August 14, 2020

expert reaction to further easing of some lockdown measures going ahead this weekend, having been postponed two weeks ago

Further lockdown measures in the UK are being eased from Saturday, after the easing was paused two weeks ago due to too high case numbers.

Prof Linda Bauld, Professor of Public Health, University of Edinburgh, said:

“Questions do need to be asked about the wisdom of this next stage of lockdown easing in England.  This reopening was paused two weeks ago, but daily cases have continued to rise since then.  Per size of population these continue to be higher in England than other parts of the UK, but England is still moving at a particularly rapid pace in opening up.

“Some of the changes can be managed – close contact beauty services need to be accompanied by stringent PPE for therapists, for example.  But other indoor venues or activities will need to strictly apply social distancing, which is going to be tricky.  The fact of the matter is that indoors is riskier than outdoors, particularly where face coverings are not required (eating and drinking at wedding receptions, for example).  Also longer time indoors such as at events is more risky than shorter visits to shops.  When the virus is still circulating in the community at the level it is, we should ideally press ‘pause’ for longer.  But there are real concerns for the economy and businesses and it’s a terribly difficult balancing act.”

* https://www.gov.uk/government/news/prime-minister-announces-stronger-enforcement-measures-as-easements-resume

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