What are the rules?

[JBCG]

Please help! I apologise in advance for my very silly questions.

I am due to be coming over to England for a medical appointment next week (in London) and I am very confused about the current guidance. I'm currently in the Channel Islands and there are no distancing / mask / gathering limits in place and I've tried to look on the gov.uk website to make sure I can adhere to the U.K. rules but I am just confused!

I am going to be bringing my 1yo with me and we were hoping to be able to see family whilst in England. Am I right in thinking we'd have to socially distance, ideally out doors? Does my 1yo also have to wear a mask when we're on public transport / in shops etc? Is the limit on the number of households and is that at the same time? Or could we go and see one set of grandparents one day and then another the next? I am also assuming we won't be able to stay with family and will have to stay in a hotel?

As I say, really sorry to be asking such silly questions but the guidance I found online was very disjointed and hard to follow and I'm not quite up to speed with some of the terminology being used (ie what is a support bubble?) Any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated.

There are no isolating requirements travelling to the U.K. from where I am but I will have to quarantine on my return.

Thanks in advance x

Your 1 yo does not have to wear a mask
You can meet one set of grandparents one day and another the next day
You can stay overnight with family but should maintain SD.
This is if you're not visiting an area with a local lockdown- not idea what those rules are!

You are coming from within the common travel area, so no need to quarantine, your child does not need to wear a mask, you can visit multiple other households, you can stay with another household you do not need to stay in the hotel (assuming you and your 1 year old are one household and you're staying with one household)

You are within the guidelines on all of that (and of course the actual law is even less restrictive, but that doesn't matter and you can follow the guidelines)

www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-outbreak-faqs-what-you-can-and-cant-do/coronavirus-outbreak-faqs-what-you-can-and-cant-do
makes it all pretty clear other than the mask on public transport, which tfl.gov.uk/campaign/face-coverings#on-this-page-2 is pretty clear.

Amazing, thank you so much. I will take a look at the link shortly.

I just wanted to make sure I probably identified the guidelines as I feared my family would have a fairly lax attitude to the whole thing in the excitement of seeing DS for the first time since Christmas!

At least now I can go over with an understanding of what is actually allowed/recommended.

When visiting other households inside should just be you and ds and them. So you could visit one household one day, then another another day, but not have a few households in one house. Same with going out to eat, just meet up with one other household.
Outside you can meet with a group of 6, including yourself and ds, but try keep 1- 2m apart. Social distancing inside too.
Yes just masks for you. Ideally not supposed to share a car with anyone unless necessary .
All guidelines, but I think good to stick to if you can xx

Even though you can visit people you have to keep 1-2m apart. That's the hardest thing with family who you naturally want to hug.

Thank you all. So in terms of the guidelines - are they actually enforceable or just recommended?

I am absolutely planning on following them but just need to know my facts before standing my ground with over enthusiastic and excited grandparents!

The biggest issue would be that the 1 year old would be neither welcome at the hospital appointment or able to be within 2 meters of family members they don't live with, which seems as though it would prevent you bringing them unless another adult who you live with is also coming.

@StatisticalSense sorry yes DP would also be joining us and would have DS during my appointment.

It's a weird situation because if our family came over to where we are, after the initial isolation, they wouldn't have to social distance at all from us. So it does seem a bit strange that going one way we can give them a hug but the other way we can't (if that makes any sense?).

But as I have to go over anyway, it makes sense for us to go to them - so we will abide by guidelines in place.

Thanks again everyone - sorry I got myself so confused and asked silly questions!

The guidelines, are just that guidelines.

The actual enforceable law is much less restrictive - you can hug, meet in groups smaller than 30 etc.

@JBCG

It's a weird situation because if our family came over to where we are, after the initial isolation, they wouldn't have to social distance at all from us. So it does seem a bit strange that going one way we can give them a hug but the other way we can't (if that makes any sense?).

But as I have to go over anyway, it makes sense for us to go to them - so we will abide by guidelines in place.

Thanks again everyone - sorry I got myself so confused and asked silly questions!

Just hug them anyway (if everyone involved consents to do so). They are guidelines not laws.