Next announcement from Boris

[whoamitojudge]

Does anyone know when it is?
With all this new talk of this current lockdown not being enough I just wondered if maybe he’d step up and say something

support bubbles definitely should not be removed - How cruel. They were put in place for a reason.

I think they need to clamp down on employers saying staff have to come in. My DH works in film and they are being made to come in - films are most definitely not essential atm!!

Blimey. I’m going to Starbucks tomorrow!

I do think a lot of people are abusing the option of “support bubbles”
Someone I know seems to be in multiple support bubbles so her life hasn’t changed at all.

I'm not sure exactly how current measures could be strengthened but I can think of a few very easy wins:

Stop click and collect of any old retail: My husband works in non essential retail. They are as busy as ever with an almost full team in place as customers are shopping via click and collect. Non of the items are remotely essential. How can the government on one hand tell us we should leave home only for a few reasons, but then make click and collect of any non essential retail items allowed?

Discourage visors: So many people are wearing visors instead of masks. In my local butchers and hairdressers all staff wear visors only. They think this is as effective as a mask. I accept that for some people it is all that they can tolerate, but that is not what is happening in many cases. This needs to be more widely publicised.

Ventilation: many many places aren't keeping doors open. I know it is cold but this has been proven to make an enormous difference. My local garage, post office, corner shop, chemist all have no windows and keep the door closed. I don't think this is an informed decision- they just don't know what a huge difference natural ventilation can make.

Register bubbles: ask people to register their bubble details online to help stop those abusing the system and having multiple bubbles.

Push home working: in lockdown one I had 15 customers who began to wfh for the first time ever. 13 of these have now gone back to their workplace- they all tell me they could work perfectly well from home but their employers want them back in the workplace.

Provide higher grade masks for some vital workers who are constantly at risk e.g. bus drivers, bin men (all together in one cab), driving instructors, care workers etc.. In fact I can't understand why these are still in such short supply, surely since March we could have ramped up production so they were more readily available?

@minisoksmakehardwork Yes, our manager is very strict and has said that you need to wear a mask or visor/shield if you can’t wear a mask.
Wish the same could be said for our customers but that’s a whole other thread 😂

[quote StatisticalSense]@BrigitsBigKnickers
If society would accept support bubbles being limited to the elderly and under 25s who are living totally alone and have no reason to mix with other households they could probably continue. The problem occurs when single parents whose children are already mixing with their other parents household want to be able to mix with further households.[/quote]
Yes of course as long as the elderly are OK 🙄 the whole bloody world revolves around them now.

@PinkSparklyPussyCat

Ending support bubbles would be cruel. If I was single that's one change I would ignore.

If they end support bubbles my mum won’t get her vaccine. She has dementia and won’t go out of her home with anyone apart from me.

after reading my thread on elite sport this afternoon i'm totally confused by it all

i'm a manager in essential non food retail and its just so hard right now. this morning on my dog walk i was missing my mask, had a cold nose! saw 2 walkers talking and could see how far their frozen breath carried, that was a surprise

i don't know what fence i'm on anymore i really don't

@Humpty11 I agree with you regarding abusing support bubbles. My mum who is on her own is in mine but was hesitant to come over on Christmas Day as I work in a supermarket and at the time we’d just gone into tier 4

@Pagan101 is our freedom not already gone? And yes if people continually take the piss then that's what it takes!
I am sick of caring for people who see a multitude of 'bubbles' each week. I don't see anyone other than my own family and another person for a walk to help protect them.
I want to form a bubble with a friend who still lives with someone, I can't even though she is living in a very shit situation but to the outside world they are a couple!
When she eventually breaks free and can leave then we she and her children can form a bubble with me and my family.

I’m 49
I’m single
I’m losing my mind now
Without my bubble there is no reason to wake up tomorrow
It’s bleak with the bubble
Without there is no point to life

I don't think there’s appetite among the majority of the public for further restrictions such as ending support bubbles.

I think we can see lockdown fatigue really setting in, with the vaccines seen as the end being in sight plus younger people getting tired of restrictions for something that most likely won’t really adversely affect them. Yes, I know, long covid and not overwhelming the NHS etc etc but the young think they’re invulnerable and there’s only so long they’ll continue to be altruistic.

No one who isn’t experiencing how lonely living alone in a lockdown is has the right to say support bubbles or meeting one person outside for a socially distance walk should be removed. If you are saying that you clearly have zero understanding of the impact complete isolation has on someone’s mental health and well-being.

I’m not breaking any rules but if these two things were removed I’d have to to stop myself becoming very ill.

@BrigitsBigKnickers

You think they would tell old people who live on their own that are not allowed to be part of a support bubble? Thats just inhumane.

My DF82 is desperate for company. He can't see any of his friends or do his usual voluntary work. I do a socially distanced visit a few times a week ( in his conservatory 4m apart with the door open.) I am the only person he sees.

He has had his first vaccination three weeks ago ( second postponed 😡) so I assume he has some sort of immunity. No way am I going to abandon him.

@BrigitsBigKnickers

Not the main topic of this thread, but just to reassure you, if your father had his first dose of the Pfizer vaccine three weeks ago he has approx 89% chance of immunity. If it was the Oxford one then it's approx 73%.
www.gov.uk/government/publications/prioritising-the-first-covid-19-vaccine-dose-jcvi-statement/optimising-the-covid-19-vaccination-programme-for-maximum-short-term-impact

@minisoksmakehardwork

And support bubbles need to be curbed I think.

So many people have an exercise bubble, support bubble and childcare bubble. They are seeing more people whilst not working than I am at work.

The support bubbles should be fine.

The issue I see is childcare bubbles. They are literally for childcare. Drop off and pick up kids while you work. However from people I know,they are socialising with childcare bubbles, usually grandparents. Now maybe it doesn't matter because the children are in theory a link in the chain but it must increase the risk.

Then if people have a childcare bubble ,say 2 parents plus children plus grandparents and they have a support bubble, a single friend or sibling or elderly parent...that's a lot of contacts.

If they remove support bubbles I will absolutely ignore it. We are my mum's support bubble. We see no one but her and vice versa. She would be devastated to not see us and the DC, it would just be cruel.

I don’t think support bubbles should be taken away but they are definitely being abused and used as excuse for so much. I know people who mix twice a day with their bubble just because they can, with no regard for the fact that a bubble doesn’t mean you can’t pass the virus on

agree if schools are getting crowded they could limit places to families where both parents are kw. support bubbles ending would just be cruel! maybe stop the being able to meet 1-1 fpr exercise? or would that be silly?

I will not comply with the ending of my support bubble. That would make me suicidal.

I think both parents need to be a keyworker to get a place in school. My daughters class has just over half of them in even though 1 parent of a few of them is working from home

There are necessary support bubbles and there are nice to have support bubbles (which were bought in when we were in a much better situation back in June). When the death rate is as high as it is, it needs to go back to the absolute necessary ones.

I do think support bubbles should stay, they really are needed, also think play parks should stay open as they are some parents only way of staying sane.

@StatisticalSense

End of support bubbles and closure of garden centres and places of worship and hopefully play areas. Maybe limiting take-aways to places that offer substantial meals (as in no popping in for a coffee but allowed for meals). Limiting key worker school places to households in which all adults are keyworkers. Masks outdoors make no sense and it sends completely the wrong message to have any rule for outdoor areas other than avoid busy ones completely.

This is exactly what needs to happen

Maybe worth a consideration with this extreme cold as we know covid thrives off those conditions.

That's worrying because at my DC's school the bubbles are allowed to mix outdoors.