‘Four-home bubbles all set, but still no to friends inside’
FOUR families will be able to form a household “bubble” in Wales later this month. First Minister Mark Drakeford said that providing conditions remain stable over the next week the intention is that from Saturday, August 22, up to four households will be able to join together to form a single extended household.
In addition, a meal following a wedding, civil partnership or funeral will be allowed for up to 30 people indoors if social distancing can be maintained.
Despite the announcement, the Welsh Government will not be making any changes to the rules on people meeting indoors with people who aren’t part of their household or extended household.
This means that people should only visit pubs, restaurants or other places indoors with people from their household or extended household.
Mr Drakeford said: “We are not at a point where we should be visiting anyone’s home at any time.
“Regulations on meeting outdoors were recently changed to make it easier to do, and this remains by far the safest way to meet.
“There are also indications from other parts of the UK where pubs opened earlier than Wales that outbreaks have been linked to those places.
“If we are to avoid introducing local lockdown measures that could require the whole sector to close, it is vital we can quickly respond to any outbreaks.
“Providing our contact details when attending these premises will mean people can be contacted quickly by our Test Trace Protect teams if they may have been exposed to coronavirus.
“Only by us all doing our part and taking personal responsibility for our actions can we continue to tackle the scourge of coronavirus.”
So while lockdown has eased massively since the spring, one significant restriction on our social lives remains: we aren’t allowed to meet friends in our own home.
At the moment, while the weather is warm and the evenings are long, people have been happy to meet in parks, on walks or in the countryside.
Yet as the days shorten and the weather worsens, there are fears that people will start to make up their own rules if the Welsh Government cannot articulate clearly what we should be doing.
However, leaders in Cardiff Bay believe that evidence shows allowing gatherings indoors – unless people are in an exclusive household bubble – provides too many opportunities for the virus to spread.
It is widely believed that extended families meeting indoors is to blame for some of the problems faced by communities in the North West of England.
Restrictions on household gatherings in parts of the North West, West Yorkshire, East Lancashire and Leicester are still continuing. The latest data show that the number of coronavirus cases per 100,000 people in the area is not yet falling. There is even a continued rise in cases in Oldham and Pendle.
There had been hopes that by this point in August, the Welsh Government would be able to allow people to meet others from outside their household in their homes providing social-distancing rules were followed.
At the end of July the First Minister told us: “Depending on the state of the virus, we may be able to say you can meet people indoors providing you maintain social distance, people who are not even in your bubble at all. But they really will depend on whether the virus is in more vigorous circulation.”
However, it was announced by the First Minister yesterday morning that the virus was still spreading too widely to allow this lifting of the lockdown.
Mr Drakeford said: “It is so important we don’t invite people outside our extended households into our homes. We have made so much progress and we mustn’t jeopardise this.
“That means we are not at a point where we should be visiting anyone’s home at any time. Regulations on meeting outdoors were recently changed to make it easier to do, and this remains by far the safest way to meet.”
For many people household bubbles have helped but they do not solve every problem. People face difficult decisions about which siblings or grandparents to form extended households with. And they would still like to be able to see the other side of their family.
Even allowing larger bubbles of four households, as will be permitted from August 22, does not solve this problem as couples are forced to choose which of their families to link up with.
Being able to meet people under one roof (albeit at a social distance) was something many people were really looking forward to.
People meeting inside is considered by experts to be one of the most risky things you can do in terms of transmitting the virus. With Wales’ R number seeming to be moving up slightly, it appears the First Minister was not ready to take a risk just yet.
According to the Welsh Government, events in England, where many places have been forced into local lockdowns, have made them think again on allowing people to meet indoors.
A spokesman for the Welsh Government said: “We are allowing people to meet indoors by giving people the chance to increase their extended household to a maximum of four households, as of Saturday, August 22.
“However, this does not mean you can now meet indoors with members of households outside of your extended bubble. We monitor the situation carefully, including the R value. We have made good progress suppressing the virus but now is not the right time to allow unlimited meetings indoors.
“We are learning from what is happening across the UK and outbreaks in England, for example, are mainly linked to people meeting others inside the home.”
The next announcement on lockdown restrictions is due next week. However, with schools due to reopen, the First Minister has indicated all the headroom available for the Welsh Government may be taken up by reopening classrooms.
The Welsh Government spokesman said: “All restrictions are kept under constant review. Our priority throughout the crisis has been schools, we were the only country in the UK where every pupil had the chance to return to school before the end of term.”
On the matter of why you can meet your family in a pub and not in a house, the Welsh Government’s spokesman seemed to suggest that levels of compliance may be higher in pubs than in homes.
He said: “You can only arrange to meet people from your extended household indoors in a pub or restaurant. A pub has a great level of responsibility to keep its custodians safe by overseeing social distancing and doing everything they can to maintain excellent hygiene standards. All the measures in place which limit the number of people we meet indoors is because it poses a greater risk of spreading the virus.”