At last! 6 people can meet in a garden!

[BruceAndNosh]

WE can meet family

@Flaxmeadow you know exactly what I meant.

It has already been acknowledged with the return of early years, reception and Y1 that small children cannot effectively socially distance. If you take young children to see important people in their lives who they have missed for months, it's unlikely they will stay 2m away at all times. So since it seems children are included in this, they've accepted that it won't actually be socially distanced in many cases.

Who exactly is going to police the 2m apart thing?

Shielding group = NOT YOU. We still haven't got a plan for you. Although Boris did say he'd like to "release us from our captivity"

How absolutely stupid. So people in flats can't meet up? Pathetic.

They can, they just need to meet in a public place and socially distance.

People in flats don’t have gardens, or they have shared communal areas which they can meet in however again socially distance.

I agree. No science behind it whatsoever

So how do you think they chose it then?

Do you think they just pulled the number out of a hat or all agreed the number 6 is a nice curly shape or something?

If you're a family of 4 and want to meet a family of 3 and are stressing... just do it. Who cares?! Anymore!

Yup!

Time for a BBQ with my parents I think!

Unless you're sheilding. Then you just have to watch the rest of the world go back to normal and be forgotten about. Never mind.

Yes it’s a striking omission.

There was talk about plotting a path out for those shielding, as case rate goes down.

@Quarantimespringclean why do you have to cook for them at the moment. It is meant to be able to have some social time with someone possibly family, not a dinner party. Things have to be different for a while. Who imagined that a few months ago we would be queuing up 2m apart outside shops. Some people would be washing and quarantining their shopping. It is just the way it is. If we accept these changes now the quicker it will be that we can get back to normal. The more we break the rules the quicker we will be back in lockdown.

I got the feeling the medical chaps at the briefing were not too keen on the lockdown being eased as the R is so close to 1.

Those who would like a maximum of six to be disregarded in favour of a two household limit are being selfish and don't understand the science. There is no need for your DH to see your parents and vice versa so it'll nearly always be possible for the closest members of households to see each other even if the rest of the household has to stay at home (and realistically many will be quite happy to have an excuse to finally get some peace while their partner and children visit the other side of the family). However, many teenagers and other younger people who either live alone or with family members they don't particularly get along with will benefit from being able to hang out with a small group of friends in a way which isn't possible under the Scottish restrictions.

The 'six' won't have any science behind it. It will be because they will know that if they say 'six', people will have twelve people there. But if they say twelve is ok, people will start having parties for 50, because that's the way most people's brains work

But this is science. Behavioral science

From the Guardian reporting on press conference with BJ et al:

“Q. How long can people stay at another person’s private garden, can you go inside to use the loo and when can we hug loved ones again?

Johnson says no to overnight stays as we’re not at that stage.

All of these adjustments have to be in socially distanced way, with people continuing to wash their hands and use common sense, he adds.

We can’t move freely across the country to stay at other people’s houses, he adds.

Whitty says the two metre rule is critical because the virus spreads in air droplets.

After using the loo, wipe everything down and wash your hands, he adds.

Plus if you’re passing things from one person to another, e.g. when doing a BBQ, you must be washing your hands and wiping everything down, he adds.”

Which perhaps means you can use the loo and share food. All a bit vague.

Still, it’s welcome news.

Why do some people seem to have problems understanding basic rules.

A total of 6 people - yes this includes children as they are people

Can meet outside - so in your garden, if you don't have a garden then in a park, a street corner, next to a pond, in a car park. Anywhere outside, so if you have a flat you can still meet people OUTSIDE.

2 m distance between households - so you, partner and child can sit on each other's knees if you like, as long as grandma, grandad and great aunt fanny stay 2m away

Just because some people break these rules doesn't make it right. If the R rate were to increase, the assumption would be that meeting as a group of 6 was too fast, and that would be reduced back. Which would be unfair to those who followed the rules, if the actual reason for the increase is all the people meeting in groups of 15 because the 9 kiddies don't count as 'people'.

Looks like they are issuing guidance that meets the current behaviour seeing as getting behaviour to meet the guidance has failed in many, many cases.

Do the over 70s have to still stay at home or can they do this now?
FIL has no health problems and has so far stayed at home.

@Flaxmeadow

Was anything said about children being among the 6 people?

Children are people so would think the 6 includes them

But not when we talk about schools going back.....

So this was the big announcement. I was hoping that play parks would be open. This is just a revision to the only meet one person from a different house that was ridiculed.

You can use the toilet but must wipe everything down afterwards.

Also, BBQs are effectively allowed but to remember not to pass things to people outside your household etc.

My mil wants us to go and start using her pool etc. I'm not sure we are there yet.

The Cummings effect. Less and less taking notice of Boris, ergo he has to make out they are so changes the rules to pretend hes told people to do this!

I went out to day and I was shocked at big groups. I'm pretty relaxed about what other people do but groups of 20 or 30 sitting together with no social distancing shocked me, not kids either adults in 30s and 40s with some younger. I suppose they might all live together so I shouldn't judge but it did make me look twice. I can't believe it, I'll be curtain twitching if this goes on much longer. Surprising how we are being changed.

We are a family of four and our closest relatives are a couple so 6 suits us fine. However if they visit and sit in the garden I won’t be denying them access to the loo if they need it. Or making them sit in the garden if it rains. And I will cook for them like I always do. Perhaps we’d better wait...
Which is fine as you obv aren't missing them that much. For those people desperate to see loved ones, they'll adapt. The dp will stay inside and the bil stay home, or they'll l bring their own food and have a picnic. If it's raining they'll reschedule. If you only want to see your relatives when you can do it exacy how you used to, you must be happy to wait

Watch everyone having bbqs and get together and forgetting good hygiene practices. FFS Boris said we can have a BBQ without actually earning people not to touch/share things like drinks bottles, sauces, cutlery etc

So how do you think they chose it then?

Do you think they just pulled the number out of a hat or all agreed the number 6 is a nice curly shape or something?

Johnson's 'family' and Cummings' family = 6

Distract the plebs with a bit a positive, but not science based, news

Think this is good.

It’s a terrible situation for anybody shielding... but I do genuinely think the rules are staying in place for those shielding because the risks are just so damned high

Ridiculous numbers -where do they get them from???
It's almost as if they don't expect anyone to follow them now anyway do they say any old thing and we'll just make our own minds up.