December 14, 2020

expert reaction to London, South Essex, and South Hertfordshire to move into tier 3

It has been announced that London, South Essex, and South Hertfordshire are to move into tier 3 from the beginning of Wednesday 16 December.

Dr Simon Clarke, Associate Professor of Cellular Microbiology at the University of Reading, said:

“The widely anticipated movement of London to Tier 3 comes in response to rapidly escalating numbers of infection, particularly in school age children.  The only way to reverse this trend will be to reduce interpersonal interactions, which the virus needs in order to survive.  Broad behavioural change is required, and everyone needs to be aware of their potential role in spreading Covid-19.

“While infection in younger children presents a relatively low risk, teenagers are capable of spreading this virus.  Unless the opportunities for transmission are broken, the situation will continue to deteriorate, but it should be noted that Tier 3 does not close schools.  That remains a decision to be taken by local councils and demonstrates a flaw in the Tiering system.  Similarly, Tier 3 does not close shops and we have recently seen that London’s shopping areas have been extremely busy, with social distancing often impossible.  It remains questionable how much effect moving London to Tier 3 would have if schools and retail areas are indeed places where significant numbers of infections take place.”

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/london-south-essex-and-south-hertfordshire-to-move-to-tier-3-restrictions

All our previous output on this subject can be seen at this weblink:

www.sciencemediacentre.org/tag/covid-19

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