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Alert Team
Whilst I expect the vast majority to retain and use a modicum of commonsense, I fear a significant minority simply can't do it....
Anyway, for now, the lockdown is effectively over except for the most vulnerable amongst us - I thought that worthy of a new fresh Cornavirus thread:
CORONAVIRUS
Use common sense to prevent a second spike, Britons are urged
Lucy Fisher
Monday June 01 2020, 12.01am, The Times
It will take two to three weeks to know if lockdown has been eased too quickly
DOMINIC LIPINSKI/PA
The public have been told to play their part to avoid a second coronavirus spike after lockdown measures ease from today, because the “room for manoeuvre is quite limited”.
People from different households can now meet in groups of six, as long as they stay two metres apart.
The government is ready to impose local lockdowns if a rise in cases suddenly becomes apparent.
As Covid-19 continues to infect people across the globe, we track how the virus has spread from a few cases in China to thousands worldwide
Read the feature
Primary schools are set to reopen as are outdoor markets and car showrooms. More than two million vulnerable people who have been shielding since March will be allowed to spend time with other people outdoors.
Speaking at the daily Downing Street press conference yesterday Robert Jenrick, the housing secretary, said: “We’re reasonably confident that the steps we’ve taken and will be taking [today] are manageable but we have to all continue to play our part in that because the rate of infection remains somewhere between 0.7 and 0.9 and the room for manoeuvre is quite limited.
“We’ll obviously keep this under very close scrutiny as we move into this next phase and as we approach the next decision point on June 15.”
Dr Jenny Harries, the deputy chief medical officer for England, said that people should limit themselves to what was sensible rather than possible, and called for common sense to be deployed.
Some scientists suggested that the government was taking a risk by easing lockdown measures so soon. The Association of Directors of Public Health said that it was “not supported by the science” and that they were “increasingly concerned that the government is misjudging the balance of risk between more social interaction and the risk of a resurgence of the virus, and is easing too many restrictions too quickly”.
Peter Openshaw, an immunologist who sits on the government’s New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group, said “unlocking too fast carries a great risk”, and that the nation needed “to proceed with great, great care at this point”.
The impact of the government’s move to repeal restrictions today would only become visible in two to three weeks, he said.
“It’s going to be very patchy,” he told The Andrew Marr Show on BBC One. “It may be that actually easing lockdown is perfectly OK in areas like London which were hit early and hit hard, and where the epidemic seems to have been virtually passed in many parts of the community, with a few exceptions.
“But up north it’s still a very large number of cases. I think we need to be more subtle about the geography and we need to look at the particular areas where it may be appropriate to ease lockdown. Maybe there needs to be a bit more subtlety to the way in which lockdown is eased.”
Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, acknowledged that “this is a sensitive moment”, but added: “We can’t just stay in lockdown for ever. We have got to transition.”
The government could not expect all scientists to agree on the right course of action in a pandemic situation, he said.
The latest lockdown easing is due to take place at a time when the nation is still at level four in the government’s Covid alert levels system, which represents an “epidemic in general circulation”, with transmission rates high or rising. At level three, the outbreak is deemed to be “in general circulation”.
Defending the decision to press ahead with lifting restrictions, Mr Raab told Sky News: “We’re transitioning from level four to level three. The R [virus reproduction] level is below one. The death rate, if you look at the trend data, is coming down,” he said.
He underlined the government’s resistance to reimposing a lockdown in England if there is a second rise in infections.
“What we really want to avoid is any re-entering of the lockdown,” he told the BBC. “If there’s any uptick in one particular locality or one particular setting, we’ve got the ability to take targeted measures.”
Daily coronavirus testing capacity reached 200,000 before the government’s deadline of the end of May, Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said.
A total of 205,634 tests were available on Saturday, including 40,000 antibody tests for NHS staff and care workers to determine whether they have had the virus, according to the Department for Health and Social Care.
It is unclear how many of the tests were actually carried out, however. Boris Johnson set the goal at the beginning of the month to double testing from 100,000 to 200,000 a day. Downing Street was accused of watering down the pledge after clarification that it referred to capacity rather than tests that were conducted.
What we can do from today
• Spend time outdoors, including in private gardens and other outdoor spaces, in groups of up to six people from different households, following social distancing guidelines.
• Visit car showrooms and outdoor markets.
• Send children to school or nursery if they are in early years, reception, year 1 or year 6, if your school is open.
• Professional athletes can also train and compete using the specified gyms, pools and sports facilities.
However, the public cannot:
• Visit friends and family inside their homes.
• Stay overnight away from your own home, except in a limited set of circumstances.
• Exercise in an indoor gym or go swimming in a public pool.
• Use an outdoor gym or playground.
• Gather outdoors in a group of more than six (excluding members of your own household).
Anyway, for now, the lockdown is effectively over except for the most vulnerable amongst us - I thought that worthy of a new fresh Cornavirus thread:
CORONAVIRUS
Use common sense to prevent a second spike, Britons are urged
Lucy Fisher
Monday June 01 2020, 12.01am, The Times
It will take two to three weeks to know if lockdown has been eased too quickly
DOMINIC LIPINSKI/PA
The public have been told to play their part to avoid a second coronavirus spike after lockdown measures ease from today, because the “room for manoeuvre is quite limited”.
People from different households can now meet in groups of six, as long as they stay two metres apart.
The government is ready to impose local lockdowns if a rise in cases suddenly becomes apparent.
As Covid-19 continues to infect people across the globe, we track how the virus has spread from a few cases in China to thousands worldwide
Read the feature
Primary schools are set to reopen as are outdoor markets and car showrooms. More than two million vulnerable people who have been shielding since March will be allowed to spend time with other people outdoors.
Speaking at the daily Downing Street press conference yesterday Robert Jenrick, the housing secretary, said: “We’re reasonably confident that the steps we’ve taken and will be taking [today] are manageable but we have to all continue to play our part in that because the rate of infection remains somewhere between 0.7 and 0.9 and the room for manoeuvre is quite limited.
“We’ll obviously keep this under very close scrutiny as we move into this next phase and as we approach the next decision point on June 15.”
Dr Jenny Harries, the deputy chief medical officer for England, said that people should limit themselves to what was sensible rather than possible, and called for common sense to be deployed.
Some scientists suggested that the government was taking a risk by easing lockdown measures so soon. The Association of Directors of Public Health said that it was “not supported by the science” and that they were “increasingly concerned that the government is misjudging the balance of risk between more social interaction and the risk of a resurgence of the virus, and is easing too many restrictions too quickly”.
Peter Openshaw, an immunologist who sits on the government’s New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group, said “unlocking too fast carries a great risk”, and that the nation needed “to proceed with great, great care at this point”.
The impact of the government’s move to repeal restrictions today would only become visible in two to three weeks, he said.
“It’s going to be very patchy,” he told The Andrew Marr Show on BBC One. “It may be that actually easing lockdown is perfectly OK in areas like London which were hit early and hit hard, and where the epidemic seems to have been virtually passed in many parts of the community, with a few exceptions.
“But up north it’s still a very large number of cases. I think we need to be more subtle about the geography and we need to look at the particular areas where it may be appropriate to ease lockdown. Maybe there needs to be a bit more subtlety to the way in which lockdown is eased.”
Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, acknowledged that “this is a sensitive moment”, but added: “We can’t just stay in lockdown for ever. We have got to transition.”
The government could not expect all scientists to agree on the right course of action in a pandemic situation, he said.
The latest lockdown easing is due to take place at a time when the nation is still at level four in the government’s Covid alert levels system, which represents an “epidemic in general circulation”, with transmission rates high or rising. At level three, the outbreak is deemed to be “in general circulation”.
Defending the decision to press ahead with lifting restrictions, Mr Raab told Sky News: “We’re transitioning from level four to level three. The R [virus reproduction] level is below one. The death rate, if you look at the trend data, is coming down,” he said.
He underlined the government’s resistance to reimposing a lockdown in England if there is a second rise in infections.
“What we really want to avoid is any re-entering of the lockdown,” he told the BBC. “If there’s any uptick in one particular locality or one particular setting, we’ve got the ability to take targeted measures.”
Daily coronavirus testing capacity reached 200,000 before the government’s deadline of the end of May, Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said.
A total of 205,634 tests were available on Saturday, including 40,000 antibody tests for NHS staff and care workers to determine whether they have had the virus, according to the Department for Health and Social Care.
It is unclear how many of the tests were actually carried out, however. Boris Johnson set the goal at the beginning of the month to double testing from 100,000 to 200,000 a day. Downing Street was accused of watering down the pledge after clarification that it referred to capacity rather than tests that were conducted.
What we can do from today
• Spend time outdoors, including in private gardens and other outdoor spaces, in groups of up to six people from different households, following social distancing guidelines.
• Visit car showrooms and outdoor markets.
• Send children to school or nursery if they are in early years, reception, year 1 or year 6, if your school is open.
• Professional athletes can also train and compete using the specified gyms, pools and sports facilities.
However, the public cannot:
• Visit friends and family inside their homes.
• Stay overnight away from your own home, except in a limited set of circumstances.
• Exercise in an indoor gym or go swimming in a public pool.
• Use an outdoor gym or playground.
• Gather outdoors in a group of more than six (excluding members of your own household).