[quote Janus]@starfro I always wonder how much Chris Whitty is persuaded to say something that matches whatever the government are proposing?? I bet if he had free speech he would say the timing of this is awful.
To be honest, I have teenagers and early 20s and if they want to go clubbing I can’t blame them with the 2 years of no life they’ve had to protect the older generation. But they still wear masks in every indoor setting.
I understand that things have to open up at some point and when do we choose the right time but the huge rising numbers tell me this is not the right time. I’m not expecting this to go well!![/quote]
He definitely wouldn't (I have some insider knowledge here as well). I think he'd like to keep masks, but is quite sure this is the least worst time to open.
This only ends* when sufficient immunity builds up. That means lots of cases. You want to match the rise in cases to a time when the NHS isn't dealing with flu cases.
You might want to flatten the curve. Summer school holidays helps quite a lot with this. Mask wearing will a little bit as well. However, if you flatten it too much, you end up with it going on longer and into winter. Also, given R0 is now 6+, you just can't flatten the curve much. See the outbreaks in Souh Korea, Thailand, Vietnam to show how hard Delta is to control compared to previous iterations.
The actual SAGE/Gov plan from February is now very different thanks to Delta. It has changed the strategy from vaccine=immunity in vaccinated=small exit wave in the unvaccinated to vaccine=protection from severe illness, vaccine+infection = immunity. The Government isn't explaining this, even though scientists are.
There are no easy answers to any of this. The only other real option available is a hard hard lockdown for a whole year, but even then you end up with the same wave we're currently experiencing, just delayed a year.
*It won't end, you'll likely see smaller future outbreaks and most people will have Covid a few times in their lifetime