The Welsh first minister, Mark Drakeford, has declared that a temporary national lockdown will be imposed in Wales.
The Welsh Government believes a two-week firebreak, from Friday at 6 pm until Monday 9 November is essential to help bring the virus under control.
Approximately 2.3 million people in Wales are already living under local lockdown rules, that’s fifteen of Wales’s 22 counties plus Bangor and Llanelli.
The Labour-led Welsh Government has also prohibited people from crossing into Wales from tier 2 and tier 3 areas in other parts of the United Kingdom, but the Government believes it needs to go further and it asserts that a sharp lockdown now will give it and the NHS in Wales breathing space ahead of a difficult winter.
Everyone in Wales will be required to remain at home and work from home wherever possible and workers in critical jobs and those for whom working from home isn’t feasible are allowed out.
Non-essential shops, tourism and hospitality industries will have to close, except for takeaways, along with community centres, libraries and places of worship, other than for funerals and weddings.
Drakeford said children were the Welsh Government’s top focus and he said childcare would remain open and primary and special schools would reopen as expected after the half term.
He said that secondary schools will reopen after the half term for children in years 7 and 8 and those taking exams, but that other pupils will continue their education from home for an additional week.
All gathering indoors and outdoors will be prohibited with people from other households – there will be an exception for people who live alone, who will be able to continue to join one other household.
Drakeford said the virus was spreading rapidly in every part of Wales and if action was not taken it would continue to accelerate, risking overwhelmingly to the NHS.
He said the firebreak is the shortest that they could make it, but that meant it would have to be intense and deep to have the maximum impact on the virus.
College students will study from home in the week starting 9 November and universities will continue to provide a blend of in-person and online learning.
Drakeford added that in the same way, they were asking everyone to remain at home and that if students have reading weeks or half term they will also need to remain at home in their university accommodation.
But will this not allow students to catch the train home, spend a fortnight carrying on as normal, then bring it back?
Hmm, a fortnight locked in a 12ft by 10ft room with zoom lessons or escape back to mum and dad, zoom lessons and home comforts, I know which I would prefer.
Oh dear, circuit breakers, almost as ridiculous as flattening the curve and masks don’t work from earlier.
Sure take a break, but it won’t stop the virus from spreading and all they’re doing is kicking the can down the road and if masks work, why have cases continued to rise exponentially in both Wales and England since their introduction?
That’s because masks are not 100 per cent effective, although nobody ever claimed they were – they only just mask the virus, pardon the pun.
Masks just reduce the probabilities of you getting coronavirus and that’s only by about 5 per cent, but unfortunately, delaying the spread of COVID into the winter will then overlap with other respiratory emergencies and create another predictable peak in excess winter deaths and this strategy is opposite of flattening the curve.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 