Lock down again
That three tier system didn't last long. We are now back to the situation at the end of last March, pretty much. The lockdown will be for a month, starting Thursday 5th November (which, of course, is the anniversary of an unsuccessful attempt to blow up parliament).
The main rule is - stay home.
If you can't work from home, you can go to work. You can exercise outside with your household.
Meetings indoors or in private gardens - not allowed.
Pubs, bars, restaurants and "non-essential retail" are closed; takeaway and click-and-collect is OK.
People can form support bubbles, children can move between homes of separated parents.
Clinically vulnerable people are asked to be "especially careful". That's me. I rank as "very high risk"
One huge difference from last March; schools and universities will be open. I think that's a BIG mistake. Consider 15 unrelated families; the virus cannot spread between them. But now each of those, sends a child to school. If any of those children have the virus, then it can spread to the other 14, and thereby to all the other families.
Some very good news - the furlough scheme will be extended until the end of November. this will help a lot of people, but by no means all. I predict a LOT of people closing their business in the next few days, because they are unwilling to face a month of zero revenue (while still having to pay rent, rates etc).
This lockdown will not be as effective as the one of last March, for two reasons. First, the schools will be open. Second, people have "Covid fatigue" and are more likely to do a Dominic Cummings.
And we still don't have effective testing, or tracing. I only hope we have it when we come out of lock down.
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