and baby have done for a little while. she says she understand why were not going round but it would just be in her house/garden.

so would I be able to go see them if we were sat in the garden and avoided going in? or is it really best to stay away from my family for however long?

also, how long are we supposed to be staying away from family? have we been told or is playing it by ear?

as said, please dont be rude I'm feeling very sad (know it's nothing in the grand scheme of what others are going through) my first mothers day and feeling gutted as I'm sure we all are.

this is also so I can have something to explain to my mum - shes a key worker (teacher and still going in) so presuming she feels she will get it anyway but then I'm thinking isnt the issue to avoid passing it on? my nan and Grandad wont listen either, they haven't been going out but want to go to my mums :(

thank you

The advice can be summed up as 'avoid all non-essential social contact' which does mean not visiting family and friends unless it's an emergency.

It isn't just about what you do when you get there, it's about limiting the number of people who are circulating generally and may be asymptomatic but infectious - the disease could be passed not only to your family but to anyone you encountered as you travelled.

ah I tried to explain this and it seems to have gone in. not really the point but my nan and grandad are already there. she has said after today they need to stay away and the sooner we all do it the quicker we can all go back to normal! hopefully anyway!

Personally I think if you sit in the garden at least 2m away from each other it is ok.

BUT you have to get through the house without touching anything (ideally go in side access if there is one) and you cannot go to the loo or have a cup of tea etc. Also what about the journey there, can you do it without coming close to anyone. Eg drive yourself.

Also the issue is even if you do it following all these rules, someone else may think “well cherrylove visited her mum” and go visit their mum without following these rules.

You can sit 2m away from her in her garden.
It's expected that this will continue for at least 12 weeks.

i think my worry is that she comes into contact with so many children - if symptoms showed straightaway and some people weren't asymptomatic I guess would be more straight forward as people would know who had it

My immediate family are either health workers or are working completely online from home. Mother's Day Every day is by 'phone and skype only. With grandparents and others on the annual 'flu vaccine, we all behave (since February) as if we are infected even though it is only the key workers who may be. Getting supplies is impossible given my hours and the state of the shops so my lovely childers put fresh produce outside my flat, the argument an oldie like me will not survive the standard diet of juniors on super-sized chocolate while on shift.

My personal view is that not tracing and testing from January meant our leaders judged that 500,000 UK deaths was acceptable - this despite pandemic planning having been practised across the country since the mid-2000s. Even the recent revised aim of 20,000 deaths is at odds with current practices. We still do not test, do not trace, do not protect, and that is a calculated decision by our leaders. The UK is all but perfectly aligned with Italy's death trajectory and a mere 14 days behind. The consequences of people not distancing and now with time on their hands is that we continue to follow this death trajectory. It is simply arrogance not to behave as if each and every one of us were asymptomatic AND infectious. To not behave that way is to embrace that death trajectory. Even with 100% private respiratory support deployed. decisions WILL be made (are already in place) to judge who will be ventilated. Ventilation itself cannot guarantee survival and dying will be traumatic even with morphine and sedation.

We all have free will and no enforced curfew. There are threads about all those 'other, unwoke' people not visiting local beauty spots. I live and work in very central London. Our locals, on any part of the social spectrum, are not the cause of our top UK death score. We accept that the hundreds of millions of visitors who have traipsed through our streets in 2020 have judged their lives are more important that ours, and that they will not be in any way moved by our deaths no matter how we rant about it. We are responsible only for our own behaviour and the consequences. Even in the NHS, I have no way of knowing whether I am a super spreader, and a simple test, and proper (not play) PPE, would protect my many vulnerable patients, but our leaders have judged otherwise.

As to how long, this is a very successful virus with a relatively low kill rate and phenomenal infection rate. Why on earth would it mutate since it's doing so well? If we change our behaviour, that will make it harder for the virus. As someone who deploys maximal resource to get away from strangers in my free time, and loves horticulture, I accept it's easier for me than some. Generally, unless we choose to live differently on this planet, we will have to accept a whole cabinet of consequences, and that is forever.