Should we have abandoned regional restrictions?

There has been much to question about the government’s policies during the coronavirus crisis, but the decision to announce a second lockdown this week was perhaps the most perplexing.

One unusual aspect was that with the announcement of the regional tier policy in October, Boris Johnson had finally managed to distance himself from his increasingly unbalanced scientific advice. Instead, his regional policy actually reflected what was happening on the ground. Covid-19 cases were on the up in England, but in a highly regionalised manner. A one-size-fits-all strategy of closing everything down except schools seemed not to make sense except to the increasingly dogmatic pro-lockdown scientific advisory community.

The abrupt reversal that led to the nationwide lockdown is also surprising, particularly as its imposition comes just as the data seems to show the much-maligned tier strategy may have been actually working. For whatever reason, infection rates in some of the areas which had been causing most concern – Manchester, Liverpool and Nottingham – were actually starting to level and even fall.