Did no one know gatherings at home were limited to 2 households?

[Grottyfeet]

So the only permitted Eid celebrations were having one brother and his family round, or one set of GPs, unless you all live together, in which case there's no change anyway?

I haven't had anyone in my house because the weather here has been lovely and we've stuck to outdoor gatherings, where up to six are allowed, but I have been vaguely aware it was only two households allowed to meet indoors. Even in the pub you're only supposed to meet up with one other household.

It does seem to have been a shocking failure of communication though.

People should do what is right for them and their situation. The rules were stricter at first because of the strain on the nhs. I think the field hospitals will be utilised more in the winter for hospitals to resume some kind of ‘normal’ service. This is about common sense - the rules are a guide only, not law.

Yes, the trouble with "what's right for them and their family" is people can easily convince themselves that means visiting granny or protecting their mental health by meeting with friends.

TBH I am not massively political and I do work in the medical profession but it’s fair to say that patients really lost the ‘will’ after the Cummings scandal!! Sorry but true!!

In Scotland I think it is no more than 2 households at once and no more than 4 in one day.

How can so many people say they don't know. It's written down. It hasn't changed much. It's the media that fuck about and say maybe this and maybe that, but the government guidance has always been clear.

I agree but media really doesn't help and not everyone reads government guidelines all the time.

I was listening to the radio in the car last week and a lady called in from Wales who was on her way to visit her daughter in Norwich for the first time since lockdown. The presenter said 'oh, you must be so excited. How will it feel to give her a big hug' and the woman said it would be amazing. The presenter went on to describe how much he had enjoyed hugging his family when it was first allowed!!

I really wanted to pull over, call in and scream that it still wasn't allowed. But I can well imagine people hearing that and thinking 'oh, I didn't know physical contact was ok now. Happy days.'

Radio, TV etc have a responsibility not to cloud the issue.

It really got to me because I would love to hug family and friends but I'm not going to until the guidance changes. People doing so is a big reason why our cases have started to climb. As much as we like it not to be the case, it seems that smallish, non distanced gatherings in houses are far more dangerous than lots of people on a beach, in a park or at a protest. Everyone was up in arms when those things happened but none of them caused a spike. Ignoring social distancing indoors is starting to cause one. But because people want to do it so much, they are putting their heads in the sand and thinking it won't make a difference.

@Bonkerz I had a similar sounding couple of incidents right in the middle of lockdown (mid April). 6 police officers in horribly close contact with my (ECV) son, multiple neighbours & friends - absolute nightmare. Basically the police said to me that the immediate risk of them not intervening was greater than the potential risk of C19 ... but it was hell.

@SengaStrawberry

In Scotland I think it is no more than 2 households at once and no more than 4 in one day.

No more than 2 other households I mean so 3 at once

some parts that were put back in lockdown u cant have anyone round now

everyone else is only 2 households mixing afaik-the last time i tried to look it up anyway

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/01/quiz-how-well-do-you-understand-the-uks-coronavirus-lockdown-restrictions

Lockdown quiz to test what you know! I had felt pretty sure I knew it all until a couple of weeks ago, and then it became a bit of a blur.

oh and social distancing indoors still aswell

What's really annoying is that our city council have misunderstood the local lockdown rules so the one thing I actually want, for kids playgrounds outside to open up, which is now allowed, is still on the council no list.

@BiarritzCrackers

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/01/quiz-how-well-do-you-understand-the-uks-coronavirus-lockdown-restrictions

Lockdown quiz to test what you know! I had felt pretty sure I knew it all until a couple of weeks ago, and then it became a bit of a blur.

I got 5/14 Which was mostly due to this thread.

Like you say, a few weeks ago I knew what I was doing.

its up to each individual council afaik torys they dont have to open anything

You should only meet people you do not live with in 3 types of groups:

you can continue to meet in any outdoor space in a group of up to 6 people from different households
single adult households – in other words adults who live alone or with dependent children only – can continue to form an exclusive ‘support bubble’ with one other household
you can also meet in a group of 2 households (anyone in your support bubble counts as one household), in any location ‒ public or private, indoors or outdoors. This does not need to be the same household each time.
It remains the case ‒ even inside someone’s home ‒ that you should socially distance from anyone not in your household or bubble. Those who have been able to form a support bubble (which is those in single adult households) can continue to have close contact as if they live with the other people in their bubble. This should be exclusive and should not change. This change also does not affect the support you receive from your carers.

That is official guidance for UK and it took me under one minute to Google it and find it on the government website

So no its not hard to find the information and ifs absolutely clear on what uncan or can't do.

how was that so flipping hard for so many people to do? I really don't get all this ignorance of ohhhh it's so hard to know and ifs so confusing

No it isn't

@TorysSuckRevokeArticle50

What's really annoying is that our city council have misunderstood the local lockdown rules so the one thing I actually want, for kids playgrounds outside to open up, which is now allowed, is still on the council no list.

I think there was a lot of regulations around opening them. So they could open if they could meet the regulations, which most can’t.

and it also clearly says if your unded special local lockdown rules to consult xyz

@cyclingmad

You should only meet people you do not live with in 3 types of groups:

you can continue to meet in any outdoor space in a group of up to 6 people from different households
single adult households – in other words adults who live alone or with dependent children only – can continue to form an exclusive ‘support bubble’ with one other household
you can also meet in a group of 2 households (anyone in your support bubble counts as one household), in any location ‒ public or private, indoors or outdoors. This does not need to be the same household each time.
It remains the case ‒ even inside someone’s home ‒ that you should socially distance from anyone not in your household or bubble. Those who have been able to form a support bubble (which is those in single adult households) can continue to have close contact as if they live with the other people in their bubble. This should be exclusive and should not change. This change also does not affect the support you receive from your carers.

That is official guidance for UK and it took me under one minute to Google it and find it on the government website

So no its not hard to find the information and ifs absolutely clear on what uncan or can't do.

how was that so flipping hard for so many people to do? I really don't get all this ignorance of ohhhh it's so hard to know and ifs so confusing

No it isn't

Because they seem to change it every bloody day, and don’t update website immediately. But you also have to check it to know it’s changed. It’s easier just to assume you can’t do it!

They're not changing it everyday, it's been changed this time because of the spike in infections.

It's like when people were scratching their heads and and saying 'ooh what does 'stay alert' mean???

@Grottyfeet

Yes sorry, I forgot up to 30 people in a park is now OK, so those young people aren't wrong, but not at home?

No, 30 people inside or out (except in Manchester etc) is permitted by law. The two households/six people thing is guidance at the moment.

And just because Cummings went against the rules didn't mean everyone else should have copied him. They knew he'd done wrong but it's like when you tell children 'if little Johnny put his finger in the fire would you?'

My dd is meeting 2 friends at one of their houses - they’re in the same tutor group so same class bubble in September. The guidance is so confusing and part of my job is to understand it but even I’ve lost the will. My younger dd met a friend in the park which was all good until they hugged at the end. She’s 8 and she’s misses her friends having gone from daily contact at school to 4 months of zoom calls and more recently carefully orchestrated meet ups. She was so apologetic afterwards but I wasn’t cross because I totally understood why she did it. Overall we are being cautious but we’ve not been perfect. We’re trying!

@cyclingmad but how often is it realistic for people to read the guidance? Are we supposed to check daily?

I'm with you completely. I have no idea what's ok and what isn't.

We have a camping trip booked next weekend that we booked months ago when the campsites were allowed to open again and we booked it for the latest possible date.

We are a group of about 5 households which is apparently ok as we are camping and it's pre booked but you are not allowed more than 6. There's also the rule of no more than 30 outdoors which makes no sense. Is it 6 or 30. Tried to read the rules again today and am still confused.

Really not sure whether we should go or not.

I am most nervous because most other people seem to have completely stopped social distancing at all. If most others were being careful and distancing and hand washing etc I would feel more confident but they aren't so I don't.

I have underlying health issues

@JacobReesMogadishu

And yes I don’t understand why I can do a spin class with my friends but can’t have lunch with them?

The general reason for inconsistencies like this is because the government are not assessing how individually risky things are, rather they're trying to calculate the effects of lots of people doing those things, and then ban or allow things based on those calculations.

So they work out that if they let 100 spin classes take place and 100 lunches take place too, then that's however many thousands of interactions between individuals, and oh, oops, that's going to be too many and risk causing too many new covid cases. So then they need to pick one to ban.

It isn't that one of those is safe and the other one isn't, it's just that they're trying to manipulate things to keep the total number of potentially covid-transmitting interactions low enough that infection numbers don't go up again.

I think understanding this is part of the problem for some people who aren't following the guidelines at the moment. It seems to make sense that if you can do X you should be able to do Y because they are similar risks, so then people do them both, not realising that the problem is the sheer number of potential covid transmissions caused by all the people doing X along with all the people doing Y.

@Grottyfeet

2 households can meet indoors, SD if possible. Exception is if you are bubbled, in which case that bubble group of 2 families counts as one

Up to 6 people can meet outdoors, from any households SD so no you can’t do a bike ride for 10

Community halls meetings up to 30 in a covid secure environment, ie hand sanitiser upon entering, SD in place preferably 2m if not 1m plus, ie you wear masks. Names and contact details taken, two households or support bubbles could socialise, ie sit at the same table, but SD from everyone else, and everyone has to SD and not socialise

Pubs, 2 households or support bubbles can sit together but everyone has to SD preferably by 2m, again no socialising with other groups, contact details taken etc

Sports, refer to the various organisations who have set out their Ken rules