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?

Maybe it would be a good thing for covid to go round students as quickly as possible early on. If there's a slow build-up, it could lead to lots of infected students returning home for Christmas, and spreading it to their relatives.

They will do exactly as they please I suspect and good luck to them!

Her halls is privately run, not owned by the university (as are the majority in that city). She knew what she was signing up to.

This is so depressing for freshers. DS has already started (possibly at same place as @ApolloandDaphne as it is in Scotland and GF will be at Sheffield in privately owned halls in a flat of 5. I guess he may be allowed to visit for a weekend if they are not locked down? But maybe she can't visit him unless they go to a hotel.

It can't be fair that if your household (or corridor) is more than 6 people you can't have any visitors.

.... and they can't go to any parental homes because that would involve

Just realised that if the same rules are still in place at Christmas, if following the law, parents with children at 2 or more different universities will have to choose which household to allow to visit!!

It will be hard to navigate the rules, but I understand from DS that halls are not allowing visitors anyway, so the household size Is a moot point.

They will be out and about though, ridiculous to think they will be shut away in their rooms.

I’ve suggested he books a cheap premier inn for when his girlfriend visits.

The statements from the government could I feel be interpreted as allowing one person in a large student house or other HMO to have five visitors in their room, and the other people in the HMO aren't part of that group of 6.

DD heading for her first year in Birmingham. Am awful lot depending on how well she gets on with her flatmates. Assuming they even turn up now.

teta, yes but the alternative might be what happened at several Universities in the US where students had to be sent home.

I feel for students, but I also feel for people worried about losing their jobs, or children who might miss school, or vulnerable people worried about their health.

Nothing is perfect, but unless we reduce risk and prioritise jobs and education, we face going right back to where we were earlier in the year.

I don't really want to start a CV debate, and agree that it is totally shit. But the virus is spreading amongst young people. Many of DDs friends who stayed in her University town over the summer caught it, even though it is a City that has escaped a major outbreak. If this is what the scientists are advising, and it appears to be, I think we need to listen.

@Needmoresleep I think yours & mine are at the same place? DD had a covid test before returning home and after being in her student house for a while... and was negative.
I hear you but I still think they will follow the rules sensibly but not totally. DD stuck to the same friendship group at uni. At home she is meeting her friends mostly outside as some have ' at risk' family members. But at uni she is not going to stop seeing her boyfriend in another house. I do think there needs to be regular testing in heavily student dominated towns for everyone's sake.

@Needmoresleep I absolutely agree that we need more restrictions, but if the rules mean that if you have 2 DCs at different universities, even if you are a family of 4 they can't come back for Christmas, surely that is not OK?! Particularly if they are in hall.

I don't know how clear the law will be, but I think it is unrealistic to expect people to not see their partners for months and for parents not to have their dependent children home for Christmas. We can see DS and his GF separately and they can see each other separately. They could stay in a hotel, they could each then spend a night with us as long as it is not the same night - that would all be allowed, but they could not both stay with us at the same time.

I agree that large gatherings should be avoided, but think it would be a good idea to acknowledge that close relationships need to be accommodated within the rules or they will not be obeyed.

Monkey, what happens at Christmas will depend on what happens before Christmas.

If we are back to the pre-lockdown constant screams of ambulance sirens and building field hospitals and temporary morgues, then no one will be going anywhere. Individual behaviour will determine the outcome.

Teta, my DD is intercalating this year so is back in London. Her course is entirely on line till January. Data protection does not allow the University to give them each other’s details, so no scope for even a group chat. And no events at all. That said she seems happy to be at home and several of her friends seem to have found jobs in London. It’s a wfh life rather than a student life, but that is ok. Harder for first years.

Her course is entirely on line till January. Data protection does not allow the University to give them each other’s details, so no scope for even a group chat. And no events at all.

When I went to uni, there were fb groups for everyone starting that year, people starting that year living in a particular halls of residence, people on a particular course. I imagine there was the same at every uni and can’t see why it would be different this year. Maybe your DD could have a look?

DD has had a look!

Unfortunately most people on her course are internal, and so have been at the University three years, and will have their own networks. There are a smallish number of external students joining just for this year spread over a number of specialisations. The externals have a joint Fb group, but though she spotted a couple of people she knew from her medical school I don't think she has spotted anyone on her current course.

I suspect this problem will be played out many times over. Her course started at the beginning of August, and is quite technical. Luckily so far it is ground she covered at A level, but this won't be true for all, and as the material gets tougher it would be nice to talk things over with peers, even if they are scattered all over the world.

A Zoom get to know each other session would be nice. But in its haste to adapt course material, the University may not have thought of this. Hopefully someone will get round to it. And even more hopefully they will resume face to face teaching in January. It is a lab subject!

I think that technically once they leave they are no longer part of your household any more so would go over the maximum number of households.

@Coleoptera I'm sure it's because the government hasn't thought that far ahead yet. Imagine the Daily Mail if students couldn't go home for Christmas! And if they can't stay in university accommodation anyway then they're homeless and regulations allow for emergency housing.

There isn't a maximum number of households any more, as long as no more than six people.

@titchy - thanks, that is a relief! It no longer says only 1 other household, which is what I think they originally said.

Scotland’s rule of six restricts to 2 households but under 12s don’t count for the six. England counts children in the six but doesn’t care about number households. God knows what Wales and NI are doing ..

Perhaps @Xenia can advise, but can't students give the university permission to share their details...? Assuming that it is something that the administrators would have time for and be willing to do, of course.

DS1's postgraduate course at Bristol has already organised a few Zoom / Teams or whatever meetings for the group. The first of which he participated in from under a tree in an RHS garden, as he had forgotten to tell us there was something he had to do that afternoon when we booked our 'slot'.

"Perhaps @Xenia can advise, but can't students give the university permission to share their details.."

Yes, GDPR (and from 1 Jan "UKGDPR") and DPA 2018 has "consent" as one of the lawful grounds to allow personal data to be processed.

By the way I check new legislation every day and as of today there new English Rule of 6 regulations are not yet out so we cannot be sure what the law will say (and it is the law that counts for most legal purposes not advice from the state). I have been against the mandatory CV19 legislation from day 1 but I still try to follow it.