Is this good news?

While I think bubbles of 10 would be unworkable, there are other relaxations that could come in immediately. I have two neighbours, both over 80, totally isolating. They have shopping delivered by the same person, have the same gardener. Neither has any family living nearby. Who would they endanger by resuming their daily chat over a cup of tea? That could be extended to others who are totally isolating, maybe couples or families, two households who agree to only socialise with each other. At the very least it would show the responsible amongst us that there is light at the end of the tunnel. The irresponsible will do their own thing regardless so really shouldn't be the driving force behind decisions.

It would give people the idea that things are not just back to normal. Of course there will be some (just like the idiots ignoring lockdown) who won't stick to it. But it would provide a reminder for a lot of people.

I'd prefer to stay as we are for another 3 months (or longer) than have hordes of people, all milling about.

dizzyblonde
I apologise, obviously I had no idea that you were a paramedic as you didn’t say. I sincerely hope your husband recovers soon. I understand why you feel you can’t get worked up about what others do, when you see Covid patients every day, but I wish the others would care a bit more about you and other medics and key workers.
My daughter and her husband are doctors and consequently I feel very strongly about people following the rules because only when the rules are followed will the numbers reduce.

I am a key worker, a paramedic attending COVID patients every single shift and my AC is a nurse. My husband currently has the virus and I still can’t get worked up about what other people are doing. You can’t change what other people are doing, you can only change your reaction to it. Adding pointless stress to my life is just going to make me feel worse.

GagaJo
I agree, it’s sheer hypocrisy when people clap the NHS and key workers if they then flout the rules.

dizzyblonde
Perhaps you’d get a bit more worked up if your adult child was a key worker had small children. Perhaps you’d be a bit more worked up if your key worker adult child contracted the virus and left his/her children without a parent.
That’s the possible situation for us, all I can say is may God keep them safe, because the actions of others certainly won’t.

I really can’t get worked up about what other people do with regards to how many times they go shopping or go out for a walk or when my neighbours DGC visit to talk through the window and get a tiny bit closer than the regulation 2 metres.

Yes. I think all those who can’t do their best to protect our healthcare and front line workers shouldn’t clap the the NHS weekly. Including the families over the road from me who were happily chatting away yesterday. No distancing. Yet they’ll be out there on Thursday. Hypocrites.

grannysyb
I’m not surprised your stepdaughter is furious about what’s happening. She’s been risking her life whilst other selfish people can’t obey a simple instruction, and shops put profit over people. Is it really not possible for people to just stay at home apart from an hour’s daily exercise or once weekly shopping? Why can’t shops behave responsibly? Don’t people care about the medics on the front line, the key workers in shops, the bus drivers and other key workers who are risking their lives to fight this pandemic?

It looks a lot like they don’t!

My stepdaughter, aa aneathsatist in a London hospital says that they are getting slightly fewer covid patients, but she says that she sees many more people out and about and is furious about it and says that we could easily get a second wave if people ignore the restrictions. My DS works in food retail and his shop has been told by management to let everyone in! Thankfully my local Tesco are very careful, sanitised trolleys and a sensible one way system

I’ve posted this on another thread but will say it again on this thread. If your family includes key workers, medics or shop workers for example, how would that work? If there is a key worker in your bubble/group they would be much more likely to bring the virus home and then infect the entire group. Surely keeping entirely to your own home is safer.

Seems very sensible absent. I'd just like to be able to include my sister-in-law into my bubble. She's getting very depressed, is fairly immobile, and really needs to see/interact with her brother and me. She hasn't been outside her house for 6 weeks, knows we've visited supermarkets once every 10-14 days but would love to see us. I really fear for her mental health if that doesn't happen soon.

Just to clear up some misinformation, in New Zealand we are still (Sunday, 26 April) at Alert Level 4: social distancing, staying local, no one other than residents in your home, no public gatherings, schools and public venues, such as libraries, closed and, for shopping, only pharmacies and supermarkets open.

At midnight tomorrow the Alert Level will be reduced to 3. Restrictions are only very slightly reduced. Still no mass gatherings, public venues remain closed, most shops remain closed, as do bars, restaurants, cinemas, etc. If necessary, one or two close family members may be allowed into our homes but we should still keep 2 metres apart. No one is to change the person(s) who are allowed into their "bubble" in order to see other family members. Schools and early learning centres will probably re-open but with very limited numbers. People can return to work but only if they will not be interfacing with the public and only with social distancing within the workplace. I think the airports will remain shut. Restaurants and other cooked food providers can open for takeaways with precautions on delivery or collection.

Some are in fairly comfortable circumstances for lockdown, others are in intolerable conditions. Mental health torment, and the likelihood of suicides is a real concern. Some are only concerned with how this affects them personally, others are concerned with the wider community. Some are just pontificating on websites, others are sewing for the NHS. People are people, the responsible will still act responsibly, the irresponsible will act irresponsibly. I have revised my opinion of so many in their reaction to this current situation. Empathy with those in different circumstances is a revealer of the ars*holes I used to interact with.

Dollymc1
Do I care?
Not a lot
In fact, not a jot.
Do they care about me?
Do they care about rules made with our health, safety and welfare in mind?
Are they the kind to ignore other rules?
I have no time for people who flout guidance and rules and have no care for the safety of others.
How can I take my daily run with the possibility of dozens of others on the same route not keeping to a 2 metre+ distance?
Even now, some GNers are seeing many more walkers on their outings to woods and other places where during lockdown, fewer would be seen.
This ignorant free for all could start another wave of a possibly mutated virus.

Interestingly the new Nightingale hospitals have been largely empty so far.

It must have been so difficult for the government to anticipate just much demand would be placed on existing hospitals, and I guess they preferred to err on the side of caution.

Good news that Boris is back to work on Monday.

The whole point of the lockdown is to prevent the NHS from being totally overwhelmed by the crisis and through that save lives.

The point of the lockdown was to postpone inevitable admissions while they reconfigured, which they should have done by now.

GabriellaG, that's a really unkind thing to say

I'm happy with lockdown. Let the others catch whatever and see how they fare.

If the majority or a goodly proportion of people choose to ignore isolation 'rules', then we who isolate will find that our daily exercise is compromised by those numbers who are ignoring the 2 metre (or whatever) distance advice. It would make it difficult for those who wish to isolate.

We have 4 adults in our house so how on earth could we work that out? We don’t have any local family apart from FIL who would obviously be one of the people for us all but who else to choose. We all work so have very diverse social groups.

The people I would really like to share a bubble with live at the other end of the country.

The thing is this is only a suggestion so people can chose not to do it and stay in isolation if they feel that is better for them.

Anyway as I understand it, this is only one of several ideas being mooted.

We all know this lockdown can’t just drag on and on or the economy will be irreparably damaged, taking years and years to recover.

That’s in nobody’s interest is it?

I’m pleased to see shops like B and Q reopening, and would love to see the same for garden centres and possibly some small shops.

It would be possible to operate the same system as we have with supermarkets with restricted numbers allowed in at a time.

My thoughts are that all these bubbles would become like a giant Venn diagram and that also The Bubble itself might be a threat unleashed on us if we transgress by going outside our own bubble, as per the 1960’s series The Prisoner. ?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rover_(The_Prisoner)