Schools have been set up to fail by the careless summer relaxation of lockdown.
- No mandatory face masks in shops and indoors. The UK is an international outlier here.
- Reduction of 2m rule to 1m which is basically the normal distance people talk to each other. Factor in alcohol and social distancing is now non-existent in pubs and restaurants. Oh, and nobody cares about the 1m ‘plus’ bit. They just hear 1m.
- Reopening of too many indoor venues at once, including things like places of worship which are high-risk for transmission anyway.
- Bypassing the idea of social bubbles straight to unlimited two household meet-ups indoors. You can visit different pubs/restaurants over the weekend and go inside multiple households throughout the week. Zero attempt to break chain of transmission.
- No functioning app and poor test/trace system (see SAGE’s Stephen Reicher on the latter)
- ‘Pausing’ of shielding in August
All of the above will led to a rise in cases.
Meanwhile:
- Shit is absolutely hitting the fan in the United States, India, Pakistan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, other parts of the Middle East. Our quarantine policy is so terrible it may well be scrapped anyway. Will see more imported cases.
- The weather will turn cooler and allow perfect conditions for the virus to thrive
So by end of August/early September, our cases and hospitalizations will be rising significantly. Flu season will kick in. The NHS is already groaning under the weight of its huge 10million waiting list - another shut down cannot happen. A full time return to school under those circumstances will be untenable. Blended learning will see a turn as will part-time schooling.
YABU: we need to get the economy going in all its forms as quickly as possible, and schools will also go back with no issues.
YANBU: you cannot have things both ways. This summer relaxation is setting us up for an autumn/winter spike and more part-time schooling.