Abdool-Richards: UK's household 'bubbles' won't work in Trinidad and Tobago

PRINCIPAL medical officer of institutions at the Health Ministry Dr Maryam Abdool-Richards has said the "concept of a (household) bubble" she has been hearing "touted around" will not work in the fight against the covid19 virus.

She said the exposure risks carried by individuals vary too much.

In the UK, two separate households can form "support bubbles" and "childcare bubbles." This concept was introduced in June 2020.

Guidance on the UK government's website (https://www.gov.uk/) says, "Once you’re in a support bubble, you can think of yourself as being in one ‘household.’ This means you can have close contact with the other household in your bubble as if they were members of your own household."

But there are restrictions. Not everyone can do this.

A person can form this bubble with another household of any size if: the person lives alone (even if caretakers visit regularly); the person is the only adult in their household who "does not need continuous care as a result of a disability"; their household has a child under age one or a child with a disability who is under age five; the person is 16 or 17 and lives with others of the same age only; or if the person is a single adult with children under 18.

The members of the bubble do not have to physically distance from each other, can visit each other's homes and can go on outings together.

No member of either household is allowed to form separate bubbles with any other household.

Should one household wish to change their support bubble, the regulations say, "You should treat your previous bubble as a separate household for a minimum of ten days before forming a new bubble.

"If someone in your previous support bubble develops symptoms or tests positive for coronavirus up to two days after members of the bubble last met, all members of the bubble should self-isolate for ten days. You must not form a new bubble until you have completed your self-isolation."

Then, there are childcare bubbles.

If you live in a household with a child under 14, you are eligible to form this type of bubble with another household. The website says friends or family can provide informal (unregistered) healthcare.

It says, "If you form a childcare bubble, members of either household can provide childcare in a home or public place. Overnight stays are allowed where necessary for childcare purposes."

A person is allowed to have one childcare bubble and one support bubble once eligible.

Could this work in Trinidad and Tobago? Richards does not think so.

She said so at the Health Ministry's virtual press conference on Wednesday morning, warning the parallel healthcare system was less than a week away from becoming overwhelmed.

She urged people to stop comingling and congregating – words she said are currently the most dangerous in the health sector.

"This concept of a bubble I've been hearing touted around does not work," she said. "Different persons from different households carry different exposure risks. So by you saying that you would be liming or zessing or wessing, or whatever term you want to use, with the same group of persons while you're interacting with people at the supermarket or your workplace, it means you have a different level of exposure."

Before lockdown in the UK began to be lifted, here were many calls in the UK to scrap the bubble arrangements and to introduce tighter restrictions. But health secretary Matt Hancock said he had no plans to do so.

At a press conference in London in January, he said, “I can rule out removing the bubbles that we have in place. The childcare bubbles, the support bubbles, are very important and we are going to keep them.

“I know how important they are to people and they are an important part of the system we’ve got to support people whilst also having these tough measures that are necessary."

As of 4 pm on Wednesday, there were 3,024 active covid19 cases and 189 deaths in TT.

There have been over four million confirmed cases of the virus in the UK with over 128,000 deaths.

However, after long lockdowns and a massive vaccination drive, the numbers on May 6 were down to 13 deaths and 2,613 new cases. The UK has a population of approximately 66.65 million.