Christmas mixing and Tiers

[meow1989]

I know we are all just guessing at the moment, but ..

I get that its likely we are allowed to mix 3 households total over the 5 days, but doesn't that become moot if your area is tier 1? Because in tier 1 you can mix up to 6 households technically (one from each). Do you think they will have the forethought to clarify this ir will it be more interpreting the rules as you go? (Fwiw I will follow whatever the guidance is, I'm not looking for loophole just curious as to how this would work)

@stovetopespresso can't the other Aunt join as part of a support bubble?

Why 5 days? Should’ve been 3 max.

*@FedUpOfAllThis

Oh get a grip. We’ve all been in lockdown for a second time and it’s made no difference to the number of infections. I, like many have stuck to the rules 100% from day one but I will be seeing my family over Christmas.
Positive test results has fallen considerably over the past few days. It was 11,299 today, down from 20,051 a week ago.

@lovelemoncurd we have just decided to bat that one back to the in laws so its one less thing to worry about, i need to compartmentalise!

@pontypridd I think we are aghast. There simply won't be enough beds in January. Boris needed to have the courage to say no mixing over Christmas. This will cause needless death imo. I hope people will be sensible but fear they won't.

[quote Calmandmeasured1]**@stovetopespresso

crying to my mum that I can't go and see her this Christmas! she was really cool about it and said her other daughters wd probably bubble with her. only thing is i spoke to 1 of them earlier and she went really evasive saying "we'll probably do some walks" wtf. i think she just wants to see her friends. other sis needs to shield with her diagnosed partner and his lot. so mum might be on her own. so sad....
If your mum lives alone, has she not already formed a support bubble with someone? If so, then she is classed as part of that household and cannot change it. If not, then can't you form a support bubble with her?[/quote]
You dont have to stick to that original bubble do you?
If so, my Fil is stuffed and he will have to spend Christmas alone. As his support bubble are all off to a hotel...

@pontypridd The NHS staff must be aghast at this

I know a few people working on covid wards who will be thrilled with this news.. I also know some who aren't following the rules and are having get togethers. Don't speak on behalf of all of the NHS staff.

3 households with any number of people sounds frightening to me

I'll do lockdown based on what I’ve done til now which is the least amount of risk

I'll be keeping to my lockdown 1 for Christmas

[quote Hugosmugo]**@pontypridd* The NHS staff must be aghast at this*

I know a few people working on covid wards who will be thrilled with this news.. I also know some who aren't following the rules and are having get togethers. Don't speak on behalf of all of the NHS staff.[/quote]
You know a few people? Why will they be thrilled ?

@PatriciaPerch

they have said you should seriously think about seeing people our son has to come home from uni, so we are already two households then we would like our daughter to come home (disabled) from her supported living home that makes us three assholes I have told my mum and dad they can't come. I thought it was designed so people could see who they needed to see not for parties

Assholes

@Retiremental they will be thrilled at being allowed to get together with family.

I don't think Boris had much choice. If they stuck to restrictions and discouraged families mixing, people would break the rules anyway. It just wouldn't be practical to have police on every street, breaking up family get togethers during Christmas.

They know that many families will mix anyway, so are aiming to reduce the risk by asking people to have a scaled down Christmas, and be sensible. Some people will be sensible, others will take the relaxed regulations as the green light to party like there's no tomorrow. For some people, that might become reality, about mid January.

It's a shame that very few people will receive the vaccine before Christmas. I wish the government would put the message out that taking risks over Christmas is not worth the small gains. Also, for devout Christians, there are ways to mark the event, without crowding together exchanging viral loads. We're only weeks away from vaccinations for elderly and vulnerabke people, it would be such a shame for people to fall at the final hurdle.

@RedToothBrush We are in a similar position - won't be seeing anyone indoors.

But the gov.uk page and now the updated BBC ones says you can see people outside according to the tier rules, in addition to any Christmas bubbles. And if we go into T3, we could form a "bubble" and see those people in the garden, jut not use the indoor allowance bit? If in T2 can use the garden anyway.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/making-a-christmas-bubble-with-friends-and-family/making-a-christmas-bubble-with-friends-and-family

My theory is that today’s news was a distraction, a sweetener from the government before the bad news comes on Thursday. Tougher restrictions in all areas, no more rule of 6 etc until the spring. Maybe I’m being pessimistic.

@CoolShoeshine I agree

www.gov.uk/guidance/local-restriction-tiers-what-you-need-to-know#very-high-alert

Rules already set out here - including rule of six outdoors in public places in T3 - it is just which area goes into which tier to be announced

Coolshoeshine we said exactly the same this evening. First the carrot, then the stick.

We were in a tier 2 pre-lockdown but fear it will be a 3 next.

I think the vast majority of us will be in tier 2/3 until Christmas. The month between now and the loosening of restrictions for Christmas worries me a lot as think a lot of people are going to throw caution to the wind.

If my DM is in a support bubble with my household - is there any way I can get out of seeing MIL and BIL (two separate households) at Christmas?

[quote MsMartini]@RedToothBrush We are in a similar position - won't be seeing anyone indoors.

But the gov.uk page and now the updated BBC ones says you can see people outside according to the tier rules, in addition to any Christmas bubbles. And if we go into T3, we could form a "bubble" and see those people in the garden, jut not use the indoor allowance bit? If in T2 can use the garden anyway.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/making-a-christmas-bubble-with-friends-and-family/making-a-christmas-bubble-with-friends-and-family[/quote]
Thank you.

Thats promising.

Depends on what tiers we get landed with now. I think it touch and go whether we get T2 on lockdown release but we may get downgraded at the first review in a fortnight (the last one before Christmas) if we don't as the numbers look relatively good and the trend is much better.

We shall see.

The tree goes up tomorrow. I feel more optimistic than i have in a while though Thursday could definitely put a sledgehammer to that! (who wants to bet tier allocation will be leaked at 10pm tomorrow when Thursday frontpages are released?)

T2 and i can have friends in garden which is easier. T3 and i guess we will be trapesing 50m with chairs and blankets to the park.

Its doable. I had feared that exclusive baubles would have meant we couldn't see anyone at all during over the 5 days of Christmas.

But nope we can have a freezing cold but strictly socially distanced piss up one way or another so I'm happy.

Or you can just be a grown up and assess your own risk with your family and extended family and then make the decision that works for you and your risks abc crack on. No one will monitor you.

@RedToothBrush, if your friends are in a similar position, and you are in T3, you could christmas bubble with them to use gardens. You don't have to go indoors.

I don't know what we're going to do.

We're a large, close-knit extended family, there are usually 15-20 of us for christmas dinner which is always at DMum's, she's the family linchpin. Taking bubbles into account we can whittle ourselves down to 9 households. Between us all we have very different levels of risk - both for catching the virus and for becoming seriously unwell. Between us we have a whole range of different attitudes towards risk, the virus, christmas, family and the rules.

I would love to be able to just say I'm spending christmas with my own household and we can all catch up next spring when it's safer, but DMum is terminally ill and this is almost certainly her last christmas and she wants everyone there. Christmas is really, really important to her.

Total headfuck.

I think you're getting this wrong. The five day Xmas rule is indoors and basically all tiers don't apply for those 5 days so this taking chairs to the park is totally unnecessary! I'm sure I'm right but could be wrong.