The most striking thing about the lockdown easing that Boris Johnson just announced is how limited it is. Single parents and those who live alone will be able to form a support bubble with one other household; churches and other places of worship will re-open for individual prayer, and zoos will be able to admit people to their outdoor facilities.
Listening to Boris Johnson, on the day that Professor Ferguson claimed an earlier lockdown would have halved the death toll, it’s clear that the UK is going to come out of lockdown very slowly. Johnson talked about how the government has ‘to proceed with caution’ and warned that ‘this epidemic has a long way to go.’ The Chief Medical Officer and the Chief Scientific Adviser were even more adamant on these points. Chris Whitty stressed that the government might have to tighten things up again in winter as the virus would have advantages then that it doesn’t have now.
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