TwelveAngryMen
Well-known member
How can schools all go back 8/3 and yet the rest of us have to stay locked up until Easter ?
Surely with most of the vulnerable categories scheduled to be vaccinated in time for the schools return they’ve got to slacken off a bit ?
I’ve been an advocate of tougher measures but it now seems they have gone too far the other way after delaying firm action when it was required.
With the lions share of transmission in school age children they can’t possibility justify schools all back in two weeks but no meet ups and shops staying closed for another six weeks
Families will be allowed to meet outdoors over Easter under plans being considered for Boris Johnson’s road map for easing lockdown restrictions.
The prime minister is expected to introduce new rules allowing two households to meet outdoors, regardless of their size.
The move goes further than the “rule of six”, which left some families unable to meet. Under the new plans two households would be able to meet outdoors from April while gatherings of six people from six different households would also be allowed.
The introduction of the rule of six caused cabinet divisions last year after several senior ministers, including Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, spoke out against it. They argued that the limit should be at least eight, amid concerns that it penalised families from different households by barring them from meeting.
Professor Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, and Sir Patrick Vallance, the chief scientific adviser, backed the measure at the time amid concerns that mixing by households was spreading the virus.
The plans will be included in the prime minister’s road map, which is being launched on Monday. The document will include “tentative” early dates for easing the lockdown and reopening the economy, starting with the return of schools on March 8.
However, social distancing will remain in place for months to come along with the wearing of facemasks and advice that people should work from home where possible. The document is expected to include dates for those policies to be formally reviewed, in an attempt to appease Tory MPs who are pushing for all lockdown restrictions to be eased at the end of May.
The Times reported earlier this week that ministers were considering whether to allow people to go on self-catering holidays for the Easter break. Mark Drakeford, the first minister of Wales, confirmed yesterday that he hopes to enable limited tourism over the Easter period.
“What we will work on . . . is the possibility — and it is only that — of some limited reopening around Easter of self-contained accommodation only,” Drakeford said. “Places where people don’t mix with other people, where there aren’t shared facilities. That is how we began the reopening of tourism in Wales. If we can bring that forward to Easter, I know that would be a huge relief to many hundreds of thousands of families in Wales.”
He did not say whether people from other parts of Britain would be able to visit — in particular residents of England who own caravans or second homes in Wales.
Professor Neil Ferguson, an architect of the first lockdown, told Today on BBC Radio 4 that people would be isolating “forevermore” if the desire was to eliminate Covid-19.
“We’re not going to eliminate globally so we won’t eliminate here,” he said. “I would like to see this virus become like influenza and managed in similar ways.
“I think the one thing this pandemic has generated is a whole new generation of vaccines which frankly are much more effective than the influenza vaccines we typically use year to year. And so I think long-term we do have very promising prospects for pulling down the burden of disease, the mortality caused by this virus.”
Britain yesterday recorded 533 deaths within 28 days of a positive Covid test, with the seven-day total down 27.7 per cent on the previous week. A further 12,027 cases were recorded, with the seven-day total down 20.3 per cent. The latest government R estimate for the whole of the UK is between 0.6 and 0.9 compared with 0.7 and 0.9 last week.
Sarah Crofts, senior statistician for the Covid-19 infection survey, said: “While we are seeing a welcome further decrease in infection rates across the UK in the week ending 12 February, the numbers do still remain high and are similar to infection levels seen at the end of November.”
Mike Tildesley, a member of the government’s SPI-M modelling group, has warned about reopening too quickly and seeing the R number rising again.
He told BBC Breakfast: “We do know any form of reopening will cause the R number to go up so that needs very, very careful monitoring. “The vaccination campaign is going very, very well . . . but where we need to be careful is if we open too quickly and don’t allow the vaccination programme to help us, we run the [risk] of things resurging a little bit. I totally appreciate and understand the need to get children back in the classroom . . . the key thing for me is we need to do it in a way that schools don’t have to close again.”
Surely with most of the vulnerable categories scheduled to be vaccinated in time for the schools return they’ve got to slacken off a bit ?
I’ve been an advocate of tougher measures but it now seems they have gone too far the other way after delaying firm action when it was required.
With the lions share of transmission in school age children they can’t possibility justify schools all back in two weeks but no meet ups and shops staying closed for another six weeks
Families will be allowed to meet outdoors over Easter under plans being considered for Boris Johnson’s road map for easing lockdown restrictions.
The prime minister is expected to introduce new rules allowing two households to meet outdoors, regardless of their size.
The move goes further than the “rule of six”, which left some families unable to meet. Under the new plans two households would be able to meet outdoors from April while gatherings of six people from six different households would also be allowed.
The introduction of the rule of six caused cabinet divisions last year after several senior ministers, including Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, spoke out against it. They argued that the limit should be at least eight, amid concerns that it penalised families from different households by barring them from meeting.
Professor Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, and Sir Patrick Vallance, the chief scientific adviser, backed the measure at the time amid concerns that mixing by households was spreading the virus.
The plans will be included in the prime minister’s road map, which is being launched on Monday. The document will include “tentative” early dates for easing the lockdown and reopening the economy, starting with the return of schools on March 8.
However, social distancing will remain in place for months to come along with the wearing of facemasks and advice that people should work from home where possible. The document is expected to include dates for those policies to be formally reviewed, in an attempt to appease Tory MPs who are pushing for all lockdown restrictions to be eased at the end of May.
The Times reported earlier this week that ministers were considering whether to allow people to go on self-catering holidays for the Easter break. Mark Drakeford, the first minister of Wales, confirmed yesterday that he hopes to enable limited tourism over the Easter period.
“What we will work on . . . is the possibility — and it is only that — of some limited reopening around Easter of self-contained accommodation only,” Drakeford said. “Places where people don’t mix with other people, where there aren’t shared facilities. That is how we began the reopening of tourism in Wales. If we can bring that forward to Easter, I know that would be a huge relief to many hundreds of thousands of families in Wales.”
He did not say whether people from other parts of Britain would be able to visit — in particular residents of England who own caravans or second homes in Wales.
Professor Neil Ferguson, an architect of the first lockdown, told Today on BBC Radio 4 that people would be isolating “forevermore” if the desire was to eliminate Covid-19.
“We’re not going to eliminate globally so we won’t eliminate here,” he said. “I would like to see this virus become like influenza and managed in similar ways.
“I think the one thing this pandemic has generated is a whole new generation of vaccines which frankly are much more effective than the influenza vaccines we typically use year to year. And so I think long-term we do have very promising prospects for pulling down the burden of disease, the mortality caused by this virus.”
Britain yesterday recorded 533 deaths within 28 days of a positive Covid test, with the seven-day total down 27.7 per cent on the previous week. A further 12,027 cases were recorded, with the seven-day total down 20.3 per cent. The latest government R estimate for the whole of the UK is between 0.6 and 0.9 compared with 0.7 and 0.9 last week.
Sarah Crofts, senior statistician for the Covid-19 infection survey, said: “While we are seeing a welcome further decrease in infection rates across the UK in the week ending 12 February, the numbers do still remain high and are similar to infection levels seen at the end of November.”
Mike Tildesley, a member of the government’s SPI-M modelling group, has warned about reopening too quickly and seeing the R number rising again.
He told BBC Breakfast: “We do know any form of reopening will cause the R number to go up so that needs very, very careful monitoring. “The vaccination campaign is going very, very well . . . but where we need to be careful is if we open too quickly and don’t allow the vaccination programme to help us, we run the [risk] of things resurging a little bit. I totally appreciate and understand the need to get children back in the classroom . . . the key thing for me is we need to do it in a way that schools don’t have to close again.”