Shielded to be allowed out!

Growstuff we all have our own views on government but they've done a good job so far,would anyone else have done better! Also everyone is entitled to be called by their Christian name.

I'm shielding but still have a job so furloughed. I will be informed by my employer when they require me back.
I will, however, be glad to take a daily walk as I've found it very hard not to put on weight cooped up at home. Despite my best efforts with diet I have put on 1.5 kilos in the 7 weeks I've been at home and so I relish the thought I of proper daily exercise.
I am, though, very fortunate to live in a quiet village and will take my exercise in the very early morning before many are up and about. Not so sure I'd be venturing out if I lived in a busy city.

My neighbour now has three extra families at their house.....

DH got his shielding letter in the first tranche so his release date twelve weeks later is the 13 June. We’ve both shielded to make life easier. Subsequent letters haven’t been changed. As a previous poster says her DH has only just received his and it still says twelve weeks. Civil service inefficiency.

A couple of weeks ago when car journeys were allowed for the masses, we decided that, since the infection rate in our area is very low, we’d go out carefully. We drove to where we keep our little boat, chugged up the river. Onto the broad. Had a picnic and sat in the sun watching kingfishers and heron and chugged back. We didn’t see a soul. It was wonderful.

Since then we’ve been out more. Driven to somewhere quiet and gone for a walk. Seen our DC and DGC - at a distance and chatted. But we haven’t been into a shop or anywhere where there’s more than half a dozen people - although we did have to walk in the middle of the road to get around a queue (the half a dozen people) waiting at the chemist near us.

I think its a case of using your common sense according to your own situation. We know to be really careful, but staying inside in confinement against the benefits, both physically and mentally, of a walk in the sun and maybe passing the time of day with another human being - albeit at a distance - has to be considered. It’s nice to know that we now can do this without losing all the other benefits of home deliveries, etc.

Chatterbox2... Would anyone else have done better?

Well, given that we now have the highest death rate in world (according to the Financial Times, who aren't known for making wild claims), the answer is clearly "Yes." Other people can and have done much, much better.

chatterbox And everybody has the right to call people by the name they think most appropriate. Most politicians and public figures are called by their surname and I shall continue to do so.

In what way do you think the government has done a good job of managing coronavirus?

PS. Yes, indeed, everybody is entitled to their views. I assume you mean that you think the government has done a good job. On the other hand, I think the government, led by Johnson, has done an unsatisfactory job.

We’ve been shielding since 4th March due to hubby’s diabetes and my unstable asthma. The available evidence doesn’t suggest it’s any safer out there now, than it was then. In fact the risk of contracting covid is higher now. We will be staying inside.

Update this morning - the shielded in Wales are also allowed out from June 1st

It has to be far more risky to venture out now than before lockdown.

On 23rd March we'd had 335 deaths and the daily totals were 46 more in England, 4 in Scotland and 4 in Wales. Britons abroad were advised to return home for safety.

Take a look at the Worldometer data, especially the graphs. The daily new case and death rates are much higher now:

www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/uk/

Whatshisname did keep saying it was all advisory. There's so many different circumstances and situations it has to be left to individuals to judge what's best for them.

If you can access somewhere where you can walk outside without meeting too many, or preferably no people, then its fine to go out. And it seems many are like us and already have been doing so. If your situation is such that you don't feel safe doing so, then don't. The support is all still in place. Other than being able to go out of the front door, nothing has changed.

It disturbs me that so many of you have been isolated at home for ten weeks or more, and are planning on continuing for the foreseeable future.
Surely the risk to your mental health, and the lack of physical exercise and sunshine, far outweighs the risk from the virus.
There has never been anything to stop you from going out for fresh air and exercise, no matter how fragile your health, as long as you kept a safe distance from passers-by. Unless you are unlucky enough to live in a highly populated area I just don’t understand why you are blindly following a “one size fits all” instruction.

You can’t catch the virus, except by close proximity to an infected person.

@Chatterbox2. How can you hold the opinion that the government has “done a good job so far” when, at the moment, this country has the highest death rate in the world?

GreenGran78 - Or by touching something an infected person has touched. Hence all the cleaning of surfaces.

Where is the scientific evidence - the data - that shows we are less at risk now than on 23rd March?

Sheep to the slaughter?

GG78 wrong!

GG78: you can catch the virus if you happen to be in a shop and someone presymptomatic/asymptomatic sneezes even if they’re several metres away from you.

I must admit that I've been shocked by this. I'm not shielding myself, but why was this brought forward so suddenly from 30 .June to tomorrow? I feel people in this group will be more worried than excited.

I too agree with GoldenAge - there is no scientific basis for the decision to advise shielded people that they can go out now. Nothing has happened that would make this a reasonable decision.

It is extremely disturbing to be in the grip of a pandemic and to be without proper leadership based on scientific advice.

GreenGran I suppose if someone lives in a flat or has no garden, then being able to go out but being very careful will come as a relief. Going out doesn't necessarily mean coming into contact with other people.
As we are lucky enough to have a garden, I have spent most of the time outside in the fresh air, ettin exercise gardening, although a change of scene and a walk is something to look forward to.

We were told to stay at home. It's preferable to spend time in the garden than walking along pavements anyway, as we were not allowed to drive anywhere.

GG78 Did you see the government letter? It was quite scary!

Mine was from the Chief Medical Officer in Wales, who is a Government adviser but it wasn't from the Government, although I had one from the PM too.

I think The Powers That Be have just realised that, as GG78* says, the consequences of lack of exercise, isolation and in some cases lack of outside space is more damaging than the chances of catching the virus. It’s still only allowing exercise out of the house with your own household or one other person if you live alone and keeping well away from other people. No shopping, no crowded places.

I thought from the beginning that this was harsh and frightening. Still let's hope people will now be happy to go out as advised but I feel they ave created a fear which will be difficult to overcome.