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I have a few points to make about the new three-tier system that will be announced Monday to restrict our lives and businesses, to suppress Covid-19.
1) Last Wednesday, the government was so concerned about the spread of the coronavirus in northern England that it planned to impose new restrictions in places like Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle before announcing the three-tier framework. Due to opposition from city mayors and local authorities, that is not going to happen now. The three-tier framework will come first.
2) However, there are likely to be new restrictions announced Monday for Liverpool, if a deal is reached with Mayor Steve Rotherham in time, which seems highly likely. In other words, Liverpool will be the first place in England subject to Level Three restrictions.
3) This highest level, Level Three, will have four main characteristics.
a) Pubs and restaurants will be closed for all businesses except take away food. That will be a legally applicable rule.
b) Local people will be asked, as a guideline rather than a legally applicable rule, to only take essential travel within a Level Three area.
c) People living within a Level Three area will be urged not to leave the area, unless absolutely necessary. Again, that will be a guide.
d) And people living outside of a Level Three area will be asked not to travel to a Level Three area unless essential, and will be urged not to stay overnight. Again, that will be a guide.
For the avoidance of doubt, Level One restrictions are the basic restrictions that apply throughout England, unless the areas are subject to Level Two or Three restrictions.
The core of Level One is the “Rule of Six”, meaning only six people are allowed in a home or garden, or sitting at a pub or restaurant table, and there is a 10pm curfew for pubs. and restaurants.
Level Two is largely Level One minus the Rule of Six, so you cannot receive people in your home or garden unless they are in your support or childcare bubble, or are going to a home or garden outside. of your bubble of support or child care.
The idea behind all of this was supposed to be to simplify the system and make it more understandable and easy to remember for everyone.
Tell me if it feels easier.
And during the last few days of regional protests against new repressive measures, Boris Johnson has acquired a second motive: He wants to share responsibility for the recently imposed restrictions with the mayors and relevant local authorities, so that they can also share the blame if any of them . It goes wrong.
There will be explicit permission for mayors and local authorities to go beyond Level Three regulations, such as gym and barber shop closures, if they believe local viral conditions warrant it.
Also, the rules for level three, unlike levels one and two, automatically expire after four weeks and would have to be renewed if necessary.
It is very important to note that Level Three is still at a distance from the total blockade imposed on March 23: much of the economy would remain open; we would not be prisoners in our homes.
But perhaps just as important is that if a total lockdown is deemed necessary, that seems to be a decision that would largely fall to mayors and local government, which may not be the kind of return they would like.
That is your luck, for now, except to remind you that all of the above applies to England, and that Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales have followed similar, though not identical, paths.
