Shielded to be allowed out!

It seems to me that people with decreased immunity and those for whom CV would be fatal would be foolish to start to take risks now, just at the time when more people will be out and about, with schools back in part and more people working. How is it suddenly safer?

My eldest daughter worked in her London based office right through the peak of the epidemic there. She did put in place quite strict distancing procedures. Some of her staff members caught the virus - were off work for a couple of weeks. Fortunately, all returned safely to work.

Therefore she was astonished and not at all happy suddenly to receive a letter a few weeks back telling her she needed to be shielded for 13 weeks. She has continued working from home throughout this, but is not a very happy bunny (to put it mildly)

The reason - thirty years ago, due to an autoimmune illness she had her spleen removed. A couple of weeks ago, she had a telephone discussion with her GP, asking if she could go to work for a couple of days a week with some strict [procedures put in place there The answer was a very firm NO.

As her employers are the NHS, there is no way they will permit her back without a GP saying it is okay.

Throughout these weeks she has continued going out early in the morning for a run, sits in her garden after work each day, did manage to get supermarket deliveries, etc.

She lives with her 17 year old daughter and does have some contact with her occasionally - but has largely spent her time by herself. She still works five days a week, long hours, but at her desk at home.

There does seem to be some sort of general assumption that all those shielding are (A) elderly and (B) not in employment.

I am certain that my daughter is not the only person who is younger (50 years old later this year) and in employment.

I would be very very careful if I was a shielded.

This will not be recommended by scientists, but a political decision by liars and frauds.

Not trust them, trust the information that you are getting from other sources.

How confident does anybody feel that measures against the spread of the virus can ease when-
a) there are many thousands of new cases each day
b) deaths are still in triple figures
c) track and trace is clearly NOT yet up and running let alone “world beating”
d) The effects on those who are vulnerable are every bit as deadly as they were 10 weeks ago
e) we are months if not at least a year away from a vaccine
f) judging by behaviour this weekend many many people are clearly not observing social distancing
The 5 tests? Don’t make me laugh!
Talking “recovery” up to try to boost confidence in the economy does not make it so
To quote (or paraphrase Churchill
“This is not the end, it is not even the beginning of the end but just possibly, if we say so often enough, (might be) the end of the beginning”

I went into self-isolation at the beginning of March long before any letters. I won't be taking any risks as my asthma has been playing up all this time, and I have several other illnesses.

I'll be very cautious and only do what feels right for me personally.

I am classed as extremely vulnerable but have been taking my little dogs for a walk at the crack of dawn to keep my sanity and theirs. I am very lucky in that I live near a beach so can keep away from everyone. I noticed today at 6.30 am. That people aren’t social distancing like they were. Worrying

Yes, my husband who is just over 70 and he had a pacemaker fitted 8 weeks ago, so i have had to get a weekly supermarket slot, but i did enquire about those weekly free deliveries from local council but was told he is not on the risk list, as i did go onto the Gov.uk and things like if you have cancer and really bad asthma you are on list, but his condition was not. Plus my old school friend who retired to north wales complains but then told me a few weeks ago she had been out for the day to a well known beauty spot and i told her she shouldn't even be there in any case she told me it had not been cordoned off with tape and as its a massive open space overlooking the sea then that would be impossible. So I want not impressed. All for the sake of their spoilt dog. So i had arranged for our repeat prescriptions to be delivered which normally i would go for and extra medication my husband has needed at this time, yes, it has been boring 24/7 and missing our leisure/swimming and meeting up with friends and our various clubs but what can we do, certainly Dominic Cummings was the idiot. If he had become unwell with driving all those miles and he had had a car crash then the 3 them would have lost thier lives in another way. !! Mental.

Growstuff, His forename is Boris and we all know that so what is wrong with referring to him as Boris ? Think you are being pedantic. There are a lot of other names a lot of people would like to call him but perhaps not on this site.

I must admit I was quite shocked when I read this last night online. Gov.UK had not updated page. This morning it's being generally discussed and is true.!
Shielded groups are allowed to leave their house but only if adhere to strict social distancing. They should not go to shops or work. Support that is in place on whole seems to remain.
I think this is a perfect example of how important information is being shared. If it's not happening until tomorrow why not wait until daily briefing when in theory a clear picture could be given? I imagine it must have been unsettling/ upsetting to a lot of people.
Shielding has been understandably a rushed process,some who should be on list are not and vice versa.
There is so much that is being learned about this virus daily its problematical,especially if vulnerable.
What does seem apparent is that lower risk outdoors and social distancing must be done stringently.
Unfortunately the loudest message that is coming across is that Whoopee let's get back to normal.
Unfortunately no one size fits all. Everyone has to do their own risk assessment,ie how vulnerable are they,who are their contacts,R rate in their area, do they use public transport etc.
From my point of view the luckiest ones have a secure income and dont work. They can sit it out if choose. Spare a thought for those of us who are vulnerable but of working age. I'm a diabetic and changes is information are exhausting. I also work in a care home,possibly one of riskiest environments to be in. Despite that I'm still experiencing pressure from my employer to return to work. They wouldnt even fulfil their legal obligations to do a risk assessment. It was only when I challenged them with info from Unison and Diabetes UK that they grudgingly admitted I could not do my job safely. Of course they are not paying me!
I'm lucky I knew my rights, I can live off my savings for a while. Many carers will not be.

Its all very poor application of science, all the changes happening at once so nobody can identify what any particular trigger for a new outbreak is. Yes, it's removing a layer of protection for vulnerable people who have been sheilded and it's also wriggling out of potential issues with the Equality Act as disabled and vulnerable people have, until this happened, just been told to withdraw from society. Test and trace still isn't up and running yet so how can it make an impact quickly enough! It's a mess. Worrying times.

I received a phone call from my GP on wednesday to basically check if I was ok, and it was stressed to me that if Lockdown measures were eased I should still remain as far as possible in Lockdown and continue shielding myself. She said she felt it was unsafe to ease the lockdown at the moment and she hoped she was wrong but felt there could well be further peaks as measures are eased. I am certainly going to take her advice.

I have offered my shielded friends the use of my garden, either on their own, or with me in it, six feet away.
They can enter via a side gate, will not go in the house, and can stay as long as they like.
They live in flats, with no garden, so that's what l am doing to give them a little outside time.

We’ll still stay self isolated thanks very much until we see how this pans out.

I read somewhere, pre Covid, that Boris above all, likes to please people, and I really hope he’s not letting that colour his better judgement with the measures he brings in.

My shielded husband will venture out for a walk when the 2nd and 3rd wave have come and gone!

This decision is made to appease the public in the wake of the Dominic Cummings debacle - no other reason - popularity polls show BJ falling and Keir Starmer rising so against the advice of scientists the shielded are being let out at a time when we are still in a dangerous phase according to the Deputy Chief Medical Officer _ here we have a classic example of a political decision to divert attention away from No 10’s duplicity and not one based on the science and it brings into sharp relief how little BJ Cares for the vulnerable.

I am shielding myself without being told to. I won't be seeing anyone until I think it's safe to do so.

I agree with you GoldenAge, a good post. I have no faith whatsoever in Johnson and his gang and will be keeping to my garden at weekends when the masses are out and then only going out for alate cycle ride and shop if needed. It is all to quick.

I am not shielding, but at 73 am in the vulnerable bracket. We have not been in a shop or public place since March 18th and I don’t intend to anytime soon. Both my families live more than 90 minutes drive away so visiting them or them visiting me would certainly involve the need for the toilet by someone. Therefore we will stay home on our own for a while longer. We may let local friends visit our garden but no cups of coffee on offer!

1st June , 16 th June , 23rd June, 30 th June, mid July. Does it depend where you live? Anyway , I won’t be putting my life in Boris’ hands thanks , I’ll make my own mind up! I won’t be doing anything different until , like other countries, UK is at zero new cases for 14 days.

Spot on * GoldenAge* !!

The thing that scares me the most is coming into contact with people who show no symptoms, but can still spread this awful virus. According to the reports there are thousands wandering about. Now that really is the hidden enemy. Anyone else nervous of contracting this disease in this way?

Pippa Our PM's surname is Johnson and I shall continue to refer to him by his surname, as is the norm with other politicians and people in authority. I have no intention of going down the tabloid route of seeming "chummy".

Took my husband out for a drive. I think that it will be a while before he actually goes anywhere. It's all very concerning, but again I think that people must take responsibility as much as possible.

Seefah it is 12 weeks from the date of the letter being printed, hence the different dates .....