Do you think we’ll be able to see close family soon?

[Daybyday89]

I don’t care about anything else! I just want to see my family. I know probably everyone wants this but I’m really hoping when they review restrictions 7th May they’ll look at us possibly being able to see close family. What do you think?

I know nobody knows for definite and everyone is probably sick and tired of seeing threads like this but just a glimmer of hope and positivity right now I need it.

The bubble idea is interesting but I can't see how it could possibly work in reality. People would have ever-changing bubbles.
Surely the answer is gatherings of no more than x households?

Sorry that made it sound all very simple. I just meant that's the only option I can think of.

@StealthPolarBear yes, I think effectively that’s what it would be

I think if we were anywhere near where they want us to be before they lift lockdown then some of these ideas would be good and I also j understand that the economy needs to restart.

But we aren't there yet! Our numbers aren't low enough, we're not out of the woods yet!

All it needs is a certain percentage of people to start mixing again and we'll be back where we were 4 weeks ago!

The time we've done already will be wasted, we'll need to do it all again and maybe with a more restrictive lockdown and for longer!

It's exasperating that grown adults cannot accept that for 6 weeks, 8 weeks, 10 weeks they can't see their friends & family - better than not seeing them ever again because this bloody virus has killed them!

For gods sake if you catch it you could end up on a ventilator for 4 weeks - surely you'd rather be at home with your family for another 4 weeks, FaceTiming, sitting in the garden, speaking on the phone!

Is anyone reading the 40 plus thread - those people aren't sick enough to be in the hospital & it sounds bloody awful.

I just don't get why everyone is in such a rush!

'For gods sake if you catch it you could end up on a ventilator for 4 weeks - surely you'd rather be at home with your family for another 4 weeks, FaceTiming, sitting in the garden, speaking on the phone!'

@IsolatedIzzy Its not that simple for everyone. Many don't have family. Many have no garden or space. Many are cooped up alone indoors or with abusive partners. I understand what you're saying and I don't mean to be rude but it's not as simple as you've put it.

It's exasperating that grown adults cannot accept that for 6 weeks, 8 weeks, 10 weeks they can't see their friends & family - better than not seeing them ever again because this bloody virus has killed them!

If only it were that simple. Its easy to not see family and friends if you are in a house with other people or out working and mingling at work. But the current situation is effectively sentencing single (furloughed / wfh / retired people to solitary confinement is actually very cruel and I worry for their mental health.

I really hope they manage to relax the rules for single people asap.

I’m home alone with my child. I have no income now. I need to see my partner. I’m going proper mental. Overly simplistic @IsolatedIzzy

Mascotte hope you get to see your partner soon. Keep strong.

@Blackbear thank you

Honestly I know it's not and I understand how hard it must be in a flat or on your own or short of money but the virus is still out there.
You meet with friends, you catch it, infect 3 more people, who each infect another 3 each, you're at home feeling like death for 5/ 6 weeks - if you're lucky. Losing a couple of your friends/family in the process:

And in another 6 weeks we're all back here again because it's back spreading through the community again when another couple of weeks of staying put could have pushed the numbers right down.

I think they will need to adopt the Canadian route and allow 2/3 household "bubbles" so that people can see family again. If not I suspect people will start to do so regardless - better that there is some control rather than everyone deciding for themselves.

And since I posted yesterday at 18.40 - saying I knew 5 people who had died of COVID - I lost my Aunt today - not from Covid but she died in a care home, 93, without her husband or my cousins because the care home is full of it and no one can visit.
Maybe I'm unlucky that this virus is having is having such a huge personal impact on my life but i bet I'm not the only one!

The virus is killing 0.5-1% of the population (or is it 0.5-1% of those infected?). So its likely most people wont know someone that dies from it.

Meeting with friends doesn't guarantee you'll pass it on. The risk is quite small. So people will risk it. Particularly if they've been risking it all day in a low paid job.

IsolatedIzzy I'm sorry you are having a hard time right now and seem to be unfairly affected.

But think about it is way, it would be perfectly within the "rules" for two households to move in together, ie a couple who live apart, even two or three friends, or a parents to move in with their adult kids.

So what's the difference between actually combining two households and two households visiting each other?

Unless we are all going to wait in lockdown until there is a vaccine, which will be many months, we will eventually have to lift it to some extent. The purpose of lockdown was to reduce transmission, and thus exceeding hospital facilities. For the next 12-18 months we will have to het used to living with returning waves of the virus, and no, we cant stay in lockdown that long, or there will be no economy left to fund the NHS.

I WFH and live by myself. I haven’t seen my partner in 5 weeks. It is becoming unbearable now. I can’t continue to be alone 24/7 for much longer.

I have been supportive of the lockdown and have followed the rules as closely as I can.

I am really starting to struggle though. I have elderly parents who are in the shielded category. My Dad has COPD. He is the shielded one. Despite that is the one who has to take care of my mother, whose osteoporosis and other issues have rendered her virtually unable to walk. They are struggling, but are diligently sticking to the guidelines for shielding. Only the other day though my mother was admitted to hospital in acute pain (not Covid 19 related, and thankfully home now).

It scares me. I live 3 hours drive from them. I so want to go and see them. They would love to see us, but neither they nor I want to introduce further risk. I am also aware that because of their ages and health issues their time could now be short. There is therefore the very real possibility that because of lockdown and shielding I may never see both of them alive again. If that happens I will find it hard to ever forgive myself. Ever.

There is no solution. There is no answer. I hope there will be soon, but I just can't see it at the moment. I spend a large part of each day trying to hide my tears over it from my own family unit here.

It is incredibly hard. As I said, I've been supportive and respectful of the lockdown and the reasons for it. However, continued extensions with no clear exit strategy, coupled with the mental pressure I feel under, could cause me to break ranks too.

June at the earliest I should think. Both my daughters are ITU nurses and to say I miss them and worry about them is the understatement of the century. I just want this all over.

I don't know OP but I hope so.

I had a wobble last week when work started talking about plans to get us back into the office. I can do my job from home no issues (as has everyone else for the last 5 weeks of WFH) the only benefit I would gain by being in the office is social.

I do not care about seeing my colleagues socially if I cannot see my own parents. It's a concept I just cannot engage with at the moment and I agree with PP saying we need more info from government. We are not children and I personally would benefit from more info. We know lockdown isn't going to stop the virus (although why some people think that I do not know!) so what are the plans?! Saying things will last till the end of the year at least. What will? Not going to pubs? Not having a birthday party? Not going on a UK holiday? Not flying abroad? Football? Schools? I get they don't know all the answers but they should know roughly the plan. The current lack of information is what is going to make people start to ignore the rules.

I've also seen a few threads on Twitter saying that flights are still happening with no screening and no isolation. WTAF? So I can't see my sister but someone could fly in from Italy and go through security, get their bag, get on a train and go into Tescos no problem? It's nonsense.

I would like there to be the option to create larger clusters than just the household. Assuming people at vinyl with the clusters the risks of course increase and are manageable. I thibk the best way to do it is that everyone has the same cluster. Based on social media quite a few people already have their own clusters so not having them be allowed creates unnecessary bitterness and turns adults into "but everyone else is doing it" teenagers.

I'm thankful that my parents have each other so neither one of them are alone. But I'm really seeing the effects of nobody visiting and them nothing able to have their regular contacts. Grandma lives alone in a city where she has no family.

I do think people won't accept much longer. Our neighbours are junior doctors and had a birthday party last weekend!

@OrangeFluff same. I’m lucky that I do have my kids with me 60% of the time but haven’t seen an adult except on FaceTime - Skype since this started and am also away from my partner . It’s starting to affect my kids now too , there are only so many walks kids want to go on. I’m going to start seeing my partner after the current lockdown period , especially as we are both pretty sure we’ve had it. They just need these antibody tests ASAP !

They just need these antibody tests ASAP !

You can't get it more than once so not sure what the antibody tests are going to offer.... I have a relative who is a doctor on a covid ward and is now on his second infection- both confirmed by test.

As someone said upthread people will start doing their own risk assessments if this goes on too long. I think that we have already reached that point because the government is being so cagey about sharing any potential plans for easing the lockdown. Every day I am talking to friends who are starting to get their cleaner/hairdresser/etc back in and are starting to go out more to do small shops/post office etc etc. If the weather continues to be nice people will start to do more social things in their gardens regardless of the government guidelines. And the more we see of the very well off continuing to have parties (no doubt catered), using second homes and continue to have staff (not all of whom live in) the more people will start to wonder why there is one rule for them - certainly I am looking at a relative who is extremely well off and when I hear what she and her friends are doing (yoga teachers coming to do lessons in the garden, catered socially distanced events in extremely large gardens etc) I realise that the guidelines only seem to be applying to the squeezed middle and downwards.

what I don't get is that we can't see family but 5 days a week, I go to work and mix with 100 households a day. No social distancing as it's impossible.