After weeks of lockdown, cases in England drop 30 percent.

[brooklynite]

Source: New York Times

By the end of the third week of England’s second national lockdown, which began early this month in a bid to stem a second wave of coronavirus infections, the number of new cases has fallen 30 percent, according to new data.

Some parts of northern England, which had been hit particularly hard by the new outbreak, experienced an even greater drop, the latest interim findings from Imperial College London’s React study showed.

But Matt Hancock, the British health secretary, warned that the data, while promising, showed the country could not “take our foot off the pedal just yet,” according to the BBC. In a post on Twitter late Sunday, Mr. Hancock cautioned that “we mustn’t waste our progress now we can see light at the end of the tunnel” with mass testing and promising coronavirus vaccine candidates on the horizon.

England’s current lockdown is set to end just after midnight Wednesday. But the lifting of restrictions will be different across the country, as regions move into one of three tiers based on their current rate of infection. Britain is still grappling with the highest number of Covid-19 deaths in Europe and its deepest recession on record, with experts warning that the knock-on effects of the pandemic could last for years.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/11/30/world/covid-19-coronavirus/after-weeks-of-lockdown-cases-in-england-drop-30-percent

[cilla4progress]

1. I understand this is controversial -

But I can't wait till Biden locks us down!

[Laffy Kat]

3. A lockdown is going to be the only effort that works.

It's not rocket science.

[Warpy]

7. It's only a stopgap solution

to decrease the number of cases until a vaccine is manufactured and distributed.

We've got at least 4 months and two major holidays to go until that even begins to happen. Lockdowns are simply not going to last that long, even sensible people will rebel.

[McKim]

10. I am fine with it!

I am fine with four months of lockdown if it means beating this virus until we can get vaccine.

[Warpy]

11. As a practical matter, that's how I'm living these days

but people with jobs, businesses, families and other obligations are finding it too damned hard as a long term solution.

Not everyone out there is like you. Or me.

[OnDoutside]

13. Which is why these businesses/workers need financial supports during the lockdowns.

[apnu]

8. Kinky.

I'm down for it tho.

[Initech]

2. Ugh, I am so tired of being in lockdown.

But at the same time I am 100% for whatever it takes to kill this damn virus.

[murielm99]

4. We are at tier three in Illinois,

but my husband and I restrict ourselves as much as we can, even beyond tier 3 restrictions. We are high risk.

[bucolic_frolic]

6. We'll never have that problem

MAGAts won't accept a lockdown.

[BigmanPigman]

9. They has the same exact protesters in England that we have here.

There was a big anti-mask protest and many arrests this weekend. The people were repeating what the anti-maskers are saying in the US. Don't these idiots see from the numbers of cases being reduced from lockdown, a strategy that obviously works. when you are running out of hospitals. Masks work too!

Can't they just read a damn scientific newspaper, read some graphs, visit a hospital, stop being so fucking ignorant. It is a health issue, not a political one. Grow up people!

[greenjar_01]

12. And as soon as they open up, the cases will go up again

None of this is a mystery. The virus is so contagious that the only two "ends" to lockdown are an effective vaccine or tolerance for an extremely high death toll and attendant disruptions (including to food supply). Luckily, the virus is not exceedingly complex, and the vaccines will probably be effective relatively soon.

[OnDoutside]

14. You can't have a continuous lockdown, and maintain public support. In any case, a 30% drop isn't

that much of a return. Ireland hit 1270 new cases in October, initiated a 6 week lockdown, which ends today, and our daily rate is now around 300 new cases. We expect there will be another 3 week lockdown in January.