Throughout the course of this year, many have found ways of operating productively from home, offering alternate services and galvanising their online operations. He said: ‘The first national lockdown was incredibly damaging for the vast majority of small businesses – if we can avoid a second through the utilisation of alternative measures to contain the virus, that would give hope to a lot of small firms as they try to get back on their feet. Mike Cherry, National Chair of the Federation of Small Businesses, also warned that a largescale lockdown would be harmful. ‘There probably will be a bump in unemployment in the autumn but I think there are good reasons to think it will be quite limited, for example most people have already come off the furlough scheme.’ ‘I still think there’s a good chance the level of GDP is back to pre-Covid levels by Christmas, which I think will be a lot earlier than most people anticipate. I’d be relatively upbeat about the economy. They said it risked “another winter of chaos” without urgent action, including mandatory mask wearing in shops and on public transport.Īnd at least a dozen local public health chiefs in England have broken from the government’s official guidance and recommended plan B measures, including mask wearing and working from home, to combat a surge in Covid infections in their areas.‘We’ve got one of the strongest recoveries in the world at the moment. Trade union leaders representing 3 million frontline workers attacked the government’s “laissez-faire approach to managing the pandemic” on Friday. In its meeting dated 14 October, however, Sage said measures contained in the government’s plan B would be most effective if implemented in unison and earlier rather than later.
#Possibility of a second lockdown series
Other experts predict a series of broader, flatter peaks as the virus continues to spread. Members of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) said in minutes of a meeting published on Friday that a further huge rise in infections as seen in January was increasingly unlikely. “The sooner we all act, the sooner we can get this transmission rate down, and the greater the prospect of having a Christmas with our families,” he said. He urged the public to take matters into their own hands to slow down transmission of the virus, rather than waiting for the government to reintroduce measures, including avoiding public transport and crowded spaces if possible, getting vaccinated and accepting the offer of the booster jab. We seem to have got used to the idea that we’re going to have many, many people dying of Covid and that I think is just not the case.”
Openshaw said: “At one stage last week there were 180 deaths in a single day. The UK recorded its highest number of Covid-related deaths since March last week. Talking to people on the frontline, I think it’s just not sustainable to keep going at this rate.” Openshaw said it was “unacceptable to be letting this run at the moment … I think hospitals in many parts of the country are barely coping actually. He said getting measures in place now in order to “get transmission rates right down” was key to having “a wonderful family Christmas where we can all get back together”. The immediacy of response is absolutely vital if you’re going to get things under control.”
If you do delay then you need to take even more stringent actions later. He said: “We know that with public health measures the time to act is immediately. Speaking in a personal capacity, Openshaw told BBC Breakfast on Saturday that he feared “another lockdown Christmas if we don’t act soon”.
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