"Shielding"

[TryingToBeBold]

Can someone explain to me the requirements to this in layman's terms?
I'm not being naive.. but all I keep seeing on here and on facebook is
"Oh no I couldn't possibly go anywhere as I'm shielding for 3 months"
"So frustrated after shielding since March"
"Stuck in these 4 walls #day120303ofisolation"

No disrespect and I'm sure people are fearful for their health.. but is there any reason why they can't go for a walk?
Round a field? Without a gate?
Sidestep 3 metres away should they see anyone?
Exercise gently outside?
Social distance meet friends and family (3 metres to be even more careful)?

Just because you're shielding do you really have to be confined to 4 walls and (maybe) a garden?

Just to add.. my mum should be shielding but is going about her normal business with social distancing just like most of us (yes I've spoken to her, yes she knows the risks, no she isnt stopping)

it puts the fear of god in you.

If it puts the fear of god in you, you can stop the texts.

@MuthaClucker I do.
Because I now know that not everyone shielding is taking that view.
And wondering why people "cant go for a walk if possible"... because.. well some are choosing to do just that.

DH is a kidney transplant patient and hasn’t been out since March, we’re lucky and have a small garden.

He’s aware that the advice is not compulsory but says that it would be irresponsible of him to risk catching it as he’d probably die and would waste NHS resources.

He’s passionate about that as I’m an NHS nurse and he knows how hard it’s been having to completely change our way of working.

People will make their own risk assessments. The advice is erring on the side of extreme caution for good reasons.

I am shielding. To get out I need to walk through a shared stairway where there is little room to pass. I have to unlock a door shared with several households. I would then go out into a densely populated area. I imagine I'm more rigid than someone living on a croft 5 miles from another house.

It would be nice to go to the park. But I'll forego that for now to maximise my chances of another 50 years of life. Your OP sounds very judgy and unsympathetic.

Various letters, texts and phonecalls from consultants and GP.. We don’t go out because we have been told not too in order to save my teens life.. it’s that simple.. would I love to go for a walk- hell yes or even a drive but we have been told not too and basically if anything happens to my teen I need to be able to live with myself and my decisions.
We have discussed it at length and we won’t be going out until the R number is way down. We can’t trust the idiots in our town to stay away from us if we go out.. My teen couldn’t cope with not being able to sit in same room/eat at the same table/cook together so we all have to shield... is it crap- yes...

Well just to sum up.
My intention was not to be judgy. Unsympathetic. Dismissive.

They also have to say to socially distancing from people in their household, not share a bed, kitchen and ideally have their own bathroom!

If either of us had to shield that would be impossible. I really feel for people having to do this

@pinksparklypussycat we are shielding as an entire household. I think that living separately within a house must be awful. We are really lucky not to have to do that.

@TryingToBeBold

Round a field? Without a gate?
Not everyone lives anywhere near fields! There are none within walking distance of me! Driving to a field, what if they are unlucky enough to have a car accident (despite driving carefully other person maybe at fault) and have to exchange details with another driver, highly unlikely, but could happen. Or what if get flat tyre or car breaks down, and can't repair it by themselves or get home without calling out help? Even on a walk down the street, more likely to severely injure themselves falling down on concrete pavement than falling inside the home and on the street, well meaning passers by might try to help.

Sidestep 3 metres away should they see anyone?
That would be the middle of the road in many places, traffic is returning to normal levels now too so walking down middle of the road isn't safe.

Exercise gently outside?
Flat dwellers don't often have gardens, plus going outside from a flat means touching communal external doors, communal stair hand rails, lift buttons etc ...

Social distance meet friends and family (3 metres to be even more careful)?
Shielding people have been advised not to be out. Even 3 metres isn't far enough away if cough / sneeze.
I'm not shielding and barely been out myself but I can't be sure I haven't caught it from shopping or exercise recently and I personally wouldn't to risk to a person I knew was shielding so I'd stay away. (unless I thought their mental health had detoriated to the point they were more at risk of suicide than covid)

I looked after a teenager who'd been shielding, but going for a daily walk with his dog. He unexpectedly tested positive. It's changed my entire opinion on lockdown.

@fluffi I have completely admitted I didn't think it through or see outside of my own circumstances.

@Toddlerteaplease how could he have caught it?

Another reason @TryingToBeBold is that when I'm hone everything feels normal. I don't want to have a "relaxing" stroll where I need worry about coming anywhere near my neighbours. Just before the whole shielding/ lockdown thing started I went out to the chemist. I bumped into a friend and chatted from a distance. At the end I said "well I won't hug you because of all this coronavirus" she, knowing I was high risk cried "come on, don't be silly" and grabbed me into a hug. So there's that sort of issue too.

@Toddlerteaplease when you say you were looking after.. were you shielding too?

@SylvanianFrenemies

Reading that made me quite sad
I know I'm lucky to be in the situation I am (we have our risk factors.. despite what people think).

We live in a cul se sac so take him out there and luckily we and our neighbour have a biggish green oustide our front garden so we can play xx

I'm a peadiatric nurse. I am still working. Though as I have MS I have a risk assessment to not look after covid patients. He was in a yellow area awaiting swab results. But asymptomatic and was a total surprise that he tested positive. I want to get swabbed now. But can't unless symptomatic. Not happy about that. Apparently I just have to suck it up.

We are in a better position than many as I'm hone with my partner and kids, I'm working and can call/videocall family. Also, I'm fairly antisocial!

Shielding is a cynical govenment policy to avoid accusations of callousness. It comes in especially handy now they are having to release lockdown for economic reasons.

Shielding came of the back of nice guidelines. NICE guidlines state that doctors are able to prioritise access to intensive care to those most likely to benefit. Those with preexisting conditions (Even well managed) were not to be prioritised, those who were dependent on others for their needs may not even be referred to hospital.

So yes you could be denied hospital treatment and be allowed to die simply for being disabled, old or having a long term health condition.

The govenment sidestepped any outrage at this by inventing shielding and making it optional. "You know the risks but still chose to go out. Your death was your own choice."

Now they are releasing lockdown they are creating a two their society. Those who are able to leave the house and those who leaving the house will soon become impossible while the "mostly harmless" disease is allowed to spread.

Atm we could go for a walk. But none of us want to be the one to accidentally kill DS(12).

Toddler... that is my fear.. so my dogs don’t get walked..

I am completely aware that I could have had contact with someone unknowingly in the supermarket, but now I know for definite. I do not want to be left to suck it up and I'm also concerned about the 7 week old baby I spent two nights feeding. ( gloves, apron and survival mask worn)

100tramp75 so although not officially walking or exercise hes still out having a run around and you are all out (not confined to the house or back garden).

@Toddlerteaplease
The testing is frustrating! Could he have got it from hospital? Surely you're still at risk?

You are not even meant to spend time in the same room as others you live with. We are meant to clean the bathroom every time we use it and have a hospital bag packed waiting at all times in case of admission. So yes a walk outside is out of the question. The risk is too great for those who are shielding. The virus doesn't stop and 3 metres. It's about minimising risk.

My DS (aged 9) is shielded as he has a blood cancer and is undergoing chemo etc. - and we live in a two bedroom flat in central London. I take him down to the communal garden twice a day with DD, and we occasionally go to a park for a bike ride at 6am, but I'm very careful with him, because I feel that it is very much my responsibility. Fortunately there are very few people (if any) on the streets around us as they all seem to have vanished to second homes. Or they're shielding inside and never leave.....

DS is meant to be using a separate bathroom and kitchen from us incidentally, which is HILARIOUS, and I'm meant to have separated his and DD's toys (though we only got that letter about the toys two weeks ago, and I decided it was a bit late to start seeing as DD, DS and I are all together all day. I don't go to the shops etc. Oh, and we don't go to hospital either at the moment, as a nurse in full PPE comes to our house to treat him. Which is amazing.

You keep saying why can't people go for a walk by themselves. How can you guarantee that they won't come into contact with someone? Or that that other person will be wearing a mask and gloves and will keep 3m away at all times and hasn't sneezed or coughed into the air thus releasing the virus into the atmosphere? You really are being completely dismissive of the risk.