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Concerns have been raised about the impact the latest Covid-19 restrictions will have on older people and people living alone, with one senator calling the visitation ban “cruel.”
Activists and opposition politicians have said the government should consider introducing so-called “support bubbles” as a way to tackle the situation.
The United Kingdom and New Zealand have introduced bubbles for certain people, such as single-parent families.
Basically, people from two households who are in a support bubble can be considered as members of one household even though they live in two different households.
Starting at midnight tonight, a national ban on home visitors will take effect. The restrictions, agreed yesterday by the Cabinet, will remain in effect until Tuesday, November 10.
People are advised not to visit other homes indoors or in their gardens, but exemptions will be made for compassionate reasons and essential reasons such as babysitting or caring for children.
Concerns have been raised about the impact the latest restrictions will have on the mental health of people, particularly those living alone.
‘Gross and cruel’
Labor Sen. Rebecca Moynihan is among those calling on the government and the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) to consider introducing bubbles of support.
“The government’s announcement last night that all home visits will be banned is unnecessarily blunt and cruel to those who live alone,” Moynihan said.
“We all understand the need to reduce community transmission of the virus, but other countries have understood the impact of isolation and have allowed people to create social bubbles.”
Moynihan called on the government to ensure that the Covid-19 restrictions are “a reflection of the kind of homes people live in.”
“Single and single parent households should not be completely isolated from any social contact or support during this crisis,” he said.
Social isolation and loneliness
A spokesperson for Alone, a national organization that supports older people to live at home, said that many older people were affected by security measures such as the cocoon in the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The spokesperson said TheJournal.ie Alone appreciates that public health guidelines have been put in place to slow the spread of the virus and save lives, but “older people are continually one of the groups most adversely affected by Covid-19 and related health guidelines.”
They said the increased sense of social isolation and loneliness “prevails more than ever” among young people, something that is likely to worsen in the winter months.
“The cocoon measures had serious consequences on the mental health of the elderly, while also introducing new emotions that are experienced, such as increased anxiety, stress and worry.”
The spokesperson added that the long-term mental health impacts of the restrictions “will continue to affect older people long after” the pandemic ends.
They said the main idea behind the so-called support bubbles “seems like a viable solution to alleviate the problems that older people are already experiencing and that will inevitably increase in the coming months.”
Criteria
However, they added that more research is needed on the criteria of what kind of households could form a bubble with an older person.
“The nominated household should ensure limited exposure to the virus and that they are a safe unit that the older person can trust,” he said.
A spokesperson for Age Action, another group that supports older people, said Ireland “will have to be creative to live with Covid-19.”
They called on the government “to speak to a much broader group of stakeholders than they currently are” when designing restrictions.
“Older people are a diverse group whose voices have been largely absent from the decision-making table, but they know what they need and should be able to contribute to creative Covid-19 response measures, such as the bubble model of support seen in the UK. “
The spokesperson added that any such measure would have to balance risk management with a person maintaining their independence and “combat the kind of social isolation that is being felt” by many people.
TheJournal.ie has contacted the Department of Health for comment.
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What is a support bubble?
New Zealand was one of the first countries to introduce so-called support bubbles earlier this year, and the UK, among others, introduced them in recent months.
The UK government describes a support bubble as ‘a tight support network between a household with only one adult in the household (known as a single adult household) and another household of any size’.
People in a support bubble may consider themselves to be part of a single household even though they live in two different households.
Once the support bubble is established, its members should not change.
A person should not be a member of more than one bubble, and ideally the two households should be close together.
People should maintain social distance from people outside the bubble.
In the UK, people who can create a bubble of support include the following groups:
- people who live alone, even if caregivers visit for support
- single parents living with children under the age of 18
- people who live with other adults, even if their caregiver or caregivers live with them
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