Will the Staying Alert send out mixed messages

I agree

I think this has all been handled really badly. Where did the tabloids for example get the idea that lockdown was imminently ending as witnessed by headlines....? Happy Monday.....Hurrah! Lockdown freedom beckons......Magic Monday

No wonder some felt free to mingle over the weekend as shown in the media.

The public needs clear messages, not ambiguous ones, and if some are expected to return to work and every day activities, people need to feel safe in doing so, especially those who are vulnerable.

There is still no satisfactory testing or contact tracing in place.

Appearing on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show, Mr Jenrick said: "Stay alert will mean stay alert by staying home as much as possible, but stay alert when you do go out by maintaining social distancing, washing your hands, respecting others in the workplace and the other settings that you'll go to."

I saw this interesting interpretation. The border around the Stay Home message is red slashes on yellow. Red means stop or danger. In the border round the Stay Alert message the red slashes are replaced with green ones. Green means go.

So the general message, according to this interpretation, is that lockdown is essentially over.

Elsewhere I've read articles pointing out that people had already begun to isolate and that companies had already started telling their workers to work from home before lockdown started. This is certainly true of the company employing my husband. Similarly, it is argued that people are beginning to end lockdown before being officially "allowed" to by government.

The argument is that government pronouncements have followed rather than led public behaviour.

I am not arguing whether this is good or bad.

Definitely! Some had trouble with understanding "Stay at home", those people may have a very odd idea or rather tenuous grip on what "Stay alert" might mean.

Dreadful mixed messages I m looking forward to easing but not up until we are lower we ve got this far and need to carry on

Stay Alert is an ambiguous message. It could be interpreted in different ways and many will think it means Lockdown is over.

Scotland, Wales and N. Ireland have adhered to Stay at Home,
which means what it says.

Bonkers. More grist to the mill for those in many countries who view UK as a laughing stock.

Seriously pro Boris or anti Boris what does this mean ??.

I don’t have a problem with it.
Surely we all understand what staying alert to the fact that the virus is still around even if the numbers of those infected are falling?

I think we all know that there won’t be any big changes yet but the removal of the ‘stay at home’
phrase is a step in the right direction.

However at the moment we will have to wait till 7pm tonight to hear the finer points from Boris.

Well allows the government to force people back to work and stop paying them any financialhelp needed

You are correct Phoenix that the very simple advice seems to have misunderstood .
Lord knows how Stay Alert will be interpreted

The official advice ‘Stay at home‘ with regard to exercise and shopping is :

1. Staying at home
You should only leave or be away from your home for very limited purposes:

Shopping for basic necessities, for example food and medicine, which must be as infrequent as possible .

One form of exercise a day, for example a run, walk, or cycle - alone or with members of your household.

The science boffins have confirmed we are below R-0. Time to cautiously move from Level 4 to Level 3. When you go out just be ‘aware’. We can’t be babied forever.

JenniferEccles sorry to disagree, but as I said in a previous post, many have had a "problem" with understanding the current guidance/advice/regulations, tell them it's being relaxed, and just wait for the parties as they celebrate what they see as a total lifting!

Urmstongran I don't think we have been "babied", in fact, far from it!

If we continue like this for much longer phoenix we are! I suppose what I meant was, as adults, we are being given information and guidance by experts. The next stage beckons.

!) The numbers of people infected are not falling. My OH has been recording them. He says that they have remained about the same for the last 3 weeks.

2) We are nowhere near R-0. We're just below R-1. We ideally need to be at least below R-0.5. We appear to be somewhere between 0.75 and 1

news.sky.com/story/key-r-rate-of-measuring-covid-19-spread-rises-due-to-care-home-infections-say-experts-11984906

Have some had a problem understanding the current guidelines phoenix or is it that some have chosen to ignore them?

I think Boris and his advisers are well aware that some level of movement is called for now, or the country will be facing the mother of all economic catastrophes which in the end will help no one.

Of course those who want to continue to isolate can do so.

Apologies MaizieD you’re right of course. I did mean to say ‘below R-1’.

Which is where we are. Time to (cautiously) loosen this lockdown whilst keeping it under review. Sensible if it’s baby steps?

How do you "be aware?' Distancing ? - well we've seen how thats been going and is it possible anyway on public transport etc? Seems like they are going back to their herd immunity idea. Keep the oldies locked up and the rest can do what they like.

The oldies can choose to stay locked in. Or not (providing not on the vulnerable shielded list). Those under 60y are less vulnerable fortunately, as they are the people needed back at work.

Oh well, in Scotland we can go out for exercise more than once a day but we must also stay home. No need for us to be alert, though.

I don't think the selfish and stupid ( there are plenty of those) will necessarily understand the message, they'll just do what they like anyway.

Hmm..

According to the ONS statistics your risk increases quite rapidly post 44 yrs.

In the W/E 24th April: 109 deaths 16 -44 age group, 883 deaths 45 - 64 age group.

Is it a case of whatever course of action is taken, it will be deemed to be wrong by some ?

All I know is I don’t envy the government.

It’s such a fine balancing act they have isn’t it?