Social bubbles/one child family/shielding

[Uhtredswoman]

I have been up all night since last night's announcement. I know that things can't work for all in dealing with a pandemic, but I need to vent...

DH and I have one DD 10, who has been alone for so much time and pretty much homeschooling herself as we are both FT WFH and school are providing nothing (not teacher bashing - I am a teacher but can work from home in my role).

We each have a mum who is living alone. How would we choose?

My mum has another set of grandchildren. How does she choose?

I am officially shielding due to medical treatment putting me at higher risk.

It feels like a perfect storm of rubbish and I just want to scream "It's not fair!"

I know there are people worse off, but I can't see what is best to do. Help me see...

@SnuggyBuggy although an excuse to have my own luxurious man-free bed 😂😂

If only!!! 😂

if we could bubble with my mum at least DD wouldn't need to be alone all day every weekday.
As you both wfh, time with your daughter needs to be factored into the day for her wellbeing. My daughter is in a similar situation and, as a single mum, timetables both their days to share lunch and coffee breaks. It must be frustrating for you to have different rules apply as you're shielding but it is a very welcome small step for so many.

@lifestooshort123 I know, and I don't in a million years begrudge that small step for many.

Like your daughter's concern for her child's wellbeing, I feel I need to protect DD's mental health.

Thanks for respond 🙏🏻

*responding!

I'm so fed up of all the mental gymnastics required to check whether any normal every day task fits with 'the rules'.

Tell me about it, I'm sort of considering whether it'd be possible for me to do my dissertation from my mums patio, while she looks after DS1 in her garden without touching him

I think Johnson and Whitty gave different thoughts last night, so am hoping the BBC have clarified The on-line government advice specifically states that a single adult household can form a bubble with a multi adult household.

It also says a bubble can go outside together even if it consists of more than 6 people (just as a household of more than 6 people can go outside together)

"Would either of these people be willing to quarantine completely for 2 weeks before visiting you? That would massively reduce the risk."
Why do posters have to encourage others to not follow the rules?

Because if they quarantine completely there is no raised risk & the rules are daft in that situation.

It's so hard, isn't it? I'm shielding too and I think I have taken risks with my own health in this pandemic that I wouldn't accept if any other member of my family were extremely clinically vulnerable. It's probably just as well that women are not as vulnerable as men as I expect we are far more cavalier in order to mitigate the negative effects on our families.

My mum lives alone too, the children miss her desperately and she is lonely.

I don't know what to do. 'Fuck it' seem to be the words on the tip of my tongue but knowing this wouldn't even be on the radar if it were any of the others in my home holds me back.

I have just re-watched the daily briefing from yesterday. For those who didn't watch, the PM said:

"There are still too many people, particularly those who live by themselves, who are lonely and struggling with being unable to see friends and family. So, from this weekend, we will allow single adult households, adults living alone or single parents with children under 18 to form a support bubble, a support bubble with one other household.

All those in a support bubble will be able to act as if they live in the same household, meaning they can spend time together inside each others' homes and do not need to stay 2 metres apart.

I want to stress that support bubbles must be exclusive, meaning you can't switch the household you are in a bubble with or connect with multiple households and, if any member of the support bubble develops symptoms, all members of the bubble will need to follow the normal advice on household isolation.

We're making this change to support those who are particularly lonely as a result of lockdown measures. It's a targetted intervention to limit the most harmful effects of the current social restrictions.

It is emphatically not a sign, for people who don't qualify, to start meeting inside other people's homes because that remains against the law.

Unfortunately we cannot advise anyone who is shielding to form a support bubble at this stage, given their particular vulnerability to the virus. However, I wanna say, I know how hard it is for those of you who are shielding, and we will say more next week about the arrangements that will be in place for you beyond the end of June".

@FourTeaFallOut I'm glad I'm not the only one with 'fuck it' on the top of my tongue!

@NotEverythingIsBlackandWhite Thank you for doing that - I especially like the "wanna" 😂

I can't see how some people got from that both households needed to be single people?!

@MereDintofPandiculation good - glad you found that. Thank you!

The 2nd question from the public (Alessia) was written on the screen, and asked whether the review would look at the situation where partners haven't been able to see each other and whether new guidance would consider them seeing them and staying overnight if they live a long distance away.

The PM answered that they could make use of the support bubble. He then looked to Sir Patrick and then said "Chris!".

Chris Whitty responded:
"Just to, just because it's a new thing, just to be clear what can be done and what can't. The idea of the bubble is for families which have a single adult in the household. So this applies to families with a single adult in the household. Er, that would be covered by what the Prime Minister has just talked about, this idea of bubbling.

For other people, it's largely going to have to be around meeting outside and that's key, outside and socially-distanced because the risk of transmission is much lower.

To go back to the reason why we are doing this is, everybody can see exactly why this question is so important, why it's so important that people want to see their families and their partners. It is only by breaking the link between households, where things can be transmitted, that we can continue to keep the R down as we take forward these slow, steady steps forward and the reason for making the bubbling relatively specific is that reduces the risk that you're joining together several households. So, the bubbling is about single households or lone parents, at least one of the people will be in that category, and then there's a meeting outside for other people".

For those saying Chris Whitty said something different to the PM, that is not the case.

The PM then directed a question to Chris Whitty about Alessia asking about people staying overnight. The PM said we don't really want to encourage households mingling but asked Chris Whitty what his reaction to that was.

Chris Whitty:
"What the suggestion about bubbling is that this will allow people who belong to single households or lone parents to stay, if necessary, but it doesn't apply except in that situation. And the reason for that is, single households will have many fewer contacts and therefore it's linking up many fewer households."

Because life is for living