So what has changed?

[emperor]

There is a school of thought that one should ignore the contradictory noises coming from the government, and concentrate simply on the rules. I don't think I'd go that far, but it's certainly useful to see what is allowed (or otherwise), and what has in fact changed.

As of tomorrow, The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2020 [PDF] come into force. They amend The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020 (that link currently shows the the rules before the changes I'm talking about here, but I think will reflect the changes from tomorrow when they come into force).

Eliding some stuff that I think isn't of general interest (about hotels, allowing collection from premises, recycling centres, and increased fines), the key changes are:

• you can now take exercise with one person who is not a member of your household
  
• you can be in a public open space (rec ground, public gardens, access land, open country) with members of your household or one person who isn't, for recreational purposes to promote physical, mental, or emotional well-being
  
• a bunch of stuff around moving/buying/renting houses (visiting show homes, agencies, preparing rental properties, ...)
  
• you can use outdoor sports courts
  
• you can visit garden centres
  

Note that while the guidelines talk about 2m social distancing with non-household people (and it's epidemiologically safest), the law doesn't require it for the outdoor activities listed above.

Comments

[angelofthenorth]

I didn't catch that they'd changed the house stuff. *panics*

[ewt]

Wait, is that one person not from your household the same person? Or just only one simultaneously, but you could have a whole string of them in a day? (And how do you decide how close is "meeting someone" if you're outside?)

[emperor]

No, you could meet a series (under the law, at least). The guidelines (which aren't the law) say you should stay at least 2m apart.

[bunnypip]

OK, so we thought we had another 3 weeks to get the house ready for photos and possibly viewings but maybe we don't! We'd literally just worked out a 22 day timeframe. Whoops.

(and I have at least 3 work deadlines so I can't just drop everything but we need to get moved and they'll probably shut it back down again soon and ARGH)

[wpadmirer]

The rules here are changing way too fast. Covid cases are still going up and deaths are still going up.

ARGH.

[emperor]

I think it remains the case that there's a 3-month stay on any eviction proceedings - https://sheltercymru.org.uk/get-advice/coronavirus/ has some notes.

[emperor]

Yes, I think we have too much ongoing transmission, and lack the necessary test & trace infrastructure to be making any changes here. But I don't make the decisions...

[wpadmirer]

And unfortunately I don't think either of us have a particularly good government making those decisions.