Reports say the UK Government is considering employing 'social bubbles', which would mean you could see up to 10 friends or family members at a time, within weeks.
Michael Gove MP confirmed this morning that the cabinet are looking at ways people can ease loneliness and childcare issues through the scheme, which has been used in other countries, including New Zealand.
Speaking on Radio 4 this morning (26 May), Mr Gove was asked why people have been told they'll be able to enter shops from 15 June and children are being sent back to school from 1 June, but still aren't allowed to see more than one family member or friend at a time.
'Two things: we want to make sure that people can get back to work. People want to be back at work,' he said. 'The second thing is, of course, it’s painful, but you can see members of your family or friends outdoors and we’re looking at how we can make easier to see, in particular, more family members outdoors in a safe way.'
The interview comes after The Telegraph this weekend reported the Government is drawing up plans to allow garden parties and barbecues from next month. The small social gatherings outdoors, from the end of June, would have pre-conditions, the report added.
The country entered lockdown on March 23 - for some time, concerns have turned to the loneliness and isolation some people who are alone may be feeling and the impact on their mental health. Meanwhile, parents have been expressing their fears that they’re getting to the end of their tether with working from home and providing homeschooling and childcare. Many parents have said they wouldn't want to send their children back to school - or are unable to thanks to local authorities. Lots of people are just missing the friends and family who make their lives complete – and we’re seeing more and more rule-bending(and breaking).
So, could the idea of ‘a bubble’ and ‘expanding our bubble’ be the answer to lots of these problems?
The idea of the bubble has come to greater prominence thanks to its use in New Zealand, where you were allowed to ‘expand your bubble’ – i.e. that you could move in with people and share households.
New Zealand has since moved into further stages of easing lockdown, but speaking about the move into the bubble expansion, New Zealand Prime MinisterJacinda Ardern– who repeatedly spoken about her concerns about the mental health and loneliness of her citizens throughout their lockdown – said: ‘If you have a caregiver you need in your life, children in shared care, a defacto partner who is caring for others or you are a single person who wants a companion - for example, a sibling - then you may extend your bubble a little bit.’ Though she did warn: ‘Keep it exclusive though and keep it small.'
The change there meant that if a relative or loved one lived locally, and was alone you could extend your bubble to include them. If you were returning to work and needed to establish child care or other care arrangements for those already in your bubble, a care provider could join your bubble. People could travel between towns to join or rejoin a bubble (say if you were separated from family or friends if the lockdown started while you were away) but you could only travel once – not back and forth. If someone in the bubble felt unwell, then they had to isolate themselves – and the country’s other restrictions about staying inside remained.
It's been suggested in other reports that the UK bubble scheme would involve meeting up to 10 people outside.
There have also been reports that Nicola Sturgeon was considering a bubble scheme for Scotland and reports suggest that Belgium was considering a scheme where you could have a bubble of 10 people, who you could meet with every weekend. Not only would you have to decide your 10, but those 10 people could only choose each other – and you’d be banned from meeting anyone outside that 10 people.
As a colleague said – it’s like the MySpace Top Ten all over again. But a lot, lot worse.
So, we guess there are only two questions… Firstly, could the British public (with our high population density) be trusted to start a bubble scheme? And secondly – who’d be in yours?