Alert level down from 4 to 3

It's good news - so let's greet it with some optimism. The government's handling of this crisis has not been perfect, but what did anyone expect? The whole world has been in completely uncharted waters, scientists have given advice, governments have taken it and acted upon it. Sometimes it has gone wrong; does anyone think ministers choose to do the wrong thing, knowingly, given the potential outcome? So often when you hear the full facts it has, as usual, been blown up by the media and a controversial spin is put on. The tracking device has failed - and so who shall we blame for that? Did we hear anyone saying why it might not work but most importantly offering an alternative while the trials were under review? ? There are those who seem to want to demoralise the nation .. As for death rates - is every other country as honest as us? Brazil has lost 49,000 people to the virus and yet Russia apparently has had only 8,ooo deaths so far - anyone believe this figure?
As for scientific advice - the spineless among the UK's scientists have said they must not be blamed - they 'gave the government opinions/advice - but the Govenment chose whether to act on it'.

Cases in the rise in Italy too so bears watching. I’m not happy about the relaxing of the 2m rule but do many people are now ignoring the rules I guess we all have to take responsibility for ourselves. Luckily still working from home at present.

I am totally fed up of it all. I am not fully clear on what I can and cannot do and some of the rules are downright stupid. I am shielding so do not go out and I think I will be extra cautious if and when I do go out. I understand I cannot stay in forever but I would be happier if the R rate was down and there were less new infections and certainly less deaths.

Very good Franbern ??

Nice one Franbern

Carolpaint SCOTTISH people pay tax too ,or didn't you know that ? Or the FACT that we send all our taxes and revenue down to Westminster who send us a small portion back in the form of the Barnett "formula" Anything thats coming north is not YOUR money its whats rightfully ours.
Check it out!! Scotland is not subsidised by the good people of England in fact its the other way round.Without Scotlands contribution England would have been bankrupt 50 years ago ..or more .Westminster squandered money from OIL in SCOTTISH waters ,look what Norway has done with their oil thay have a massive oil fund.Then theres whisky at £ 50 a SECOND into WM coffers ..and loads more .

I don’t think it’s too soon. If we waited until there were no deaths and no new cases we could be in lock down forever. Surely that a doomsday scenario. Perhaps we have to accept this virus could be around for a long time and we are going y have to live with. Some of us will get sick and some of us will die but staying sequestered in our houses....it that how we want to end of lives?

Mr Drakeford has told us we can go shopping next week. A small step but a start. I shall go out. 14 weeks of constant lock up is enough. At my age I will die of something soon enough anyway.

Doe?s this sum it all up?

This coronavirus is the strangest virus I've ever heard of. It's very dangerous the way it spreads.
It is so mysterious the way it lurks in schools, but then dies at Home Bargains.
It can wreak havoc in pubs and restaurants! Although it’s mind-boggling how it vanishes at the beach or in the park. Yet, standing to watch a marathon or at a gig or festival triggers its wrath.
It is sneaky. It can spread when buying clothes at Primark but not at Tesco's or Asda.
It is non-alcoholic. It can't spread when you are buying beer.
It lives for 24 hours on Amazon boxes, you must wait 24 hours to touch them but it can't survive on takeaway coffee cups, so enjoying a hot latte is safe.
It is the most curious thing, how it lives on footballs, tennis rackets and ballet bars, but dies on shopping trolleys and food.
It is spread by hair stylists, dog groomers, and dentists, but not by bank machines, cashiers, and fast food workers.
It's so smart. It won’t bother the first 6 people that get together but it knows when the 7th person shows up so be careful if that’s you.
It even knows what you want vs what you need. If you want a massage or your nails done it is very actively on the prowl and not even a mask can stop it. If you need a plumber, it is weak, and a mask will keep it away.
It also seems to be most dangerous after 5:30pm so businesses must start to close before the virus comes out and wreaks havoc upon the populations.
Whoever heard of such a smart sneaky virus?!? ???

I am in the other camp of 'it's too soon'.

Whilst I agree with lowering the threat from 4 to 3, unfortunately the public are acting (most probably because of Domenic Cummings) as if Covid has gone - it hasn't.

If an asymptomatic super-spreader had a blue dot on the end of their nose, we could all see and avoid but they don't. These people walk amongst us and unless social distancing and mask-wearing is adhered to, there is little chance of this virus disappearing any time soon and this time of the year is our best shot at reducing it.

The public are beginning to act as if there is no threats. There is!

Hopefully schools will go back to the system we had at girls grammar school, a desk per pupil, teachers moving from class room to class room except for science, art and geography. It was a ridiculous system sending kids to school with heavy bags and being like tramps the whole day from pillar to post. Hopefully this is now a chance to introduce some changes in routines.

The number of death or infections have been very low down here in Devon and Cornwall, but that could change when we get lots more tourists arriving. But we have to risk it sometime because tourism is so vital to the economy. I'm glad I don't have to make these decisions.

Franbern I absolutely agree.
The only way is all children back at school but more than likely it will have to be a hand wash and sanitizer version of what is already there.
More teachers? Not sure how that will happen with the frequently published teacher shortages.
More room? We had to wait nearly 11 years before the LEA would fund an extension big enough to allow single year group classes instead of mixed y1/2 and Y3/4 and Y5/6 with only 30 in each class. We still don’t have anywhere near enough rooms to have the whole school in bubbles of 15.
One GC is in a small country school still with mixed age classes and no spare rooms so would that make them a priority for extra room provision?
I’m glad I’m not making the decisions and taking the flak!

rowanflower sounds like your local hospital's infection control is the problem. I hope they've seriously stepped it up. These localised bouts are what the govt was on about re localised flare ups. It's good that they've found your local hot-spot. Unfortunate for your sister though.

How many teachers are really choosing not to go back? How many have now decided, on full pay, that their ?asthma etc is too bad to let them go back? If we are employing so many unfit to teach, perhaps a visit to occupational health would be in order and the question posed, that are they unfit to be employed?. Am fed up of many who consider the money tree is infinite. Individuals who expect others to support them unaware that they must work too. To develop a good immunity children generally have about 20 Covid infections in a year, adults we only have around four. So am now getting irritated by the growing army of the too timid. Nicola Sturgeon included, does she still accept our taxpayers money to continue to support Scotland, who have a far lower infection rate?

Number of cases in my local town's hospital went from 25 to 50 last week, and my sister - sent to A & E there, has gone down with it - really quite poorly, so I feel it's way to soon!

The regulations are complicated and often irrational. The public are beginning to ignore them completely which is a risk. There have been huge gatherings eg on beaches and in parks over Easter with no increase in infection level. Now we've had thousands attending protests and marches with still further reductions in infection levels. Yet funerals can only be attended by a handful of people, children can't access formal education and thousands will lose or already have lost their jobs.
Reduce the social distance to one metre and let's get on with trying to restore some sort of normality.
I should say that my DS had coronavirus and it was like a bad cold for less than a week. Its a mild infection for most and symptomless for others. Obviously, elderly and shielding people should stay home but don't use that to imprison the majority of the population.

If you read the descriptions of the five alert levels, the UK is definitely at level 3 now and this was agreed by all four Chief Medical Officers. This does not say that the pandemic is over, but suggests that social distancing measures can be reduced. Any return to a lockdown will probably be localised rather than countrywide.

My husband (over 65) is a technician at a secondary school and has had to go in once a week during lockdown - next week he’s in all week making PPE screens for reception etc. Week after he is in helping years 10 and 12 with projects. So whilst they say September, most school staff and teachers are and have been in school throughout. I am vulnerable as is my MIL who lives with us. We would prefer him to stay home as without him here we would have to use public transport to get provisions etc. There are no plans to “emerge” yet here - we operate our own threat level. At present that’s tolerable by next week with DH back at work that will be hugely elevated. I think my husbands life and 2 elderly ladies anxiety and possibly their lives is worth more than a teenagers prospects. They are all in the same boat - they aren’t being asked to fight and die At that age as previous generations have, just stay home and study.... if they don’t or won’t study they won’t get to Uni, fair enough it should only be for the most dedicated, brightest and best anyway far too many kids go nowadays and what do most do with it? Whatever they won’t die, they are young - we may we are more vulnerable.

While I agree that getting children back to school is a priority, even with bubbles of 10, there is still risk. I am a TA and we have a child who's disabled brother has a carer who is Covid positive. Waiting to see if the bubble will need to isolate. At 65 I am considering retirement as "bubbles' of 30 will be a different ball game!

For this purpose, the main consideration should be the level of new cases (not deaths - they are from infections days/weeks ago). And new cases are still at a high level. Maintain your own hygiene and distance level. - I'm guessing for another 3 weeks. I'm in Hastings area - no deaths now for at least a month. BUT people are now travelling more so geographical distance is not very protective.

Nicola Sturgeon has declared she is very anxious about how people will react to this new slightly more relaxed phase. Reading the few contributions here, I now understand her trepidation.

In our area of South Glos we have no cases in Southmead Hospital and no new cases or deaths for several days. Our R is 0.6

Well, I sat watching the news last nigt and the announcement of level 4 to 3; great news - until later in the same news programme the surge in India of Covid since relaxation of lockdown...............

A large number of people do have some strange (and totally wrong)ideas about this and other virus. So, Parsley makes that comment about sitting on a bench or a wall. Other people will not open their windows. I hear of people washing all their shopping in soapy water when getting it in their homes, not touching delivery parcels for three days, etc. etc. there is much confusion.

I am by no means a supporter of Johnson and his gang - very much the opposite, and do think their handling throughout of this crisis has been really disgustingly bad - hence we have such a very high death rate in UK. So, very many u-turns, they really have no idea what they are doing.

However, getting ALL children back to school full time- for me - is a major priority. Think as much money as necessary needs to be available to assist schools have enough teachers and support staff, and room to ensure this is well in place for beginning of September. The millions of pounds wasted on the stupid 'in-house' ap would have been so much better spent in this way.

Bluebelle, I have also had that thought about increased number of students seeking Uni entry in 2021 - and also wonder how many Uni's will be decreasing the number of places available due to lack of funding. Do feel very sorry for those students who deferred from entry in 2019 to this year!! I also wonder if there might be a need to cancel A levels next year (as this year) and use assessments again. Whatever, it is so hard to keep 17-year olds at present really to keep up with the discipline of their work.

Brave to sit on a bench? It was wooden so it’s unlikely any virus would survive for long. We’d also not long had heavy rain which had then dried up when the sun came out. There was no one else around. I had sanitiser and wipes which we used, as well.

The risk is minimal, I’d say. I’ve just also discovered tonight that there have been no deaths whatsoever in this area.