diamond geezer

 Monday, July 13, 2020

I hope you enjoyed the second weekend of eased lockdown.

The opportunity to get out, do things and meet people again.

It certainly makes a change from how things used to be a while back.

I mean, do you remember when the guidance looked like this?



Actually that is the current government guidance from the top of the gov.uk/coronavirus webpage. We are still being asked to stay at home and work from home where possible, to limit contact with other people and to stay 2m apart if we can.

You might have thought the top level guidance was a bit more relaxed than that by now. I suspect a lot of people do, so are happily following imaginary rules about one metre spacing and "using their common sense". The police won't be prosecuting anyone for not following the guidance, obviously, but I suspect we are now at the stage where most people aren't entirely sure what the official guidance is.

To test this out, let's see how good you are on the current guidance about gatherings.

Here are four houses on an imaginary English street, and their inhabitants.

Barry Carrie Garry Harry Larry

Dolly Polly

Andy Mandy Sandy

Randi

• Barry and Carrie live in the first house with their children Garry, Harry and Larry.
• Sisters Dolly and Polly live in the second house. They're both over 70.
• Andy, Mandy and Sandy share the house nextdoor.
• Randi lives alone, and has chosen to form a support bubble with Andy, Mandy and Sandy.

Six questions follow.
In each case, look at the group of people meeting up and decide whether the gathering is allowed or not.
Yes or No?

The first three gatherings are indoors.
Allowed or not allowed?

1)

Barry Carrie Garry Harry Larry Dolly Polly

2)

Carrie Polly Mandy

3)

Barry Carrie Garry Harry Larry Andy Mandy Sandy Randi

Try judging for yourself, Yes or No, before reading on.

Answers

1) Gathering number one shows seven people from two households meeting up indoors. Two of the people are over 70 but that's fine, there are currently no rules stopping older people from visiting neighbours. It's also fine that seven people are indoors together. Since 4th July it's been OK for members of two households to meet together indoors, ideally practising social distancing while they do so, which means this is a Yes.

2) Gathering number two shows three people from three households meeting up indoors. And this is not OK. At no point has the government allowed more than two households to come together indoors, because gatherings of multiple households would speed up the spread of the virus should one person be infected. Even if Carrie, Polly and Mandy met in a restaurant or down the pub, even with plastic screens everywhere, this is still a No.

3) Gathering number three shows nine people from three households meeting up indoors. Last time three households was a no-no, but this time it's fine because Randi is in a support bubble. Since Friday 13th June "anyone in your support bubble counts as one household", so Randi can hook up with Andy, Mandy and Sandy indoors as often as she likes. It may be the largest gathering on the list, but this is still a Yes.

The next three gatherings are outdoors.
Allowed or not allowed?

4)

Barry Carrie Garry Harry Larry Andy Mandy Sandy

5)

Barry Carrie Dolly Polly Andy Mandy

6)

Barry Carrie Dolly Polly Andy Mandy Randi

Try judging for yourself, Yes or No, before reading on.

Answers

4) Gathering number four shows eight people from two households meeting up outdoors. Again, because it's two households meeting up, this is all fine. Gatherings of more than 30 people are banned by law, indoors and out, but it's highly unlikely that two households combined would ever top that total. In this case, definitely a Yes.

5) Gathering number five shows six people from three households meeting up outdoors. It wasn't OK to have three households meeting up indoors but it is OK outside, so long as no more than six people in total are present. Technically you could have six people each from a different household, for example meeting up for a nice socially distanced picnic in the park. This time, multiple households is a Yes.

6) Gathering number six shows seven people from four households meeting up outdoors. Randi's support bubble means technically this is three households meeting up rather than four. But unfortunately Randi turning up has also tipped the number of people over six, so this particular gathering is not allowed. Outdoors it's people rather than households that makes the difference, with six the maximum permissible, which is why this is a No.

Part of me wonders how many you scored out of six, but part of me is much more interested in how many times you've met up with people in contravention of the official guidance on gatherings, inadvertently or otherwise.

In summary, the underlying rules are actually quite simple:

• You can meet in groups of up to two households in any location - public or private, indoors or outdoors.
• You can meet outdoors in groups of up to six people from different households.
• Anyone in your support bubble counts as one household.

Or, simpler still:

• You should only be socialising in groups of up to two households indoors and outdoors or up to six people from different households outdoors.

But if we as a country haven't internalised rules as plainly stated as this, or have chosen to disregard them, what hope do we have with the more complicated stuff?

posted 07:00 :

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