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“Bubbles” against Lockdown

June 11, 2020 at 7:40 am Leave a comment

“I’m delighted the Prime Minister just announced the Government supports bubbles,” radio presenter, political commentator and West Ham blogger Iain Dale tweeted recently.

However Boris Johnson didn’t talk of West Ham’s song “Bubbles”, but of “social bubbles” that will be allowed from next Saturday. That’s going to be one week prior to the day when this tune will be heard again in London Stadium, when West Ham take on Wolves in their first game of the restart of the Premier League, albeit in an empty ground.

“Too many people are lonely and struggling,” the Prime Minister said and told the people that are in lockdown in the UK since March, that they can go to each other’s houses, stay the night and will not have to maintain two-metre social distancing. From Saturday 13 June, people living alone and single parent households can create a “social bubble” with one other household. This announcement was made by Boris Johnson who is also planning to change other Covid-19 rules. There are plans to scrap the UK’s two-meter-rule, possibly introducing the WHO’s 1 m standard.

The measures introduced since March 23 were some of the most draconian the UK has ever faced and resulted in a huge shift in how people behave. However it took the British government quite a long time until they accepted that the UK had to impose the same kind of measures that had already been in place in other countries.

Similar measures had been imposed in Austria by March 15, more than a week earlier than in the UK. In Austria the measures now have already been eased step by step, beginning from May 1 with the so-called “Lockerungsverordnung” (regulation on relaxing the Covid-19-measures). Now even travelling abroad to neighbouring countries is possible though Austrians will have to wait until June 16 to be able to make holiday in Italy. A stark contrast however to allowing “social bubbles” consisting of two households in the UK.

The initial UK lockdown rules were enacted by new legislation (PDF) that gave the government powers to impose upon people’s freedoms. At the start, lockdown rules said people could only go outside for four reasons (food shopping, exercising alone, medical issues, and providing care) and could not meet with other people. People who were vulnerable were asked to shelter for 12 weeks.

The changes were a stark escalation of the government’s response to the pandemic. On March 16, people had been told to avoid all non-essential contact with others and four days later, on March 20, all bars, pubs, cafes and restaurants were closed. Subsequently all schools and childcare facilities, except for the children of key workers, were closed.

The number of coronavirus deaths in the UK could have been halved if the government had introduced the lockdown a week earlier, according to Prof Neil Ferguson who claimed that an earlier introduction would have saved many lives.

On May 31 the government published new legislation that legally changed the lockdown – this arrived in the form of The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 2020.

Last Monday meeting outside in groups of up to six people was allowed by the government provided they are socially distant, but gatherings indoors are still prohibited by the law. The “support bubbles” now allow two households to meet indoors and act as if they live in the same household, making it possible to meet grandparents and to combine single parents with another household. Also couples who did not live in the same household now can be reunited after almost three months of social distancing.

The UK’s lockdown rules, explained ▶️wired.co.uk/article/uk-lockdown

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