Completely unenforceable and impractical.
1 m from 1/6 and then normal from July. We need to get back to normal.
Exactly - the more people there are out and about the less practical social distancing becomes.
Completely unenforceable and impractical.
1 m from 1/6 and then normal from July. We need to get back to normal.
Completely unenforceable and impractical.
1 m from 1/6 and then normal from July. We need to get back to normal.
Exactly - the more people there are out and about the less practical social distancing becomes.
That's just overcomplicated. The bubble thing only works if it's one bubble that treats itself as one household - i.e. if one person in the bubble becomes sick everyone self-isolates for 14 days. That's the whole point of it.
As Weston Super Mare hospital is now closed after now experiencing a spike in cases just two weeks after people flocked there for VE day I wonder if anyone wanting to relax the guidance is having a rethink?
Not in terms of reducing the 2m rule. This is different from allowing people to "flock" to places.
Although any relaxation would be seen as a relaxation of lockdown and so is likely to result in more cases.
Especially given that people will find it hard to identify what 1m looks like and so will probably end up breaching boundaries putting themselves at higher than needed risk.
Whilst keeping with 2m for now with the potential for bubbles, with trying to maintain 1m within them, allows there to be an opening up of the economy without the spread being very large and contact tracing being much easier.
It could even be that the announcement is that because these areas have maintained social distancing then within these areas you can now have 3 bubbles and there's plans to expand this to 4 in a few weeks time is cars stay low, with one of these bubbles being able to be a pub if you don't need it for another reason.
For these other areas as there's still a noticeable number of cases which would indicate that you've not been social distancing then the number of bubbles stays as two (home and work/school only) with police forces continuing to investigate.
That gives a fairly good incentive for everyone to adhere to the rules, especially those whose companies are going to struggle until they can start getting more customers through the doors.
However it also encourages those within the more relaxed areas to adhere to their rules as they wouldn't want to have to go backwards should there be an increase in cases.
Of course there will still be those who ignore the rules, and that had to be built into the expectations of the rate of spread - of its not then we need to worry for our freedoms.
If you can envisage 2 metres you can envisage 1 metre. It's half of the distance you had before. I'm not for the bubbles idea, it's far too complicated (reference: the backlash once the slogan was changed to Stay Alert/Control The Virus - the public can't deal with these confusing ideas). Besides, the idea of a bubble creates too many unenforcable policy changes, and too much difficulty around who would be in what bubble.
However that's the problem, few can actually identity what 1m looks like. The other problem is that a reduction to 1m distances would be a longer time coming than many would like if it's a blanket rule.
Even saying arms length wouldn't be that helpful, as from the tip of my fingers to my nose is about 70cm and I'm not short (1.8m tall). Even so you can only just touch each others outstretched arms then that's more than 1m but not a whole lot less than 2m.
Bubbles are fairly easy to explain, your household was your first bubble. Your place of work is another. Children at school are going into another.
Basically they are small groups within which social distancing can be relaxed to the 1m distance, this is so that track and trace is easier and the risk of infection remains fairly low.
Ultimately the question is would you like bubbles to be brought in earlier (say) mid July or the 1m rule to be brought in later (say) October to December?
As it's unlikely that we'd be looking at these being brought in at the same time.
That does however lead to the follow up question, what's the next step if the rate of infection does increase?
With the 1m rule you've got to re-educate everyone to working to 2m, with bubbles you just have to inform then their bubble number reduces.
However the impact on the economy of another hard lockdown would likely be much worse than being a bit more cautious about things now. That's the balance which needs to be achieved.
If we stay in lockdown too long with little scope for businesses to trade then that's a problem, if we release all restrictions then there's likely to be another wave. Those countries who have been able to do track and trace and lots of testing are doing OK in getting back to normal.
Reducing to 1m wouldn't aid in achieving this. Whilst bubbles would, as the numbers of people we each interact with would be limited and so not only would the number of cases would likely be lower but the number of people that would have to be contacted would be lower.
I'm finding its difficult enough when walking on your own especially when two or more people come towards you and there are people behind you walking at different paces etc. It is not sustainable as more and more people are out and about.
True but then it wasn't 1m because they felt the general public could not ecognise 1m.1.5 metres isn't something that Joe Public can recognise easily. I think we'd be far better to forget about specific distances and just say don't get within touching distance of anyone else, i.e. the length of your arm. It approximates to a metre for the average person and is very simple which is clearly what Joe Public wants. Just a matter of respecting personal space.
(I saw a sign outside a supermarket yesterday that claimed 'the government recommends keeping 1m apart for social distancing'. Their other signs said 2m - so was that a typo, an error, or inside information for the future?
What we will ask you
We will ask you:
- if you have family members or other household members living with you. In line with the medical advice they must remain in self-isolation for the rest of the 14-day period from when your symptoms began
- if you have had any close contact with anyone other than members of your household. We are interested in in the 48 hours before you developed symptoms and the time since you developed symptoms. Close contact means:
- having face-to-face contact with someone (less than 1 metre away)
- spending more than 15 minutes within 2 metres of someone
- travelling in a car or other small vehicle with someone (even on a short journey) or close to them on a plane
- if you work in – or have recently visited – a setting with other people (for example, a GP surgery, a school or a workplace)
That sounds promising. I really hope we see a severe outbreak of common sense soon!That's exactly the same as what I reported seeing in a supermarket the other day in another thread ( can't remember which one now... ); there were newer looking signs saying 1m as well as pre-existing 2m signs.
Interesting...
A pandemic of common sense? That would be great right now...That sounds promising. I really hope we see a severe outbreak of common sense soon!
Not really; there is no harm in having 2m notices when the rules relax to 1m. These are guidelines after all. The main problem with sticking to 2m is that it makes many businesses unviable, especially those which may reopen in July, and potentially some of those that are due to open on 15 June too.Whoever is making these signs would love a change as they will all have to be re-ordered !!!
Not really; there is no harm in having 2m notices when the rules relax to 1m. These are guidelines after all. The main problem with sticking to 2m is that it makes many businesses unviable, especially those which may reopen in July, and potentially some of those that are due to open on 15 June too.
If we don't get a relaxation on 1st June, then it would be good to see a relaxation from 15 June. If we don't get that, well it has to happen from 1 July surely. By then hardly anyone will actually be bothering with it anyway as most people are sticking to 1m right now in my experience anyway.
If we don't get a relaxation on 1st June, then it would be good to see a relaxation from 15 June. If we don't get that, well it has to happen from 1 July surely. By then hardly anyone will actually be bothering with it anyway as most people are sticking to 1m right now in my experience anyway.
It sounds like the 2m distancing is here to stay for at least another few weeks according to today’s briefing.
I’m beginning to think there maybe won’t be a reduction, with obvious consequences, they seem very insistent on 2m.
I think you have misunderstood the ruling.An opportunity missed at today's briefing, I think.
And the new easement allowing groups of six people to meet outdoors means each group will need a space 10m X 10m. You'll struggle to find that much space in a park or on a beach, never mind in your own garden!