A tale of two lockdowns: Boris Johnson’s England & Labour Wales
As the World Health Organisation makes clear from time to time lockdowns are very blunt instruments for dealing with epidemics and pandemics.
However if for various reasons other measures have failed or are not in place they can work to bring transmission and infection rates down. They do this essentially by reducing social interactions and getting people to stay at home more.
Below are a couple of statements that focus on this that relate to the Welsh firebreak lockdown now ended and the current lockdown in England.
It is interesting to note that the Welsh firebreak did reduce people moving around, social interactions and the rate of infection. Schools were also closed for part of it. The policy of the Welsh Government has never changed from advising people to work from home where they can.
In England, schools have remained open and early indications are that people movement has not reduced with working from home not being a key message.
(Vaughan Gething, Health Minister) thanked the people of Wales for their sacrifice during the lockdown, saying: “We have seen significant reductions in movement, we’re confident there’s been a reduction in household contact and all of those things will make a difference.
BBC Wales 8th November
So-called high frequency indicators of the broader economy, including volumes of people travelling to workplaces and heavy goods vehicle traffic, remained largely unchanged compared with before the restrictions were imposed…
Financial Times 17th November
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