Family bubbles

We need to allow families to see each other. This would help in reducing anxiety and help ease frustration that people are feeling. Put it with a provision that every member must wear a mask (non-medical of course).

Why the contribution is important

We need to allow families to see each other. This would help in reducing anxiety and frustration. If people see their families it is easier to trace, test and isolate. If one member gets symptoms then you know exactly who needs to isolate. I think if a small number or only being able to see an additional household is put on social bubbles it will make it difficult for people to select who they see and potentially lead to people breaking restrictions. We have a 3 month old.. how would we decide what side of the family get to see him? It should be trialled for a time and if the R number increases then reduce but at least it would ease some frustration.

by rd23 on May 06, 2020 at 08:57AM

Current Rating

Average rating: 4.7
Based on: 36 votes

Comments

  • Posted by harviej May 06, 2020 at 09:17

    Quite agree. Not being able to hug my grandchildren is killing me.

  • Posted by ValODO May 06, 2020 at 09:18

    We need to consider the travel out of your local area restrictions here, for example my parents live 40 miles away from me! Would I be permitted to travel to see them in my own vehicle?

  • Posted by kezzy08 May 06, 2020 at 09:19

    Missing family contact is the biggest single issue we face longer term

  • Posted by Sallymair May 06, 2020 at 09:26

    The difficulty with this is when travel is involved. I do agree that getting together is very important for all concerned, but when the need to travel is added it introduces additional contracts and risks. How do we decide who can meet up and how much travel should be permitted? I speak as a grandparent and miss my children and grandchildren so this is important to me.

  • Posted by AnnetteK May 06, 2020 at 09:30

    Yes, I agree with you. I just can't see how this Family/Social Bubble idea would work. There are 4 of us in our household. There are 23 additional people in our extended family that we would normally be in contact with (parents, siblings and their partners and children). My father is on the Shielding list, so that would exclude my parents from our Bubble, leaving 21 family members to choose from. We can only choose 6 other people. Each household in our extended family list (6 households) would have other family members they would want to include in their Bubble, who are not on our list. So how can we all possibly agree on the same 10 people, and only the same 10 people. The households in our extended family are comprised as follows: - 2 people - 4 people - 3 people - 3 people - 3 people - 6 people We would have to choose just one or 2 of these households and they would have to agree to the same 10 people, and only those people. It just won't work.

  • Posted by Pissedoffmum May 06, 2020 at 09:33

    Should be allowed 100 percent as long as everyone is covid free

  • Posted by Lindaj May 06, 2020 at 09:39

    Perhaps it could be 2 households but limited to 2 days per week. Social distancing and masks. This would rely on the goodwill of the public but so do most of the measures in place just now. The day you meet up with one household would be decided by the households. This would help keep traffic down rather than being told what days are allowed which might not suit work patterns. Don’t think it would be fair to say the other households have to be family as you may not have any family.

  • Posted by CarlaMSteele1990 May 06, 2020 at 09:48

    Absolutely should allow bubbles, I wouldn't even require mask wearing. Opening up small bubbles will decrease social isolation and hopefully reduce the expected spike in suicides and deaths due to domestic violence.

  • Posted by JL May 06, 2020 at 11:17

    Contact with family is vital in these difficult times. Travel has to be incorporated into this for those family members who live a distance from each other. Stress levels and frustration with lockdown restrictions will be reduced as a result.

  • Posted by noeldarlow May 06, 2020 at 11:38

    It is not possible to create "bubbles" without increasing risk. Increased risk will lead to more deaths. No one can fully protect themselves from infection. People who mostly follow best practices may have occasional lapses. Even if you follow all the guidelines diligently, it will not completely eliminate the risk of infection. In a bubble, your risk of infection is multiplied by the number of people in the bubble. Instead of just one person having a lapse, or simply getting unlucky, you now have several people having lapses or getting unlucky. If any one of them becomes infected, the whole group will quickly follow. When the disease is still widespread, bubbles sound like a very bad idea.. Once cases are at a very low level, bubbles might have a purpose.

  • Posted by sgemmelluk May 06, 2020 at 12:02

    Allow us to see immediate family, even if it is in an outside setting for a limited amount of time. E.g. My daughter and my mother both live alone and only have contact via technology.

  • Posted by Richs May 06, 2020 at 13:44

    Bubbles in theory the aim, but the size of the bubble and distance permitted to travel will cause confusion and conflict, by creating a bubble you risk spreading the virus undoubtedly. Personally if I were to see people meeting in bubbles and I could not meet my bubble group 2 hours away this would encourage me to break the rules, and that would be futile

  • Posted by ladybuglou May 07, 2020 at 14:03

    I fully agree with this. My mental health is really struggling, and we are struggling with burn out due to my health conditions and our demanding toddler (nursery closed so our support is gone). I would love to be able to see just 1 other person to help us out. People need social contact and there needs to be more discussion around this rather than an indefinite time without seeing our close families. Yes, I understand the comments above re risk, but eventually people will get the fatigue from lockdown that Gov were so worried about and just do it without others knowing. It will happen. There really needs to be some form of information for families going forward.

  • Posted by outdoorsy May 10, 2020 at 17:56

    I live alone and have one sister and brother-in-law with whom I could visit in the garden so if I could do this I can social distance and this would benefit my mental health.
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