As the British public adjust to new social distancing measures, a common question: how long will this last? At the press conference on Monday, Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty was keen to stress that the government measures to tackle the coronavirus resemble a ‘marathon not a sprint’. While the elderly have been told they could need to self-isolate at least for three months, increasingly the view in government is that the coronavirus response will go on much longer.
The government’s initial strategy was to mitigate the virus and allow for a controlled peak of the virus in the summer – around June – and in the build up cocoon vulnerable sections of society so as to reduce fatalities. On Monday, Johnson drastically increased social distancing measures affecting the whole country – from working from home to avoiding pubs and restaurants.
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