Hello all, welcome to today’s blog. In light of the new UK lockdown rules, we wanted to keep you up to date with some of the measures that have been put in place in our residences to keep you safe and well. I think it’s safe to say that we are all completely fed up of this year! We are hoping that you’re all hanging in there as best you can and we are here to help in any way that we can.
Households
“Households” and “support bubbles” are phrases that keep being thrown around by everyone. However, they’re quite hard to understand when it comes down to it. What the University are considering to be a household under government guidelines will constitute the following:
- A self-catered flat with a shared kitchen
- A studio flat
- A catered floor that shares a utility area – or as designated after an audit of the building
Support Bubbles
If you live alone as a single person household you can form a support bubble with another household of any size. So if for example you are living in a studio and you have friends in a flat nearby then you are welcome to join them and make them your support bubble – but they would not be able to join up with any other single person households. Households in a support bubble can visit each other, stay overnight and visit outdoor public places together. But be careful – just because flatmates may have gone home this doesn’t mean you become a single person household. We would recommend you check all the relevant government guidance before forming a support bubble.
Visitors
We understand it’s a very hard time but in line with current government guidance you are not permitted to have visitors stay during the national lockdown. So we’ve recently updated our policy regarding visitors to residences to reflect this and help manage the spread of Coronavirus.
When the guidance changes, we will review our policy however it is likely that we will ask that you only have overnight visitors when under exceptional circumstances there may be a need for this. If this is the case please do contact your residence team who will be able to advise you about your request.
Please do keep an eye on Government guidelines around support bubbles as well as our Accommodation FAQ’s and the main University of Exeter Coronavirus page.
Have a lovely week and stay safe all!
Accommodation Shannon