You CAN meet with other households - at 2M distance - England only ***title edited for clarity by MNHQ***

[lyralalala]

Dominic Raab just said on BBC breakfast you can meet up, socially distanced, with other people not from your household

He was specifically asked "Can I meet my Mum in the morning and my Dad in the afternoon?" and said yes, as long as you stay 2m apart

So confirms what was told to the journalists, but contradicts what Boris said

@listenlinda It’s madness

I had a belting row with a teenager last night because she said Twitter said she was allowed to meet a friend in the park as long as she stayed 2M away

That’s not what Boris said, not what the BBC said straight after so I said no, not happening (there’s too busy a house to start bending some rules and not others).

Now of course the teenager is correct, Twitter is now going to be seen as the source of all good news and being called a thicko on here this morning by someone who doesn’t seem to grasp that I’m not confused by the multiple different messages, I’m pissed off that they’re confusing people, hasn’t helped any!

If you're one of those people posting everywhere about how you're finding this all terribly confusing, can I just suggest that you take a personal decision to stick with the current lockdown rules, until you feel confident you understand what new freedoms you can enjoy?

Just take it one step at a time, keep reading what the government publish, and remember to look after your mental as well as physical health.

I give up. I absolutely do.

Totally agree @oldwhyno

@oldwhyno Can I suggest if you are going to be quite so patronising you at least read the thread?

Or, even just the post before yours.

@BillywilliamV from Wednesday though right?

The new rules re exercise and the outdoors don't come into effect until Weds Billy

Completely agree with @TinRoofRusty

OP, I had the same understanding as your teen after hearing his statement but I can't see why from the transcript. I think there was something in his inflection or maybe an additional comma that suggested the "but only with members of your household" referred only to playing sports and the additional exercise/sitting in the sun was OK so long as you did the social distancing.

If you're one of those people posting everywhere about how you're finding this all terribly confusing, can I just suggest that you take a personal decision to stick with the current lockdown rules, until you feel confident you understand what new freedoms you can enjoy?

You do realise that what other people do has as much impact as what you do? Hence why everyone had to follow the rules in the first place.

And that under the old rules you could leave the house once a day to exercise.

And that other people failing to follow the new rules as they are intended rather than as they are interpreted might just be a problem.

And that smugly twatty comments don't change that...

Monday, Wednesday, the virus doesn't know what day it is!

That matters if you need to put in place workplace PPE and reorganize your workspaces, but it surely doesn't matter if you go to a park and sit 2 metres away from each other.

My teen is going to meet one friend to sit in the park this afternoon after 7 weeks alone/inside. I'm fine with that.

This beggars belief, if true, because there was no mention at all of it in Boris' announcement last night. It seems the government are governing via the front pages and Twitter, and by throwaway remarks by ministers. You can see Nicola Sturgeon's point. You would think that a change to meeting up with people you don't live with would have been a major point for Boris to put out there last night. I am still shaking my head at him telling people after 7pm on a Sunday that they should return to work the next morning, especially when schools and nurseries are still closed for most. And don't get me started about him opening up coastal and rural communities to visitors on Wednesday - Boris has sold us up the river. The graphics on the announcement looked like something out of Dad's Army, and the plan is all over the place. Second wave, anyone?

The plan is here

www.gov.uk/government/publications/our-plan-to-rebuild-the-uk-governments-covid-19-recovery-strategy

Have we got sufficient PPE? No.
Have we got effective positive/negative testing? No.
Have we got effective antibody testing? No.
Have we got an effective track and trace system? No.
Have we got a vaccine? No.
Do we know enough, reliably, about how this new virus behaves? No.
Have people stopped dying in large numbers? No.
Are all the leaders of our four UK nations in agreement with you? No.

Oh, that's alright then, Boris. Let's ease the lockdown, that was never really lockdown in the first place by European standards, some more.

From that:

SAGE advise that the risk of infection outside is significantly lower than inside, so the Government is updating the rules so that,as well as exercise,people can now also spend time outdoorssubject to: not meeting up withanymore than one person from outside your household;continued compliance with social distancing guidelines to remain two metres (6ft) away from people outside your household; good hand hygiene, particularly with respect to shared surfaces; and those responsible for public places being able to put appropriate measures in place to follow the new COVID-19 Secure guidance

So I would read that as you can go to an outside place, stay 2m away from the people you want to meet but you can meet them.

If you want to 'meet, meet' them, then you can be less than 2m from them, but there should only be one person you can meet.

I've never really understood the difference between meeting up with a friend or a member of your family from another household in the open and keeping 2 metres apart, and standing in a supermarket queue 2 metres apart from 2 people I've never met before and will probably never meet again.

I stood in a queue for Boots for an hour and 45 minutes soon after lockdown started. Was that acceptable because the people either side of me were unknown to me?

When I walk my dog I frequently meet the same people and we'll stop and chat, obviously at a distance. Were we breaking the rules?

Not a single person on my street has stuck to the rules, especially last Friday, but now after living like this for 8 weeks, I am not to go sit in my mums garden? No chance.

Exactly..as soon as I heard Boris’s announcement on Thursday..I said to DH ..most of the population will have heard..everybody out.
Perhaps the new slogan should change from

Be Alert to Be Adult

Think and be sensible. It’s what we’ve done all along.

Stay two metres away from people not in your household.

Isn't that the advice?

It looks now like a return to the old Herd Immunity approach to me.

Stay two metres away from people not in your household.
Isn't that the advice?

I don't know why they haven't been saying this ad nauseam since this whole thing started. It is a lot les confusing than "you can meet a friend AT A DISTANCE! but not your granny AT ANY DISTANCE"

Unfortunately, what with the congas and all, it seems saying "use your common sense" has zero effect.

@GinnyStrupac

It does. I think it is a covert return. They just dare not say it.

I've always assumed the reason it was ok to stand 2 metres away from a stranger in a queue, but not 2 metres away from a family member/friend for a chat was that you were more likely to inadvertently move closer than 2 metres during your chat with someone you know. As evidenced by the number of street parties that started off socially distanced and ended up with everyone moving towards each other.

@lyralalala

Hopefully your MIL with have the best of both worlds and won't get ill. I think there is a good chance of that. Here's to her bucking the family trend too!

so now its been clarified one on one how does that work with kids-i cant see my niece because a parent has to go with her

Under the existing English regulations there is nothing about only once a day - the law - the only thing that counts. (whereas Wales was once a day). www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/350/regulation/6/made