Photos of friends on social media with their arms around family/friends

[ke002]

I don't believe I'm wrong in understanding that rules are still in place to practice social distancing with everyone outside your household/bubble.... So I feel so frustrated seeing friends/extended family (cousins, uncles) posting photos on social media with their arms around their family and friends, heads close together, etc. I'm not talking about with people they are in a bubble with. One friend posted photos of her family on holiday with both her parents-in-law plus her sister-in-law and her family and they're in photos all very close together.
My Mum asked me last week if we can start hugging and I really thought carefully about it and said no. She cried about it but I know it's the right decision but it's like a kick in the teeth seeing friends photos.
I worked on a Covid High Dependency Unit for the first 3 months and I truly feel broken by my experiences. I do not want to go back there.

[quote Tuemay]@Bananabread8 for us , it is about protecting our older parents and loved ones.

We are doing our bit. Its horrible but we can wait if it means this goes away quicker.

I do feel that other people carrying on as normal is dragging it out more.

Obviously we have to get a vaccine too but we all socially distanced then maybe cases would go down.[/quote]
I honestly can't believe people think the virus will just go away. That's NOT going to happen in a population of 67 million. You can't expect people not to hug their loved ones until a vaccine is found and rolled out. That's not practical. Life goes on. It COVID doesn't kill you, depression will.

I don't post photos on fb but I am back minding the DGC for two families so that their parents can work. All four are key workers. We don't go to pubs, out for meals, into the town centre or anywhere with crowds. All of us are being ultra careful. The older DGC will go back to school soon which is likely to put us at a greater risk. I'm sure many are doing the same.

I do cuddle the DGC some of them are babies. Sorry about that OP.

Cuddling babies as a caregiver is necessary. Hugging adult friends at the pub, less so.

I agree with the OP about people taking selfies/crowding together for group photos. However I’ve allowed my children (under 10) to go to the park and play with friends without distancing. Hide and seek, tag etc. The parents have distanced from each other. I’m not sure if this is within the rules or not in England. I feel like it’s fairly low risk and we may be in for a long winter not being able to meet indoors - I don’t want them to go for 1-year or more without seeing friends. I would happily lockdown again if there was a serious strategy to get numbers down so we could more or less live ‘as normal‘.

I absolutely agree it makes my blood boil that some people are purposely muddled by the rules! Go on gov.uk its quite clear what the rules on social distancing are! People feign not knowing to make it seem/feel right when they want to do what they like because they want to carry on as normal. Then their views conflict such as can traipse on a beach with children but then cant send to school. It's so hypocritical. I want to hug my parents, very elderly but not necessarily in the extremely vulnerable group but have I no because I could pass this deathly virus to them, it's just downright selfish of people to ignore the rules and no I'm not a miss goody two shoes just accepting what we should be doing.

@vake

I thought that was allowed now if you met less than 6 other people at once 🤷🏻‍♀️ probably wrong but that's what everyone I know goes by, doesn't seem to be clear rules anymore so we just do what we think reasonable x

The rules are very clear. Look at the government's website.

We have followed all the rules during lockdown, me,2 teen DC and my sis who stayed with us for the duration.
We didn't hug or touch my mum for a while who was frail with health problems, until a few weeks ago when she was noticeably going downhill. Thank goodness we did as she died 2 weeks ago and it would have felt so much worse if we had not hugged her or held her hand in the last few weeks.
It was her funeral last week, 20 people allowed to attend some of whom I hugged. Those who were not comfortable to do so I didn't.
The virus is not going away anytime soon and we do have to live our lives in the meantime whilst trying not to take unnecessary risks.
I would try not to judge others, it doesn't help and you really don't know what people are dealing with on top of this pandemic. As previous posters have said mental health is important too.

Sorry for your loss, Mrscaindingle. I am glad you got to hug your mum before she died.

The rules are clear, but the rules don't make too much sense. They all contradict each other in terms of common sense. That is why people are making their own judgements.

I'm not hugging my mum. She is immune-suppressed. I've no choice but to see her indoors, as she's often too poorly lately to be up and about. I sit far away and am very very careful about hand washing and touching surfaces. My kids have seen her once, outside in sunny weather in June, and kept a distance.

I've hugged my dad, though. Not every time I see him, but enough. My children have hugged him too and I'm not going to tell them to stay 2 metres away from him, even outside. Life really is too short. Because he is caring for my mum, he has been locked down for months on end, he's worried and lonely. If he needs a hug, he's having one.

Likewise, if my children want to snuggle up next to their cousins whilst we stay at their house (legitimately, one other household indoors), or hug a friend in the park, I'm not going to stop them.

I wear a mask, I haven't been to the pub, or for a meal with multiple different households and on and on. But sometimes you make a risk assessment and do the best you can.

Mrscaindingle, sorry for your loss💐, I am glad you hot to hug your dear mum💐. To everyone I understand there may be exceptions when the rules cannot or for reasons with family you need to be with them, but my post was about the blatant disregard by a large majority of people who will spread this round by their behaviour and cause lockdowns and keep this virus around with restrictions on normal life for longer.

Mrscaindingle - I'm sorry for your loss.

I’m sure these same selfies people will be complaining when schools have to close again. It’s so frustrating.

I honestly dont see why you cant see family without touching them? If your mental health is so fragile that you cant bare not to hug to protect people, then that's what needs to be worked on

Don’t lick the handrail on the northern line. DO hug your mum.

I’d also suggest you look up the dictionary definition of the word “guidance” and ask for help if the explanation isn’t clear for you.

Are all these rules still a thing?
I’m just doing my own.

Mintich a lot of people are struggling with their mental health at this time and are seeking help for it. Physical contact certainly helps me with my anxiety.

I've suffered from anxiety in the past so I'm well aware. But to risk other people's health so that you can feel better is not the answer. This is why local lockdowns are happening!

I came up against this for the first time at the weekend as we were visiting my in laws for FIL’s birthday. He hadn’t seen our kids since Christmas and the grandchildren who live locally he’d only seen a couple of times since March.

I’d worded my two up on making sure we protected grandad (history of poor health, in his 70s) by not hugging etc. But over the weekend (we were staying elsewhere but spending the days with them) he decided he’d prefer to take the risk because sod it, he wanted to hug his grandkids.

I think in those circumstances people can make their own assessments on whether they want to take the risk related to not following the guidelines. He hardly ever sees other people, he doesn’t socialise, hardly ever goes to the shops. As a community risk, even if he catches it he’s a low risk of onward spread. And if he wants to take the risk for himself - decides he’d rather hug his grandkids now even if it risks Covid versus not hugging them potentially for a very long time - then I’m not going to prevent him making that choice. And yes, I’ll take photos. He probably won’t be around by the time my kids are adults and these times are precious.

So what is the answer Mintich?. What if people consider the risk of becoming suicidally depressed or suffering from other mental health risks through isolation is greater than the risk of Covid?

Problem is many people say they are making their own risk assessment and it doesn’t impact anyone else, but many times it does.

The rates are going up in many areas, hence the local lockdowns, and the reason behind the rate increase is partly down to households mixing in the home, as that is when people get too close like hugging.

With people mixing households with school age children you are taking the risk that the children's school may have to close

Absolutely what I dont understand is that if its mixing households that putting it up again why do they not put a stop on that again & instead of masks in a shop then masks everywhere apart from your own home. I will tell you why because the economy comes first and lives second and they want to say what people want to hear like go to the beach but be careful, absolutely ridiculous. It should be stay within your locality unless for medical/emergency etc. Have same as others elderly parents /children/relativescwith mental health problems but we all try to cope to fo the best for ourselves and those around us. If this was a war would we all still be worrying because we needed to go on holiday or have our haircut fgs.

I've seen my mum 4 times at a distance. If she asked me to hug her I would do though!

I think most people now would just make an evaluation of the risks and act accordingly. We have to live our lives with the virus and all the other diseases floating around. I don't go out of my way to hug someone but equally if the need arose I would. I won't stop my children touching their friends.

I have lost all faith in the government and its handling/U-turning/inconsistencies and I imagine most people are the same now.

I would add my parents are in their 70s. They may not have a huge amount of time left on this planet. They are not going to ruin that time by keeping their Grandchildren at a distance. They won't get this time back . This may result in then getting the virus (probably won't). It's a risk they will take for their sanity. I fully support that. They don't see many other people.

Why don't you work on a Covid high unit anymore have they shut down?