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The government has announced that a large variety of social locations, including pubs and restaurants, have been told to shut from Friday night for a yet to be determined period.
Dr Thomas House, Reader in Mathematical Statistics, University of Manchester, said:
“Having modelled the latest figures, and from the other modelling and scientific work available, there seems to be good evidence that the UK should take significant action at this time to reduce the risk of transmission of coronavirus and thereby mitigate the effects of the ongoing epidemic. We know that reducing the direct contacts that people make will reduce transmission, although the magnitude of this reduction is still subject to large uncertainties that we will need to work to reduce over the coming weeks.”
Prof Rowland Kao, Sir Timothy O’Shea Professor of Veterinary Epidemiology and Data Science, University of Edinburgh, said:
“These locations (restaurants, pubs, gyms etc.) are all places where contact occurs not just in passing, but for reasonably prolonged periods of time. In that sense, they are obvious places to be ‘next on the list’ for closures. It must be remembered that the evaluation of the situation is ongoing, and that the serial interval between consecutive generations is quite short. While I am not in a position to know if these measures are a response to the changing situation here, or changing evidence from outside GB, the rapidity of Covid-19’s spread means that changes in policy at this stage of the epidemic in GB would be expected to be quite rapid if there is no evidence of previous measures having a substantial effect. As such, should no obvious changes in the trajectory of the epidemic occur, we should expect even more stringent measures to be announced in the days to come.”
Prof Jonathan Ball, Professor of Molecular Virology, University of Nottingham, said:
“This was the right thing to do. Self-imposition of social distancing was clearly not working so the state had to intervene. I hope that all those affected will be properly supported through what will inevitably be difficult and exceedingly trying times. The virus is spreading fast and all adults, irrespective of age, can end up seriously ill. The only way to start to slow the spread is to put some distance between each other, limit the amount of social interaction and continue to adopt good personal hygiene.”
Dr Zania Stamataki, Senior Lecturer in Viral Immunology, University of Birmingham, said:
“The government has moved to the next stage of mandatory closures for places where many people come into close contact with each other. This move follows recent recommendations for keeping our physical distance and it is not surprising, in fact it is important to stay safe in this pandemic. We all must do our bit to reduce virus transmission and protect the most vulnerable. These are tough times, but we can stay in touch and look after each other remotely as much as possible.
“We have the benefit of facing this pandemic weeks after countries such as China, South Korea and Italy, and we are learning from their experiences. The government’s move for mandatory closures of cafes, pubs, bars and restaurants was the next anticipated step. We are all learning to gradually adapt to this unprecedented situation and organise working from home and keeping in touch remotely with our friends and colleagues. The government’s briefings included important reminders that younger adults are not immune to this infection and everyone must avoid public places as much as possible.”
Dr Rupert Beale, Group Leader, Cell Biology of Infection Laboratory, Francis Crick Institute, said:
“These are very welcome announcements. Shutting places where people mix like pubs, cafes and bars is essential. Hospitals are already in danger of reaching capacity. Even if you do not have symptoms you could still pass on the virus to someone who might die. We must stay at home to save lives.”
All our previous output on this subject can be seen at this weblink:
http://www.sciencemediacentre.org/tag/covid-19
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