Page 3 | Bubbles - need to come with more warning

RedskyAtnight · 02/01/2021 11:41

Bubble has become a massively overused word. I think most people are using support bubbles sensibly and are aware of the additional risk that extra mixing brings. Where it got confusing is when "school bubbles" were brought in, as so many people seem to think that they are "safe" (no, it just means infection spread is only within bubble at school) and so could confer magic properties even out of school.

Bromeliad · 02/01/2021 11:44

I'm in a support bubble with my parents, I had a baby at the start of April and live in a part of Greater Manchester where we were banned from seeing anyone even in our garden in the summer when our rates were eleven per hundred thousand. I cried every day for weeks.

Yes, we're using it for socialising because that's part of support. We really aren't going anywhere, not even to the supermarket. I've not been in one since February. We're even avoiding the busier play area now that rates are up again. It's lovely to think that people like the OP think we're feckless idiots incapable of judging risk for ourselves though.

Original poster

beckypv · 02/01/2021 11:45

This wasn’t meant as a thread against people being in bubbles per se. Providing support to people on their own, in need emotionally/physically etc is totally what they are for. No government can draw a line on what is acceptable and it does come down, rightly to individual judgements/circumstances. But there is absolutely no harm in reminding people of the risks and purpose of bubbles. It’s like reminding us of hands, face, space; or that we need to get a test. We all know it, but it does no harm to tell us again. It’s a bit like at the very beginning we were told we shouldn’t go to the pub - but people still did (because they could), so it got changed to you ‘couldn’t go to the pub’. The message ‘just because you can doesn’t mean you should’ is an overarching statement during this pandemic.

OP posts:

ivfbabymomma1 · 02/01/2021 11:45

Without a childcare bubble with my parents, I wouldn't be able to work. Which sadly isn't an option!

BumbleBeegu · 02/01/2021 11:48

It's a nice, pretty, frothy word isn't it? Deliberately marketed to make you all feel safe.

Used in the context of schools, together with the lovely, clean, UNTRUE photographs of large classrooms that have about 6 desks in huge, almost empty spaces, with only one child at each nice, clean, empty desk...and your are fooled into thinking you are sending your child into a nice, safe, Covid free bubble aren't you?

Reality check! My Year 2 classroom is a very small, low ceiling-ed, damp, poorly ventilated room, with 34 kids cramped in together! There's NO SPACE BETWEEN THEM!! I simply can't move my desks to put any kind of social distancing between them! We've already closed our 'bubble' three times with children testing positive.

So yeah...nice fluffy word to make you feel safe. You're not 🤷‍♀️ and neither are your children. Don't be complacent!

Pastanred · 02/01/2021 11:53

so agree OP!

Ive said this all along

Its bubbles that link the low risk to the high risk in the main and they are the one legal thing permitted

I know they cant be prevented for all the reasons mentioned but its really pisses me off when people moan about youngsters going the pub etc - they mix with own age group - its the bubbles causing the huge rises in hospital cases, not the young. Students mostly live away with their age group so not affecting those at risk given most transmission i at home

we need to stop the cross generation mixing

I know some need childcare but i genuinely don't know how people can hand their school age kids to their grandparents knowing the risks. I know not everyone has a choice but personally i'd give up my job before i'd do that- i just wouldn't forgive myself. I'd rather advertise or student or young person to do school run etc

Pastanred · 02/01/2021 11:55

So may people seeing parents inside - not for care/needs- more just because they want to - its this mixing that causes the risk. Kids can go to school - just stop them and you mixing with grandparents/at risk. Its not the kids fault its getting to nan and grandad its parents.

Fruitteatime · 02/01/2021 11:57

A large family with children at different schools and parents who both work outside the home is arguably more unsafe than a baby under one and parents and grandparents living apart who can both work at home mixing as a bubble. The bubbles that are allowed are for people who really need the support. Of course there is still risk of it spreading, people do need to understand the title of bubble doesn't make it safe.

Icequeen01 · 02/01/2021 12:07

We are in a support bubble with my 81 year old DM. She lives next door. However, we are an "unsafe" support bubble as both DH and I work in different SEN schools. My DS also has a part time job in a supermarket. We still have weeks where we will not go near her and will just talk to her from our respective back doors. My DS's birthday meal was with her on the other side of a closed patio door, which is better than nothing I know. Whilst this is a far better situation than a lot of people it also causes issues as my DM often forgets and just "pops" over to ask/show us something. We can't get her to understand that if there is so much as a sniff of a COVID symptom at any of our respective jobs we can't go near her.

She has been fortunate in that she's had her first jab but with her now not being given the 2nd for weeks we are just back to square one as no one knows whether her immunity will last.

Bluebellpainting · 02/01/2021 12:14

@RedskyAtnight

Bubble has become a massively overused word. I think most people are using support bubbles sensibly and are aware of the additional risk that extra mixing brings. Where it got confusing is when "school bubbles" were brought in, as so many people seem to think that they are "safe" (no, it just means infection spread is only within bubble at school) and so could confer magic properties even out of school.

This sums it up well. I keep hearing people say about their bubble when they are not one of the allowed childcare/ support bubble etc. I have a childcare bubble with my mum at the moment which will become a support bubble when her partner goes back to work (he is home on leave). We are all aware of the risks- my mum and I are both tested regularly for work and she is being vaccinated next week (healthcare professional). But some many people are saying they are in a bubble when they are not. The rules around isolation for a childcare bubble are also a bit ridiculous- unlike a support bubble you are not treated as one household. So if I test positive my mum wouldn’t need to isolate as she has only had contact with my son (14months) not directly me (unless he develops symptoms subsequently). We have decided to act as one household anyway when it comes to isolation, shopping etc (I’m still not going in or mixing with her socially- just dropping my son at her door) but we hope we are minimising the risk by acting as one household.

Bbq1 · 02/01/2021 12:30

My 80 year old mum is in our bubble - dh, ds(15)and myself. We only lost my dad in February, mum and dad were married for 59 years. My mum lives round the corner, I have an older sister and brother. My brother lives 200 miles away. My mum and I are really close and there is no way I could not see her and support her especially now. What is worrying though that I am expected to turn up at my workplace, a SN school on Monday and continue as normal whilst having a vulnerable mum.

Notcoolmum · 02/01/2021 12:31

I'm in a support bubble with my partner. It's made the last 9 months worth living. We are aware of the risks but to not see each other is unbearable.

Preg19 · 02/01/2021 13:02

@beckypv

I think the government needs to place more warnings on the fact that even though you can be in a bubble, it doesn’t make it any more safe. Just like people were saying before Xmas that ‘the virus doesn’t stop for Xmas’, I think it should be highlighted that it also doesn’t stop for bubbles. Reading that the spread is greater now, I’m trying to think where this is happening and I’m imagining bubble transmission is quite a big thing. I totally understand that bubbles are necessary for mental and physical support for some people for some of the time, but the under 1 rule and the child care rule (although technically shouldn’t), just give a free pass to mixing inside which isn’t always necessary. I would just like it highlighted more that just because you can be in a bubble, it doesn’t mean you should. So often I hear the phrase “it’s ok we’re in a bubble with them”. Yes they’re right, in terms of the rules..... but in terms of risk, it’s not ok, and with schools going back, perhaps some of these bubbles need to be reined in a bit. A happy family of 5 with an under 1 staying over at the grandparents doesn’t seem necessary mixing at the moment given the current situation.

I disagree. I think people with any common sense would know the more contacts you have to more risk? But it's about weighing up those risks. No one thought the virus stopped for Xmas surely? It was just an annoying phrase that people started to say!

Tupla · 02/01/2021 17:31

I completely agree, OP. I don't think there has been enough messaging about the dangers. It clearly increases the risk to form a bubble, but has been allowed because of the risk (to mental health especially) of isolation. We're encouraged to think that within a bubble people can be treated as one household and don't need to distance.

But I'm sure distancing and masks would make bubbles much safer. It's a middle ground that isn't much promoted. I'm sure a lot of bubbles contain either a vulnerable person or a person who has contact with vulnerable people, and to be blunt, lives are being put at risk by unfettered bubbling, but people aren't really being advised properly about how to do it safely.

WhatWouldPhyllisCraneDo · 02/01/2021 17:34

Well based on my walk today there are an awful lot of people who either live in very large houses with lots of people, or just don't give a fuck. Although I did laugh when the woman at the cafe told the group in front of us that they shouldn't all be together as they weren't a legal bubble.

Katie517 · 02/01/2021 17:46

We have formed a bubble with my parents as I have a 5 month old and my husband works full time, it has made such an improvement to my mental health we know there are risks but in our opinion the benefits outweigh them. It’s as simple as if you don’t want a bubble don’t have one but stop the judgment against people that have them. There seems to be particular venom and disliking against the under 1 bubble especially if there are already 2 adults in the house but as I said my husband works full time 8+ hours a day and that’s a long time to be alone with a baby. We go for walks with other mums and to the odd baby group but knowing I have the option to go into my mums and sit and have lunch while they play with my little girl makes a world of difference. Being a first time mum during this time is awful and I am so glad the government finally (8 months too late!) realised this!

newlabelwriter · 02/01/2021 17:49

Yep. Quarantining after it turns out DH single friend who’d formed a bubble with had been mixing and called to say they’d tested positive for CV after spending Christmas Eve with us 🙄

greyyaa · 02/01/2021 17:51

Completely agree OP, 'can' is not the same as 'should'. We have refused childcare bubbles with family (childcare that is desperately wanted and for logistical work reasons would have made life so much easier) because it's not the right thing to do, if we can manage without.

happystone · 02/01/2021 18:05

Bubbles are spin they use world bubble because it sounds safe. Ie school bubbles.it is a group of people mixing with no face masks or social distancing, if people ever thought that being in any bubble was safe. They are stupid or have been gaslighted

Sitt · 02/01/2021 18:53

I never for a moment thought it wasn’t riskier in terms of covid. However, for my children the risks are greater if they have a mother crazed with PND, and this has helped with that.

RichardMarxisinnocent · 02/01/2021 19:14

@Notcoolmum

I'm in a support bubble with my partner. It's made the last 9 months worth living. We are aware of the risks but to not see each other is unbearable.

Same here. We both live alone and 23rd March to 12th June living alone and wfh almost broke me.