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Driving Home for Coronavirus: The Families Reunited In Lockdown

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The coronavirus crisis is impacting home life for every one of us but it’s fair to say some of the UK’s 27.6 million households are feeling the strain of lockdown more than others.

While some have no choice but to hunker down and try to make the best of a difficult situation, others are rethinking their living arrangements in the hope of finding a better alternative. Being away from home or welcoming a new addition to your household for an indeterminate period is not a step taken lightly.

Poor health, childcare challenges and fear of loneliness are just a few of the factors leading people to form new lockdown households, with family members stepping up to support each other in this unsettling period.

HuffPost UK spoke to four families about the changes they’ve made since Boris Johnson announced the strict new rules governing life in the UK – and how they’re coping with their new situations.

‘My parents aren’t as tidy as me’

Kate Hughes, 35, made the decision to move in with her parents in East Sussex 10 days before the lockdown began. Hughes has cystic fibrosis (CF), which puts her on the list of ‘shielded’ (formerly known as ‘extremely vulnerable’) patients, a group of around 1.5 million people deemed at increased risk from coronavirus.

“The rather intense advice for my group includes not going nearer than 2m to anyone in your household and eating your meals in your bedroom away from anyone else,” says Hughes. “I’m not managing to do either of those.”

Kate and her parents in their garden.
Kate and her parents in their garden.

Her parents are both working from home full-time, however, and have stopped leaving the house aside from walking the dogs in a nearby field once a day.

“We started this earlier than government advice because my immune system is so poor and we are used to infection control measures: when I have a chest infection in normal circumstances, my...

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