As part of the nationwide partial lockdown in November, only a maximum of two households are allowed to meet.
Many see the “social bubble” model as a more sensible alternative.
Today the meeting with the girlfriend, tomorrow the visit to the in-laws and the day after tomorrow cooking with a befriended couple: The current lockdown rule "Maximum two households with a maximum of ten people" enables meetings with many different other households - just not at the same time.
Even two shared flats, each with five flatmates, are likely to meet.
If you think the scenario through to the end, you will notice: Covid-19 has a good chance of spreading if contacts are not restricted on your own responsibility.
The concept of the "social bubble" is not only intended to curb the spread of Covid-19 * more effectively, but also to promote mental health.
A nationwide partial lockdown in November 2020 is intended to ensure that the number of Covid 19 patients does not continue to grow exponentially.
This is linked to contact restrictions again: Citizens should limit the number of their contacts to the bare minimum.
A maximum of ten people from two households have been allowed to meet since November 2, 2020.
But there are also other lockdown concepts, such as the model of the social bubble - the so-called
“social bubble”.
This is what people talk about when several households join forces and only have contact with one another
- that is, they don't meet anyone outside their “social bubble” during the lockdown.
Virologist Christian Drosten classified this lockdown model in the latest episode of the NDR podcast "Coronavirus Update".
Only meet one group - and no one else: best protection against corona?
If people only meet a few, selected people during a lockdown, the chains of infection can be traced far better than with the two-household model that the government is currently running.
That is the argument of the “social bubble” advocates.
And indeed there is a lot to be said for the division into groups that do not mix with one another.
This could not only curb the spread of Covid-19 more effectively, but also affect social life less severely during a lockdown.
The parties to the “social bubble” are able, for example, to support each other with childcare or the care of elderly relatives, and the risk of social isolation is far less given than with other lockdown models
.
The “social bubble” idea is already being used in some countries: “They know we have to hold out for a while with a certain amount of contact restrictions.
We don't want all people to become desperate and depressed.
If there were even school closings, children could not be looked after and at some point they would go crazy in the apartment.
You could say that up to two or even three households can always get together and form a social bubble.
And they are allowed to meet, "said Christian Drosten in an interview with NDR:"
For example, you are now in the city, in a house, apartment building, then you could say two or three families are allowed to be free the whole time to meet.
They are also allowed to help each other with childcare
, one of them can go shopping for everyone and so on.
In theory, they should even leave the house together.
(...) But beyond this social bubble there should be no contact.
(...) Such measures are conceivable.
This always goes back to this ultimately mathematical principle of dividing such groups and the then far disproportionate reduction in contact options in the contact network ”.
But the “social bubble” idea has a catch: If school-age children are part of the social bubble, it is basically no longer a social bubble because the children are in contact with their classmates: “There is this principle of the“ social bubble ” hurt anyway when schools are open ”.
(jg)
*
Merkur.de is part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital editors network
.
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