COVID19 HOTSPOTS - HOW ARE WE GOING TO DEAL WITH THEM?

An example of hotspots
As lockdown is eased (I hope), a topic that will become more relevant is how to deal with COVID19 'Hotspots'.

These are small areas of the country in which COVID19 is especially rampant compared to the rest of the country.  How to deal with them is a big topic, so I only want to introduce it here now.

The significance of Hotspots is twofold:
  • That Weston General Hospital had to close its A&E to new patients yesterday because it was already full with COVID19 cases.  That implies we already have a 'hotspot' in the Weston area
  • Conversely, other areas of the country with low occurrence of cases will want to press ahead with easing lockdown more quickly.  This is especially true of rural areas with low population density,
The UK Government has been asked repeatedly at the daily press conferences whether different regions will be treated differently.  The answer has been "No", to treat the whole country the same.  But becuase of devolved administrations in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, these countries can be different from England and already are.

There are two key advantages of a unified approach:
  • A national message that is easier to communicate
  • Fewer border issues where people aren't aware of the resrictions across the border.  This is already a problem between the four countries, with Englanders trying to get to Welsh beaches despite the Welsh lockdown.  Imagine the confusion if there were many borders across the UK 
But there is also a major disadvantage.  Unless hotspots can be individually controlled within their own border, lockdown can only be eased as quickly as the slowest region.  Conversely lockdown would potentially need to be  re-applied just because of one 'hotspot'.

More to discuss laters.


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