Changes on 8 March. Confused by lack of detail.

Swinglowandslow

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 19, 2018
Messages
2,879
Visit site
As one who has supported the authorities efforts re Covid, I am for the first time confused, ( or hopefully ignorant of where to look to find the details) as to the changes coming about on 8 March in respect of exercise and /or meeting outside.
Apart from the specified exceptions, if I want to exercise I can do so alone or with my household, or with one person not from my household. It must be outside and "local".
I have tried to find out if on 8 March this changes so that I could go for a walk with one other person not from my household at a venue say 7 or 8 miles away. A recognised beauty spot , picnic area, or such.
All I can find on the Gov website in respect of 8 March, apart from education matters, is this.



Social contact
People will be allowed to leave home for recreation and exercise outdoors with their household or support bubble, if they are eligible for one, or with one person from outside their household. Care home residents will also be allowed one regular visitor.

So you can do as now, plus it can be recreation as well as exercise.Picnic, having a coffee etc has been mentioned, as examples of recreation.
But it seems it can still only be local?.....A picnic, locally?

How do you see it?

Has anyone any pointers to where the rules are detailed further, especially in regards to travel?
 
As one who has supported the authorities efforts re Covid, I am for the first time confused, ( or hopefully ignorant of where to look to find the details) as to the changes coming about on 8 March in respect of exercise and /or meeting outside.
Apart from the specified exceptions, if I want to exercise I can do so alone or with my household, or with one person not from my household. It must be outside and "local".
I have tried to find out if on 8 March this changes so that I could go for a walk with one other person not from my household at a venue say 7 or 8 miles away. A recognised beauty spot , picnic area, or such.
All I can find on the Gov website in respect of 8 March, apart from education matters, is this.



Social contact
People will be allowed to leave home for recreation and exercise outdoors with their household or support bubble, if they are eligible for one, or with one person from outside their household. Care home residents will also be allowed one regular visitor.

So you can do as now, plus it can be recreation as well as exercise.Picnic, having a coffee etc has been mentioned, as examples of recreation.
But it seems it can still only be local?.....A picnic, locally?

How do you see it?

Has anyone any pointers to where the rules are detailed further, especially in regards to travel?


Nothing changes other than education until March 29th in England.
 
They are never going to nail down specificities such as travel distance, or what exactly is recreation. It will still be up to individuals to exercise some interpretation of the guidelines.
 
As one who has supported the authorities efforts re Covid, I am for the first time confused, ( or hopefully ignorant of where to look to find the details) as to the changes coming about on 8 March in respect of exercise and /or meeting outside.
Apart from the specified exceptions, if I want to exercise I can do so alone or with my household, or with one person not from my household. It must be outside and "local".
I have tried to find out if on 8 March this changes so that I could go for a walk with one other person not from my household at a venue say 7 or 8 miles away. A recognised beauty spot , picnic area, or such.
All I can find on the Gov website in respect of 8 March, apart from education matters, is this.



Social contact
People will be allowed to leave home for recreation and exercise outdoors with their household or support bubble, if they are eligible for one, or with one person from outside their household. Care home residents will also be allowed one regular visitor.

So you can do as now, plus it can be recreation as well as exercise.Picnic, having a coffee etc has been mentioned, as examples of recreation.
But it seems it can still only be local?.....A picnic, locally?

How do you see it?

Has anyone any pointers to where the rules are detailed further, especially in regards to travel?

You can now meet one person for not just exercise outside

I'e walk for that coffee

Just clears up that grey area that was left with the walk with a coffee
 
It's quite straightforward. You can't go for a walk with a friend round a local lake, but you can join a crowd of hundreds outside a football ground and spend 7 hours letting flares and fireworks off.

In Scotland, yes you are allowed to go for a walk with one person from another household.
The farce at Ibrox was not allowed, nor should it have been allowed to happen. Police should have done more to prevent it.
 
What's happened is that the underlying (English) legislation has been tweaked a little bit. Up to the end of today, you have stay at home unless it's for one of the exempted reasons. From tomorrow, they have just added in an extra exempted reason - the one about recreation, either alone, with household or with one other person. All else is the same. The problem is, the bit about "local" is not part of the legislation - it was just guidance.

But basically I'd suggest that as the old guidance said "local", and all that's changed is that one new exemption has been added, then the guidance from tomorrow will still mean "local". After all, we've not seen anything, anywhere, that says "oh, and by the way, you don't have to stay local any more"
 
Last edited:
In Scotland, yes you are allowed to go for a walk with one person from another household.
The farce at Ibrox was not allowed, nor should it have been allowed to happen. Police should have done more to prevent it.

The police have done something about it today. They are allowing them to march and are even giving them a police escort.

 
From the .Gov site.

Some of the rules on what you can and cannot do changed on 8 March:
  • you can spend time in outdoor public spaces for recreation on your own, with your household or support bubble, or with one other person. This means you can sit down for a drink or picnic. You must continue to maintain social distance from those outside your household. This is in addition to outdoor exercise, which is already permitted
 
Top