The Independent scientific advisory body Independent SAGE, convened by former Chief Scientific Adviser Sir David King, has proposed a six-week plan for England to control the coronavirus (see the indie_SAGE youtube channel.) The plan proposes a short "Circuit Breaker" of 2 to 3 weeks ( as advised by official SAGE) including:
- Closure of schools to coincide with half term
- No indoor household mixing outside of support bubbles
- Closure of non-essential retail and business
- Reinstate 2m physical distancing
- Work at home where at all possible
- Closure of leisure and hospitality sectors(takeaways allowed)
- Closure of places of worship
- No overnight stays away from home
- All university teaching online
- Up to 6 people can meet outside in public places
Then another 3 to 4 weeks of national restriction to rapidly reduce new cases, hospital admissions and deaths. Some restrictions will remain to keep R below 1 while allowing schools to open (adapted from advice from official SAGE). Restrictions will include:
- No indoor household mixing outside of support bubbles.
- Reinstate 2m phsyical distancing.
- Work at home where at all possible,
- Closure of leisure and hospitality sectors (takeaways allowed)
- All university teaching online unless face-to-fce teaching absolutely essential.
- Up to 6 people can meet outside in public spaces
- Secondary school pupils to wear face coverings in classroom
For all six weeks there will be measures to "build the public health scaffolding to support exit from restrictions".
- Financial support for all those impacted by restrictions, including original furlough scheme and support for self-employed for affected workers and businesses.
- Immediate major reform of Test and Trace, including restructuring of testing infrastructure, contact tracing and wrap-around-support for isolation.
- Comprehensive reset of the Government communications strategy that explains measures, is clear and consistent, avoids blame and treats the public as a partner rather than as a problem.