All these "bubbles"

[lovelylittlepanda]

So, childcare bubble, support bubble, separate Christmas bubble, changing your bubble, travelling to see your "bubbled" household etc.

All allowed. All have highly technical fine print probably read by very few.

Impact on Covid rates.

Discuss.

Disclaimer: we are in one. Wouldn't want to terminate it obvs.

@StatisticalSense

Bubbles are nonsense. It is particularly nonsensical that single parents can effectively be in so called bubbles of several houses (mum, dad, support bubble for each, childcare bubble for each).

Ah, yes. You're right.

Somebody must have mapped this stuff out?

Oh also to add, my DC do not see their father, I’m not in a childcare bubble. We only mix with my DM.

I have wfh and dp works mad hours out of the home and we have done all the way through lockdown. The kids go to my parents or my mum comes round to my house to see to them for a few hours when I am working. I dont know how I'd have coped or will cope without this. I suffer with a disability and sometimes really struggle with my mobility. Dp is sometimes out of the house 14 hours a day and also sometimes works 7 days a week. Even if they scrapped the bubbles my mum would refuse to stand by and watch me suffer.

Like fuck is my ex a support bubble for me in any way shape or form. (Not that he's seen the dc for months. Covid has been the perfect excuse for him not to bother)

Parents with a newborn should have bubbles.

I had a c section just before Xmas and had complications since. I could not move without assistance, I could not get to our baby when he cried, I could not bathe myself, I could not do any housework or go to the shops for food.

My partner luckily has 6 weeks off paternity as his employer allowed him to carry holiday from last year over, but if not he would have had to go back to work today. There is no way I could look after myself or our baby alone at the moment. He is essentially a carer for me and our baby, doing it all solo and being amazing.

You can't just assume all births go swimmingly and mum is up and about to cover when dad is at work after 2 weeks. We are managing just us two but if he wasn't here, 100% my mum would be here as our bubble.

I’m in a support bubble with my elderly mother, we agreed that when primary DC went back to school we wouldn’t see her until her second jab was done (and working) but now it looks like schools are opening and the second jab has been delayed until end Feb. I’d much rather home educate and still be company for her. I really wish schools would close as if they close on Friday then we’d still need to keep her on her own for a few weeks.

The gov website does say you should only form 1 support bubble. So if you are a support bubble for DC1 you shouldn't have one for dc2.
Childcare bubbles shouldn't have the adults mixing, although a lot of people seem to ignore this bit!

I live in a sheltered housing scheme - 30 flats. DH and I moved here in unusual circumstances, we're the only couple and the youngest residents by quite a lot. DM also has a flat here. Being single adult households (excluding us) every resident is allowed to be in a support bubble. I believe there are only two residents who aren't as they have no family. At least three residents are also in childcare bubbles. The average age of residents at present is 81 apparently and I would assume many of them have underlying health conditions. We haven't had a single case of Covid here. I don't believe bubbles are the problem.

I think the majority of the time these bubbles you are purporting as seperate are the same people. So parents doing childcare for a single parent are in a childcare, support and Christmas bubble for example.

Also with schools open and the virus spreading freely there I don't really know why being so concerned with bubbles is a priority.

The bubbles exist as a trade off to support health, wellbeing and ability to work vs risk from covid. So I'm not sure it is an exact science more a risk assessment.

I'm guessing that the naysayers who are questioning "bubbles"- are not single parents.

Just to iterate that I am a single mum. I have a support bubble with my partner who is a single dad. We don't mix with the kids- but when we don't have the kids we support each other. Otherwise I probably would have driven off a cliff by now.

Bubbles are there to combat excessive loneliness. I'm willing to take the very small risk of seeing my partner (who also WFH) for the sake of my mental health. And no, I don't want to move in with him!

The government likes us to blame each other! By the end of the week we'll be blaming the teaching unions for schools shutting down. All of this shit show if the government's fault for not taking decisive early action, not the small numbers of bubbles here and there.

There has to be a balance between limiting the spread and keeping the economy going/ having some thought to people's mental health. Even with a support bubble many people are still finding it incredibly hard, to remove those bubbles would be horrendous for people's MH. Not everyone has people to chat to on zoom etc. My partner is in a bubble with me. If he wasn't he wouldn't see anyone else (his parent and sibling are in a separate bubble). We live 200 miles apart but he has no one else to bubble with and nor do I. Neither of us work with anyone and only leave the house to shop, so we are both low risk. The highest risk to me has always been my DS who caught Covid just before Christmas at work (where they don't social distance and where they also had a Christmas party). I think workplaces have always been risky but it's been allowed because we need companies to keep going and leaving aside jobs that can't be done from home, others (like the firm DS works for) lack the technology to get their staff homeworking.

I think some need popping b cause people are taking the piss.

@lljkk yep this

Can folk stop trying to find people to blame & think constructively how to support each other instead?

We're in a support bubble with BIL, who in March was suffering from depression to the extent that we were worried about his safety. I'm now also in a childcare bubble with my mum, who is retired and very willing to help, and was also struggling with her mental health in lockdown and is very much better for having a job to do. I can work from home, but am just as unavailable when doing so as if I was out at work. It was manageable in March when I had no work, but would not be so now. BIL can't do the childcare I need because he works. There is an additional risk, I'm sure. Every contact carries a risk, but on balance, the individual risk from people who are being careful is not so great as to take precedence over the need for emotional support and childcare support.

@mildlymiffed
Can you not see how having direct or indirect contact with all of your ex, your current partner, and your partner's ex (and not even thinking about what other bubbles they may be in) is a way for the virus to spread?

They are tricky.

We are in two (‘technically’ not allowed) out of necessity and get around it by ‘changing’ frequently.

The only guidance about changing bubbles says ‘you may change bubbles if you are not already in a bubble you intend to stay in’ so we aren’t doing anything ‘technically’ wrong. It doesn’t say ‘you may only change if you don’t intend to change again or return to the original bubble’

So Mon/tue/wed/thurs we are in bubble A
Fri we are bubble B

Days change each week.

It’s all very morally grey area but we have to do it to get by. I don’t feel any guilt at all.

@Pumpertrumper
The guidance about changing bubbles clearly states you must leave 14 days after ending your bubble with household A before starting one with household B so you are not 'technically' breaking the rules but openly disregarding them because you can't be arsed to follow them.

So who wants to pay my mortgage and feed me any my son so I can give up my jobs and my support bubble?

Any offers????????

@Pumpertrumper

They are tricky.

We are in two (‘technically’ not allowed) out of necessity and get around it by ‘changing’ frequently.

The only guidance about changing bubbles says ‘you may change bubbles if you are not already in a bubble you intend to stay in’ so we aren’t doing anything ‘technically’ wrong. It doesn’t say ‘you may only change if you don’t intend to change again or return to the original bubble’

So Mon/tue/wed/thurs we are in bubble A
Fri we are bubble B

Days change each week.

It’s all very morally grey area but we have to do it to get by. I don’t feel any guilt at all.

You have to treat your old bubble as a separate household for 10 days before forming a new one. But like you said, you are doing it the way you are out of necessity. Bubble on! :)

There are of course very good reasons why some people need a ‘bubble’, but the need to keep this as limited as possible needs to be emphasised. I’d support some sort of one bubble only principle. Many people are in multiple bubbles which defeats the purpose. As an example, my mums friend who is a support bubble for her daughter who is a single parent, a ‘childcare bubble’ for two of her other children plus sees her fourth child as a bubble who has a baby under 1 (and also other kids). She also provides care to her elderly parent. Throughout the week she is fully mixing with five other households, including 10 children who themselves are in multiple childcare settings. All seemingly within the rules but bloody foolish.

I'm guessing that the naysayers who are questioning "bubbles"- are not single parents.

Or even single. Are people really so wrapped up in themselves that they can’t imagine how hard it is to be on your own and see no one?

Single parent here. Have one friend as ‘support’ bubble although very rarely mix indoors just because both so busy with kids/work. Another single friend however has a support bubble who consists of her boyfriend. He has kids of his own who stay with him regularly. Her childcare bubble is her mum, they mix constantly as “she’s my childcare bubble so it’s ok”. Her mum is also single so has her own support bubble with her brother and sil. Friends mum also provides childcare for a sibling. Said sibling had also bubbled with his MIL as she is single. Friends ex-partner has kids regularly as co-parent. His support bubble is his girlfriend and her kids. He also uses his parents as a “childcare” bubble so in and out of their house constantly.
Takes the piss. She is a teacher and crying out for schools to close and I think yeas they should because you’re the risky fucker who will be taking covid in to the classroom .

Wuhan didn't do multi overlapping bubble swapping.

They did a proper lockdown.

Now they are able to have proper New Year's Eve parties...

"Discuss?"
I feel like I'm back at school lol

Bubbles are crap because people don't use them correctly! I know of several people who think you can create a bubble with anyone for an hours or two and then leave and create a new one. 😩 it's either genuine confusion or said with a smirk as if they've beaten the system.

As for school bubbles, we have a small primary where siblings are crossing bubbles (obviously) so the while school is theoretically connected anyway.
Secondary, they're all in bubbles in the school but before and after they stream out the building by the hundreds, all together then get on the same trains/busses/Tesco etc.
It's crap. Utter, utter crap.

Of course the vulnerable should have one but so many people l aim to be vulnerable it's some thing that's open to interpretation with no one checking.