Indoor visits when the weather turns

[MummaPI]

Can I ask your thoughts on this?
I've read that it should be 2 metres apart and if closer wear a mask. I know its so vague but there's also mention of it being airborne inside for 5 hours.
What will you do when the weather turns?
We've had close family visits in the garden so far and not keen for inside stuff yet.

To those of you who won’t be meeting anyone inside, how do you feel about schools going back?

I didn't realise people weren't seeing people indoors. I have seen plenty of people inside my home.

@Letseatgrandma we need more people not meeting anyone indoors to get schools open and stay open. People having regular meet up indoors are the ones pushing the rates upon some areas.

@epythymy do you social distance when you have people in your home?

Worried about this too OP. I think the problem is visiting others homes. My friend has invited me round and I'm planning to sit in garden but she's going to want to go inside at some point and not sure what I'll say! (She also has a newborn that I'm expected to cuddle but that's another story!!) I think now the daily briefings have stopped and it's not in the news people think they're not affected. Very frustrating.

We're meeting up outside at parks etc. Ofd garden.

Feel anxious about schools/work.

Not sure about winter 🤔

We have had family sound in the garden but also spent some time in the house I find social distancing inside no problem. I sit with my OH on one sofa and guests on the other or mill around the kitchen with plenty space.

[quote ineedaholidaynow]@Letseatgrandma we need more people not meeting anyone indoors to get schools open and stay open. People having regular meet up indoors are the ones pushing the rates upon some areas.

@epythymy do you social distance when you have people in your home?[/quote]
I'm not a particularly tactile person so rarely physically touch other people. Other than that, it's fairly business as usual within my home. I genuinely thought the rules allowed us to have visitors into our homes now.

I'd say I'm rarely within 1m of a visitor.

I have only seen a couple of friends since lockdown (but I don't have a huge number of friends anyway). One I have only seen outside in a park, as neither of us have a garden. The other I have been to stay overnight with once - we ate meals in the garden, I had exclusive use of one their toilets, and we socially distanced indoors e.g I had my own sofa. There was no hugging, sitting together or getting close.

Not sure what we will do when the weather is cold, we haven't discussed it. They do have enough room indoors for us to eat together with me far enough away from them, so we may do that with the windows open for ventilation.

I'm not a particularly tactile person so rarely physically touch other people. Other than that, it's fairly business as usual within my home. I genuinely thought the rules allowed us to have visitors into our homes now.

I'd say I'm rarely within 1m of a visitor.

The guidance is stay 2m apart unless wearing masks. I don't think it should be business as usual!

My uncle and his partner visited a couple of weeks ago and it was too hot to sit in the garden so we sat inside. We pushed the sofas further apart but I don't think there was 2m between him and I. I've also been in their house.

I thought we could have indoor visitors now.

@PinkSparklyPussyCat depends which part of the UK you are. In England (apart from the areas in stricter lockdown) you can have one other household in at a time but you must social distance 2m.

But it is still not risk free and the more people that meet up the higher the chance of the virus spreading, which could have disastrous impact on schools opening.

So even if you can doesn’t always mean you should especially if you have school age children.

We don't have children so I'm not worried about that and have had no other visitors since before lockdown started and don't plan on any others. Our garden is too hot during the day so I wasn't going to say no you can't come in! We did our best and I'm not prepared to not see them any longer (unless of course they said they didn't want to see us).

I’ll be back teaching in a huge FE college come September, so I think that will be far riskier than having a friend round for tea.

Surely anyone who works with the public will take the same view? I’ve personally not been in a restaurant/bar/cafe since March, but again, I think that is far riskier than having a guest in your own home, and is being positively encouraged by the government.

You are more likely to get closer to your friend in your home than you are in a properly social distanced restaurant/bar

It isn't just the fact it's airborne, it's thinking about all contact point, door frames, handles, chair, table etc where the virus can live for a few days. Ideally you'd need to disinfectant everything a visitor might touch before and after especially if they're in your home s few hours as they won't constantly be sanitising/washing hands. I'm lots of hill walks in small groups for us.

ineedaholidaynow but I know where my friends have been/how they have been managing their risks.

I will be coming into contact with hundreds of people (adults, not children) a day at work, and while I know we are supposed to be 2M apart, in reality that won’t work. No-one will be wearing masks in the classroom. There is very limited ventilation for H&S reasons with windows that only open a crack. I am pretty resigned to catching it after months of living very carefully!

If I can go to work in an office and go out for a meal, I can go people’s houses.

And that is why schools will be closing as soon as they open

Yes, schools will probably close soon after opening, because they won’t be safe in secondary. Possibly not in primary.

Honestly, I think going to a friend’s house for a glass of wine is the least of the problems when you have 100 teenagers crammed on a bus, twice, then going to their separate homes, where their parents have been at work, and on public transport.

My friend teaches in a secondary school where she has sixth years who are 6ft tall with beards - in another life they are the person serving you in Tesco. In fact they probably are on a Saturday.

My friend teaches in a secondary school where she has sixth years who are 6ft tall with beards - in another life they are the person serving you in Tesco. In fact they probably are on a Saturday.

And probably are in the pub as well on a Friday night!

The trouble is, everyone's circumstances are different.

Family A, may comprise 2 people.
Family B could be 7 people.

Clearly, there is a greater risk if 2 family B's meet up indoors than if 2 family A's meet - assuming both A's and B's are following guidelines.

It only takes 1 careless eejit to scupper things for all.

I have a friend round to visit x 1 weekly.

She is the only person who comes in to our house, other than DH and I.

She and I sit with doors open - to outside, if weather permits, if it doesn't, we don't - husband stays in "his" room for the duration of her visit.

We sit just about 2 metres apart. No hugs.

I clean down door handles and house key before she comes, leave door unlocked and she just walks in and locks up behind her.
She has no need to open any other doors, once inside (other than toilet door).

She has sole use of downstairs loo while here (which has been cleaned including door handles and lock).

She has sole use of a mini soap dispenser, own clean towel, new toilet roll etc and I clean everything again after she's gone (my choice).

We drink wine and put the world to rights.
It keeps us both sane.

We shall continue in this vein as long as situation requires.

We are both careful and cautious in between visits and trust each other.

Buy a garden heater and stay outside. Unfortunately as the weather gets colder people will go inside where the risk is far higher

@epythymy

I didn't realise people weren't seeing people indoors. I have seen plenty of people inside my home.

This

I have been seeing my 2 DS and their GFs in my home regularly. My DS2 is having a new bathroon fitted so him and his GF come to mine to have a shower. My DS stayed over mine last night as he found it hard to sleep at his with his asthma and it is cooler at mine. Its just dawned on me how many lines of transmission there are, My DS, has had contact with the bathroom fitter/plumber (and who will probably have been in and out of loads of homes), then my DS, GF who works as an Occupational Therapist and spent the early part of the pandemic working in a hospital, (although now is working back in the community visiting patients in their homes), then my other DS is an engineer who has to visit different banks to carry out his role, (he is about to go on a training course in Manchester so I wont have him come round for a bit after that, but when reading this back I realise there is already a lot of risk) his GF works in London, but drives in rather than commutes to help prevent catching it, but she has also seen her mum and brother over the last few weeks and I know they hugged at her DM BBQ for her birthday.

Then there is my DD who did live with me until recently, along with her BF, but due to a bereavement in her BF family they have moved to his family home to help out, looking after a dog, well this is where I realise the risk has increased, my DD comes back to see me as she is struggling, her BF visited a relative in ICU, daily for the last 3 weeks, the last day without PPE so he could hold her hand etc, (not COVID), and his relatives from Scotland have now come to stay to help him until the funeral. My DD works as a nursery teacher although not back until September, when she will move back home...so basically I have just realised the lines of transmission are huge from me just meeting my 3 DC and their partners.

I have a small masionette. with no garden so we have been meeting inside for the last few weeks since restrictions eased. I havent actually been outside myself and work from home.

@Jenasaurus

I think this is one of the main worries, households are not maintaining distance and so chains of transmission are joining back up.

Be careful, if you're old enough to have adult kids you're not in the lowest risk category!

So now some 18year olds in education who are old enough to grow a beard are at fault? If they go back to school it will be because they've been told to, not because they are big hairy monsters who want to spread the virus. Many 13 year olds have facial hair- are they to blame too? How about the girls- are they ok because they look pretty?

Maybe it's time for some people to change their own behaviour so that young people can get their education back. Or should they stay marginalised so others can carry on as they choose.

We have children in education and will not be having any inside visitors at home. It's not just about SD, it's because despite careful cleaning, there are way too many touch points.

Visitors in the garden at 2m plus with their own chair carry negligible risk. So by sticking to this I won't be passing anything on, or contracting anything.

There is no magic bullet against the cold. Layers, and external heat sources will help, but sitting still outside in the winter will be tricky.

@Jenasaurus wow I'm amazed that despite making a choice to be very careful and rarely leave the house, it has only just occurred to you that all of your family coming and going carries an element of risk. It just shows how easy it is to put yourself at risk without realising.