Following today’s announcement from First Minister Mark Drakeford the Welsh Government has published a series of guidelines explaining the most recent changes to the laws restricting people’s movements in Wales and admitting that the five mile rule should be used as a ‘rule of thumb’

While the Government is no longer asking people in Wales to stay at home other than in exceptional circumstances it remains important to reduce the spread of the virus as much as possible, so some legal restrictions on individuals are still necessary.

WHAT THE GOVERNMENT SAYS:

From June 1, as long as you stay local to your home and are outside, you will no longer be subject to the numerous restrictions that apply today. However, there are still restrictions on meeting people and gatherings even within your local area – in particular doing so indoors, where the virus is more likely to spread.

This guidance gives advice on what is and is not allowed under the revised rules. It focusses in particular on:

• what is meant by “local”,

• the limited circumstances in which it is permitted to leave your local area, and

• what restrictions remain in place within your local area.

However, it cannot provide the answer for every individual scenario, and you may wish to seek alternative sources of advice in complex situations.

WHAT DOES LOCAL MEAN?

The law deliberately does not define “local” as it can mean different things in different circumstances. However, as a general rule, we consider anything within about 5 miles of your home to be local.

The great majority of people in Wales live within 5 miles of the usual range of amenities and public services considered essential for everyday purposes – such as food shops, pharmacies, doctors and banks. But we recognise that in rural areas these services may well be spread over a wider geographical area, which may mean people have to travel further to access those services most local to them. 

So whilst 5 miles is a good rule of thumb for most people, if you live in a rural area, you will probably be used to defining your local area a little more widely.

We also consider that if the essential services and amenities (such as food shops, GP surgeries, schools) nearest to you are more than 5 miles away, they will still be “local” to you. This would also apply to libraries and waste recycling centres.

Wherever possible, activities such as shopping, exercise or general leisure activities should take place locally.  People should, for example, go to shops within about 5 miles of their home (and closer if possible) rather than travel further to visit similar shops at a greater distance, unless they live in areas where this would unreasonably restrict choice.

Travelling 10 miles to a supermarket is not considered reasonable, unless there is no practical alternative closer to your home. However, if you live in a village with only one shop, and the next nearest shops that you usually use are slightly more than 5 miles away, this would still be considered local - you are not restricted to always shopping in the same one place. This is an example that shows how being local is a flexible concept, within reason.

REASONS WHY YOU CAN LEAVE THE LOCAL AREA

You should not leave your local area to do anything you could reasonably be expected to do locally.

However, there are certain activities which are considered to be important enough to be exceptions to the requirement to stay local. In the regulations these are referred to as “reasonable excuses” to leave the local area.

The regulations also say that these reasonable excuses are only available to you where it is “not reasonably practicable” to carry out the activity in your local area. The section below this one has more guidance on what is meant by that phrase.

Reasonable excuses for leaving your local area if needed include:

• to obtain supplies and services for you or your household, for example food, medicine, veterinary care and essential household maintenance

• to visit health services that are not available locally

• to provide care for or to help someone who needs it, such as an older person, a child or a vulnerable adult, though you should consider whether there are alternative sources of support available

• to help the NHS by donating blood

• to avoid injury or illness, or escape a risk of harm

It is also reasonable to leave your local area to go to work, but it remains the case that all those who can work from home should continue to do so wherever reasonably practicable. Likewise, it is reasonable to leave your local area to do voluntary work, but again this should be done from home if reasonably practicable.

You are also allowed to visit a cemetery, burial ground or garden of remembrance to pay your respects, and to attend a funeral if you are invited by the person organising the funeral, or are the carer of a person attending the funeral. (Though this is subject to limits on numbers who can attend, in order to ensure that 2-metre distancing can be kept).

Finally, we are also now allowing people to attend marriage or civil partnership ceremonies where either party is terminally ill. You are allowed to travel outside your local area to attend such a marriage or civil partnership. (This does not, however, mean that wedding receptions can take place.)  

In considering whether there is a need to travel outside your local area, you should remember that there is a personal responsibility on all of us to recognise the risks that the virus presents to ourselves, our families and friends and our wider communities. People will need to make judgements for themselves as to what is reasonable, in line with that overarching principle. Keep in mind that the purpose of the continuing restrictions is to prevent the transmission of the virus, including to those we care about. For this reason, you should try to avoid long journeys that would require you to use indoor facilities such as toilets while away from home (bearing in mind that public toilets are closed), as the risk of transmitting the virus is greater indoors, and the virus could be transmitted by or to you when you touch surfaces.

This is the rationale for trying to minimise time spent outside your local area, and as always you should follow guidance on social distancing.

Personal hygiene will also remain important, such as continuing to regularly wash your hands and where that is not possible to use a hand sanitiser.

If you have left your local area for one reason that is allowed, it may be reasonable to also undertake other essential activities while away from the local area, such as doing your weekly shop near your workplace. However, in keeping with the overriding intention of minimising the spread of the virus, you should only do these things if it will not reasonably be possible to do them locally to your home (for example, if you are away from home for work purposes throughout the opening hours for your local shops and there is nobody else who could reasonably visit the chemist for you).

TRAVEL FOR EXERCISE OR RECREATION

Exercise and other forms of outdoor recreation are permitted and encouraged. Any kind of outdoor activity can be undertaken locally, which as above generally means within about 5 miles of your home.

However, we recognise there are certain forms of exercise which, though you start locally, may temporarily take you further afield. For example, a strong cyclist may get their exercise through bike rides of 40 miles or more. Exercise as a form of “active” travel in this way (a long cycle ride, run or walk) is now allowed, as long as the exercise starts and finishes from home.

That said, it is important not to risk spreading the virus by stopping or congregating with others outside your local area. Crowded places should be avoided, and social distancing should be maintained. The rules on gathering with others also mean that while you can now exercise with people from one other household, group activities are still not allowed.

You should also not travel (by car or motorcycle or using public transport) to the furthest reaches of your local area before starting your exercise to allow you to travel further from home. No journeys of any significant distance should be taken, for example, just in order to exercise in the countryside, at the coast or at beauty spots outside your local area (many of which are closed in any event to prevent this).

People with specific health or mobility issues may need to travel from their home in order to be able to exercise.  For example, some wheelchair users may not be able to start to exercise immediately outside their homes for practical access reasons, and may need to drive to a suitable flat location, such as a park, for this purpose.  In these circumstances the journey should be to a convenient accessible location within the local area, or the nearest available one outside your local area and no long journeys should be undertaken unless absolutely necessary.

If your preferred form of exercise or leisure is one that can only be undertaken in specific locations, this still needs to be carried out locally. Examples of this might include golf, angling or watersports. If there is a place where you can do these within your local area, then you are free to do so, but it would not be permissible to drive outside your local area for these purposes.

“Not reasonably practicable”

The term “reasonably practicable” is a common legal phrase, used for situations where a degree of personal judgement will be needed about what people can reasonably be expected to do. In the context of the “stay local” rule, it means that people should exercise their judgement about whether it would reasonably be possible for them to do certain things within their local area.

This is best demonstrated by examples. 

Some people may need to travel further than others to access an activity, for example because they have a particular mobility or mental health issue. In such circumstances it is reasonable for those individuals to travel further to find appropriate services with accessible facilities or suitable terrain for exercising.  This is permitted under the rules.

If you are reliant on public transport, and you can reach a shop outside your local area by public transport but could not reach any of the shops in your local area, you are allowed to travel to the shop outside your local area (although you should aim to go to the closest shop you can that will meet your needs).

For some people, road quality or similar issues may mean that it takes considerably longer to get to somewhere 3 miles away than to a similar outlet that is 10 miles away but along a different, safer road. It might be reasonable in those circumstances to travel to the shop which is further away – although you should also consider whether either shop is likely to be particularly crowded, as it is also desirable to avoid large crowds.

All of these areas are again ones in which people will need to use personal judgement as to what is reasonable in their own circumstances, but are asked to act responsibly and to consider the risk to yourself and others.

LIMITS ON ACTIVITY IN THE LOCAL AREA

Within your local area, it remains important to take actions to reduce the spread of coronavirus. This means that a number of restrictions remain in place. Different sets of restrictions apply outdoors and indoors, which are discussed in turn below.

As a general rule, you should still try to keep the amount of travel you do to a minimum for all purposes, and you should always seek to avoid crowded places, whether urban or rural.

This is particularly important if you live in, or close to, a major population centre. A local beach or outdoor visitor attraction will be a high risk location and you should think carefully before deciding to visit it.

OUTDOOR ACTIVITY

Developing scientific evidence demonstrates that virus that caused Covid-19 decays quickly (a few minutes) in strong sunlight (SAGE paper SAGE35-2d). This means that being outdoors gives a much lower risk of transmission than being indoors. In light of this, there are no longer legal restrictions on the type of outdoor activity you can undertake within your local area, how often you can go outdoors or how long you spend outside. Indeed, exercise and other outdoor recreation is generally beneficial for health and wellbeing, and so it is strongly encouraged.

The principal legal restriction is now on who you are with and how close you are to them when you are outdoors, which is discussed in the next section.

However, there remain a number of practical constraints on what outdoor activity you can undertake. Firstly, the range of activities open to you is still constrained by closures of certain businesses and other premises, such as outdoor sports courts and playgrounds, where these have not yet been judged as safe to reopen.

It also remains particularly important to stop popular areas becoming overcrowded. For this reason, while driving is not prohibited, a number of car parks remain closed, for example near beaches and parks, and other local parking restrictions or road closures may be in place. You should also expect larger than normal numbers of pedestrians and cyclists on roads.

As a general rule, therefore, you should still try to drive as little as possible. If you can meet all of your household’s needs within walking distance it is still preferable to do so.

Before leaving your home you should plan how you will keep safe and minimise risk. For example, consider whether and how you will avoid touching surfaces that others have touched, and how you will practice good hygiene. Also consider circumstances where social distancing might be impaired and how you will avoid or mitigate the risk, and consider what additional things you may need to take with you, such as hand sanitiser.

Public toilets remain closed, as they pose particular risks to public health, and this should be factored in to decisions about how far you should travel from home.

In addition it is vitally important that you continue to follow guidance on social distancing.

As one of the purposes of the restrictions is to reduce pressure on the Welsh NHS, our advice is also that people should not undertake forms of exercise that involve a significant degree of risk.

SEEING PEOPLE FROM OTHER HOUSEHOLDS OUTDOORS

As of June 1, people from one household will be permitted to meet outdoors with people from one other household at a time provided they stay local. It is important however that advice on social distancing (staying at least two metres apart) and personal hygiene should be followed.

There is no limit to the number of people from each household who can meet outdoors. If you are part of a household of five people, for example, your entire household could meet another family of five. However, you should be aware that while meeting outdoors is considered to be low risk if other advice is followed, risk cannot of course be eliminated, and the risk does increase as larger numbers gather.

Carers are considered for these purposes to be members of a household – so if for example one person in each household had a carer, both of those carers could also be part of a gathering between the two households.

You may only meet up to one household outdoors at a time. However, you may meet members of more than one household in a day, as long as those meetings are separate.

However, gatherings outdoors which include members of more than two households are still illegal, and you can be fined or prosecuted for participating in such a gathering.

There are no time limits for any such outdoor meetings or gatherings, or legal limits on the activities that can be undertaken outdoors so long as physical distancing can be observed.

You are advised to avoid wherever possible touching surfaces, as the virus can survive for many hours or days on some surfaces if it is not removed by sunlight or appropriate cleaning. When meeting people from another household you should also avoid touching anything which members of that other household have touched – so for example if you met for a picnic, each household should bring, prepare and eat their own food separately, and you should avoid sharing utensils, dishes or plates between households. It is also advisable to take an alcohol based hand rub (hand sanitiser) with you and use it often, especially before eating or after touching surfaces.

PRIVATE OUTDOOR SPACES

Given the scientific advice about transmission risks for the Covid-19 virus being significantly lower outdoors, you are encouraged to spend time outdoors as it is beneficial for health and wellbeing. While most people will in practice now be able to access outdoor spaces beyond their home (following the changes to the rules on 1 June), this does not apply to everyone. Therefore, it is now also permitted for members of two households to meet in private outdoor spaces such as one of their gardens, as long as this will still allow for a 2 metre distance to be maintained between the households.

This includes shared gardens, as long as there is sufficient space between different gatherings while maintaining social distancing between households. It can also include any other privately owned outdoor spaces such as balconies or outdoor walkways in a block of flats, again if social distancing can effectively be maintained.

There are particular risks to be considered in visiting private outdoor spaces. In particular, any time passing through indoor areas should be kept to a minimum. If it is possible to access a garden without passing through an indoor area, you should do this. We are not advising the use of a protective face covering.

Both indoors and in the garden, the general principle is that you should not touch anything which members of another household have touched. Doorknobs, bells and light switches are all potential sources of infection. Touching surfaces should be avoided, especially indoors, and shared facilities (such as toilets) should not be used. Items such as cups, plates and cutlery should not be shared between households.

None of this guidance affects the advice for people who are shielding. 

SEEING PEOPLE FROM OTHER HOUSEHOLDS INDOORS

Coronavirus spreads much more effectively indoors, because it can survive in the air and on surfaces for a very long time without direct sunshine. In addition to requiring people to stay local, therefore, the law also imposes restrictions on people being indoors with others without a reasonable excuse.

The basic legal position is that you should not enter someone else’s home, allow someone from outside your household into yours, or meet with someone from another household indoors.

The law includes reasons why it is permitted in limited circumstances to go indoors.

GOING INTO OTHER PEOPLE’S HOUSES AND LETTING THEM INTO YOURS

The main reasons why you might legally enter another person’s home are likely to be to provide care for or to help someone who needs it, such as an older person, a child or a vulnerable adult, or to carry out your work where this requires your physical presence. These are also the main reasons why you might let someone else into your home.  

As with other areas of this guidance, a degree of personal judgement will need to be exercised as to whether you do genuinely need to enter into someone else’s home or allow someone into yours, how long you/they need to remain there for, and what it is you/they really need to do there. In doing so you should bear in mind that when households mix indoors, it is a risk to yourself, members of the household being visited, the visitor’s household, and anyone else who will come into contact with any of those people. The same consideration applies to allowing people into your home.

Where you do need to enter other people’s homes, it is very important you follow guidance on social distancing, personal hygiene and reduce to an absolute minimum the surfaces you touch. We are not advising the use of a face covering. The general principle is that you should not touch anything which members of another household have touched. Doorknobs, bells and light switches are all potential sources of infection. Touching surfaces should be avoided wherever possible, and anything you do need to touch should be cleaned thoroughly afterwards. Shared facilities (such as toilets) should not be used.

OTHER OUTDOOR ACTIVITY

The law on meeting people indoors is similar to the law on leaving your local area. In other words, as a general rule it is not allowed: but there are certain activities which are considered to be important enough to be exceptions to that rule. In the regulations these are referred to as “reasonable excuses”.

The reasonable excuses for going indoors if needed are the same as for leaving your local area such as:

• to obtain supplies and services for you or your household, for example food, medicine, veterinary care and essential household maintenance

• to visit health services that are not available locally

• to provide care for or to help someone who needs it, such as an older person, a child or a vulnerable adult, though you should consider whether there are alternative sources of support available

• to help the NHS by donating blood

• to avoid injury or illness, or escape a risk of harm

It is also reasonable to go inside a building with other people in it to go to work, but it remains the case that all those who can work from home should continue to do so wherever reasonably possible. Likewise, it is reasonable to go inside a building to do voluntary or charitable work, but again this must be done from home if reasonably practicable.

You are also allowed to go indoors as part of a visit to a cemetery, burial ground or garden of remembrance to pay your respects, or to attend a funeral if you are organising it, are invited by the person organising the funeral, or are the carer of a person attending the funeral.

Finally, we are also now allowing people to attend marriage or civil partnership ceremonies where either party is terminally ill. You are allowed to be indoors for these purposes.

Where you do need to be indoors for any of these purposes, it is very important you follow guidance on social distancing, personal hygiene and reduce to an absolute minimum the surfaces you touch. In some circumstances you may want to consider the use of a face covering

.The general principle is that you should not touch anything which members of another household have touched. Doorknobs, bells and light switches are all potential sources of infection. Touching surfaces should be avoided wherever possible, and anything you do need to touch should be cleaned thoroughly afterwards.