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Encouraging the public to visit bars and restaurants and then close those places when Covid-19 cases rise is not a “reasonable way to manage the epidemic,” a government science advisor said.
The professor. John Edmunds, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies (Sage), has called for a long-term strategy when it comes to balancing the economy and the pandemic.
Current national lockdown measures in England mean that venues such as pubs, bars and restaurants have been forced to close, but should be allowed to reopen when restrictions are lifted.
Edmunds expressed concern over the “reversal” between incentives like Eat Out To Help Out and closures.
“We need to have a long-term view, be reasonable and realize that we’re going to have to have restrictions in place for some time,” he said.
“Yes, we can raise them when it is safe to do so, which will mainly be when large numbers of people have been vaccinated.
“But the flip between encouraging people to socialize, which is what you’re doing by encouraging people to go to restaurants and bars, instead of immediately closing them again, isn’t a very sensible way to manage the outbreak.”
Under current plans, a regional tiered system will replace the national bloc when it ends on December 2.
Edmunds, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said it was “too early to judge” whether it was too early to lift the current restrictions.
But he said a return to the regional level system’s lowest alert level, Level 1, after the lockdown is over would be “very unwise”.
“The problem with the tiered system is that tier 1 doesn’t do much, tier 2 probably has some effect, but not much, and tier 3 seems to be able to contain the outbreak,” he said.
“The problem with the tiered system is that you inevitably end up with quite a few high-impact posts in those circumstances.
“Level 1 and Level 2 eventually progress to Level 3 with a high impact, and then Level 3 keeps it there. Frankly, it wasn’t a well thought out strategy. “
The comments come after the government said 462 more people had died within 28 days of the positive result for Covid-19 starting Saturday.
By 9am on Saturday, there were a further 26,860 laboratory-confirmed coronavirus cases in the UK, down slightly from an increase of 27,301 on Friday.
Meanwhile, Labor has called for emergency legislation to “eliminate dangerous anti-vax content” following the promising preliminary results of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine. The opposition said dedicated anti-vaccination groups with hundreds of thousands of members on social media were “churning out misinformation”.
Elsewhere, another Sage member said the next two weeks will be “absolutely crucial” to ensure the coronavirus lockdown ends as planned.
Prof Susan Michie, a behavioral scientist at University College London, urged the public to resist breaking current rules, in order to be able to spend the holiday season with loved ones.
“So I think for the next couple of weeks, everyone really needs to put all their determination together,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today program.
Michie suggested that the announcement of a potential Covid-19 vaccine could lead to complacency towards the blockade, adding that the coup “will make no difference” to the current wave.
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