New covid rules - no visitors of student houses of more than 6?

[avenueq]

Do we think this is what it means - if a student house already has seven or more housemates, nobody can visit? Or ok as long as not all of them congregate?

No gatherings of more than six, inside or outside.

Exception is if household is more than six, or support bubble adds up to more than six.

So my interpretation is no visitors if your household is already 6.

But doesn't that exception mean you can if household is bigger than 6?

My son's uni household bubble will be 12.

I'm waiting to see what that means.

If the household is 6 or more, then they can't invite more people?

Halls or rentals of 12 can obviously live and socialise together, but not have anyone else in. Nor can the equivalent group of 6 people.

No gatherings of more than 6 people. Unless your household has more members (eg large family or Uni students). But yes, no additional visitors allowed.

They can meet in small groups outside of the accommodation eg in a bar or park.

I lived in a house of 10 in my final year of uni, so would have been hard pushed to only be 6.

What happens if you want your boy/girlfriend staying over though...I guess that's not mean to be happening - but I bet it does!

They weren't supposed to be having visitors anyway! Almost all university's that I know of had banned them long before this latest announcements.

Not really realistic to expect them not to see any partners!
What about if they're never actually in the same room?

Whether they stick to the rules or not is debatable but I really feel that the new rules are really clear - no gatherings of more than six.

DD's accommodation contract says no visitors whatsoever, including overnight visitors in bedrooms.

@avenueq

But doesn't that exception mean you can if household is bigger than 6?

If household is bigger than six, it's bigger than six.

You don't have to kick a kid out or sell your granny.

But you can't have any visitors.

if a student house already has seven or more housemates, nobody can visit?

Nobody can visit as otherwise there would be at least 8 people inside.

I think we've established now what the rules are - now how many students in big houseshares will
actually forego, ahem, sleepovers for the foreseeable!?

I can pretty much guarantee that this is not going to be followed in the student houses. Boyfriends/girlfriends will not stay away due to the 6 rule. I do think outside the houses students will be careful not to hang around outside in groups of more than 6. There is no one available to police social distancing rules. It's purely guidance.

@teta yes I agree

There is no one available to police social distancing rules. It's purely guidance.

I thought it changed and has moved from 'guidance' to being legally enforceable now.

Universities will have their own code and guidance in line with the government guidelines. I am a (mature!) student in Scotland and I know my uni is sanctioning 60 students who have breached the uni code and the local and national guidance on COVID. Hopefully all unis will make clear what they expect from their students and clamp down on and breaches in order to protect other students, staff and the local community. Large households in halls will be subject to the same laws and guidance as for large family households I expect. Students are really going to have to get their heads round the fact that they just will not be able to socialise as they wish. I know it is hard for them but they have to stick to the rules and guidance the same as anyone else.

I think in halls @ApolloandDaphne yes, the students will have to abide by the rules. For student houses for 2nd years and above they will largely be setting their own rules. Many will have been back and forth over the summer. My eldest has and she sticks to the same friendship groups. Likewise when home she has been careful to socialise outside mainly with her local group. No one will be policing student houses. The government are full of talk , but haven't even enforced border quarantining or sorted out a fit for purpose covid19 testing system. This does rely on students being largely sensible and agreeing house guidelines beforehand. These students will be working online from home. You won't be able to stop them having friends around. Unless it's going to be like the blitz ... And the covid equivalent of blackout wardens.

In my first year of uni, we lived in halls in flats of 5. So are the rules that, in that situation, only one person could have a visitor at any one time? Or could you have more if you stuck to your individual room?
I’m not at uni, and I don’t have kids at uni, so not looking to bend the rules, I’m just wondering. We weren’t a particularly close group in my flat, and didn’t really socialise together. There were plenty of times my flatmates had a person/people over in their room and I had no idea they were there until I heard them leave, and I imagine there were times they didn’t know I had someone round.
What if 4 people plus two guests are there, in their rooms, and the fifth person comes home. Does a guest need to be kicked out? Doesn’t sound conducive to making friends when you’re first starting at uni. I do not envy them at all.

@teta you are right to some extent that student flats and houses will be harder to monitor. I expect in a large city this would be very difficult. I can only speak for my uni which is in a small town. Any students seen to be breaching the guidance will be reported by the community to the uni. We also now have a walk in COVID test centre which will help. I guess we will see in a few weeks if we get a spike here.

@ApolloandDaphne dd1 is at Bristol and the cases are going up. Yes, they have a walk in testing site 10 mins. from her house but the amount of eating out and socialising in Bristol ( lots of young families) was evident over the summer. I would far rather students socialised at home, rather than go to a pub which us inherently more dangerous. Walking or driving is much safer then packed buses/trains.
I've registered on @littleowls brilliant website for a daily covid numbers email so I can see exactly how things are trending. I think it's useful for every parent with a uni student .

In dd's halls each household or flat is classes as the corridor of 6 that share a communal kitchen/social area. One of the flats were warned the other day for having a party with another flat.

No outside visitors are allowed at all except for one parent during the allocated check in slot of 30 minutes.

But at uni people are out a lot. So if half the housemates are out could they have visitors to replace the missing housemates?

But @veryvery students won't be out a lot. They will be in their rooms with online lectures . No nightclubs are open. I suspect pubs/restaurants will also be subject to curfew/ closing soon. As the weather becomes cooler where will they go to socialise?
Will student bars be open?
Will course socials still be on.
If students are expected to only socialise within their flats it will be very hard and lonely if they don't all hit it off ... and that's a relative rarity.

teta put quite simply, half a household could swap with another half a household for example. If there is a street of university owned houses (as in Hull) it could be like 'musical chairs' within the existing rules. 3 out, 3 new ones in...