By Paloma Mairone
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has revealed his ‘roadmap to recovery’, saying that opening up the economy is being handled with precision and caution to prevent a fourth lockdown from emerging – with the help of the four now famous steps. But do they provide reassurance, or false hope?
Politics can be a real head scratcher, and with so many announcements made during this pandemic, it can be hard to keep up with the schedule.
To make it easy, the steps announced on February 22nd are broken down into these four stages:
Stage 1:
On the 8th March schools and colleges reopened for education, although some universities like London Metropolitan University remain closed out of personal choice. Outdoor exercise is now permitted with ONE other person from a separate household. Funerals are allowed to go ahead with no more than 30 people and wakes and weddings are only permitted to six people for now. The advice until the 29th March is to ‘stay at home’ as much as possible, Johnson says.
As of the 29th March, the Rule of Six will return, where no more than TWO households to mix outdoors NOT indoors. OUTDOOR sports and leisure centres to reopen, outdoor parent and child groups (15 adults max) will be allowed, however minimal to no travel will still be in place.
Stage 2:
After a gap of five weeks on the 12th April, Stage 2 should be introduced. The Prime Minister was very careful with his choice of words when he stated that stages will be ‘no earlier than the date specified, which suggests that these dates are not promised’.
Indoor leisure will be allowed to open for use individually or as a household i.e; gyms and spas. The Rule of Six will still apply; outdoor attractions, libraries and community centres, beauty salons, all retail stores, outdoor hospitality, hotels will all be accessible and event pilots can begin. Funerals of up to 30 people, whilst wakes and wedding will then be allowed to hold 15 people. Minimal travel still in place however national holidays will then be safe.
Stage 3:
“No earlier than 17th May” groups of 30 will be allowed to form OUTDOORS; indoor entertainment and attractions can now open, organised adult sports will be able to take place, outdoor entertainment such as concerts and festivals should be permitted to take place. All accommodation facilities allowed to open and international is meant to be authorised, however a review will be put in place first. Large outdoor events of 10,00 people is set to be legit in this stage, whilst indoor events will only allow 1,000 people.
Stage 4:
The last handcuff will be unlocked as Stage 4 is hopefully set to be as of the 21st June. There will be no legal limits on social contact; nightclubs and bars will be reopened and life can go back as we once knew it.
Hopeful but no promise
Although this detailed scheduled seems like a structures and hopeful method of exiting lockdown, it is not the first time the Commons have promised without delivering, due to a change in circumstance concerning the spread of the virus. This issue has previous given our people false hope in that COVID-19 will become history.
Hairstylist Josephine DiStefano, said the false hope has had an impact on her mental health, and that she is hopeful her salon will open up soon. The main thing people are looking forward to when coming to a hair salon after lockdown is “getting their long, outgrown roots coloured”, she said.
Josephine has already go a busy schedule ahead of her and is “taking booking by the hour” in preparation for the lockdown lift.
“My inbox has never been so full,” she said, adding that she hopes with “everything she’s got that another lockdown will not happen”. She is very confident that Boris Johnsons predictions are accurate and thing will return to normal on the dates given.
Expert criticism
But some have criticised the plan; saying in particular that the vaccine alone cannot cannot stop the spread of the virus, and that providing dates for reopening without knowing future data was irresponsible.
“When you have high levels of transmission, the virus is more able to replicate,” Stephen Reicher, a professor of social psychology at the University of St Andrews and a member of SPI-B, the behavioural science subgroup of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), told the Guardian.
“The more the virus replicates, the higher chance of getting mutations; the more mutations, the higher the chance of a variant which evades the vaccine – and then they’ve undermined the vaccine.”
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