Restrictions likely to stay as Wales gets used to the ‘new normal’
WALES will have to adjust to a “new normal” which is likely to include Covid-19 “booster” jabs and people being more conscious about their own hygiene.
That’s the message from Health Minister Vaughan Gething, who said the country is likely to be under some form of lockdown restrictions for the rest of this year.
He said even if Wales’ vaccine rollout continues at encouraging pace, foreign holidays are unlikely to be a reality this summer as many parts of Europe remain under the grip of the virus.
When asked about when Wales is likely to return to normal, Mr Gething told yesterday’s Welsh Government press briefing: “It’s really hard to give a forecast because, apart from anything else, we need to ask ourselves ‘what is normal?’
“The new normal may not be where we were 18 months ago in terms of people’s expectations and how they behave.
“Some of the changes could be positive for us. In terms of respiratory hygiene, some people may start to wear face coverings more normally, and I hope that we may see a greater adherence to the standard campaigns around the flu – catch it, bin it, kill it – with more people taking up the seasonal flu vaccine.
“Indeed, the new normal will likely include a Covid booster or catch-up programme. There will be many things that will be different.”
The minister said it was important for the Welsh Government to be honest about the next few months and to manage people’s expectations – explaining that Wales will continue its “cautious” approach to easing coronavirus restrictions and will not publish a road map extending into the summer.
“We’re unlikely to see an easing of all restrictions which will allow people to do whatever they want when they want,” he added.
“That isn’t just the view of the Welsh Government; that is the view of all the scientific advisers and experts right across the UK. Our own advisors here in the Technical Advisory Group, chief medical officers across the UK and the Sage group of scientific advisors who advise all governments in the UK – none of them are saying that you can have zero restrictions and zero harm from Covid at a certain point in the rest of this year.
“So we need to level with the public and be honest with them about the fact that some restrictions are likely at points in the year. It’s now about how fast we get through this next stage of vaccinating everyone, reducing harm, and then to look at what can be possible within a new normal as we move forward.”
He said the Welsh Government refused to act as though rules to suppress the virus could be “magically taken away by a point in time”, and that moving too quickly could lead to a new wave of cases and deaths.
His comments came after First Minister Mark Drakeford described Boris Johnson’s timetable for easing restrictions in England as “optimistic” and warned life in Wales was unlikely to return to normal during 2021. At yesterday’s briefing, Mr Gething said the Welsh public “welcome, and want us to continue to adopt, a cautious approach that is driven by the evidence”.
“There are noises from the fringes of politics that demands to have a more ambitious and more urgent programme – a road map that is driven by dates and not data – but that isn’t where the Welsh Government is at and where the people of Wales are,” Mr Gething said. “That’s because the scientific evidence and advice that we have, both from our own technical advisory group and Sage, are all telling us that if we move too quickly we could throw away all the hard work and collective sacrifice (of) people in Wales and other parts of the UK to help significantly reduce coronavirus harm.”
But he said Wales could soon resemble last summer when restrictions were eased and people could travel across the country.
“If we cast our minds back to the end of last summer, we didn’t have zero restrictions in place but we could do a number of things together in a different way,” he added.
“That can be a more sustainable pattern for us as we get through this year – but I don’t expect to return to foreign holidays and travel any time soon, and I would be very surprised if I was taking a foreign holiday over the summer.
“We need to think about what’s happening here as well as what’s happening in other parts of the world. It’s a big risk for us to manage, but to manage them successfully does require honesty from the government and honesty about what the evidence is telling us.”
Earlier in the day, Mr Drakeford said he wanted to be “honest and realistic with people in Wales, rather than simply trying to paint the most optimistic picture that I can” when it came to returning freedoms.
He told BBC Wales: “I think some of the suggestions that the UK Government are making seem to be at the very optimistic end of the spectrum and not fully to take into account the advice we are having of the risks that will still be with us in the rest of this calendar year.”
But Mr Drakeford said he did hope life in the summer months “will be a lot closer to normal than it has been over the winter”.
More than 50% of
I don’t expect to return to foreign holidays and travel any time soon
Health Minister Vaughan Gething
adults in Wales have now been given at least a first dose of Covid-19 vaccine, and almost 350,000 of them have been given their second dose.
Mr Drakeford said the success of the vaccination programme and falling case rates meant the country was closer to “a point where coronavirus is a condition that we are managing and, crucially, we are managing it in a way that does not run the risk of it all catching fire again”.
Yesterday also saw the lifting of a ban on supermarkets in Wales selling non-essential items, while garden centres were also allowed to open for the first time this year.
Wales’ “stay local” travel requirement is expected to be lifted from Saturday, with self-contained holiday accommodation also allowed to resume business in time for the Easter holidays, though people from other parts of the UK living under travel restrictions will still not be able to enter the country.
Libraries will also reopen and organised outdoor children’s activities can resume.
From April 12 there will be a full return to schools, colleges and other education settings, while all nonessential shops will reopen and close contact services will resume.
If infection rates remain stable or continue to fall, ministers will decide on April 22 whether to allow gyms and leisure centres, outdoor attractions, outdoor hospitality, weddings and organised indoor and outdoor activities to resume.
In a separate development, local lockdowns are not being ruled out to prevent the spread of coronavirus in Anglesey and Merthyr Tydfil, where there have been a spike in cases over the last few weeks.
At yesterday’s press conference, Mr Gething said further restrictions in these localised areas have not been ruled out.
When asked about the situation in Holyhead, Mr Gething said: “I have had a conversation together with other ministers and the leader of Ynys Mon council last week, we are looking at the position of a range of places, there was more advice on the weekend, there are more conversations going on much with the council, the health board and the police.
“We are in a position where the rate of increase appears to have decreased a little but it is still uncomfortable but it is centred around one part of Anglesey so it is not widespread across the local authority area.
“It does mean we are looking to introduce some measures around increasing access to testing to help us understand where the infection is, and to try to persuade people to do the right thing, to look after themselves, their family their friends, but also the businesses they will be going into as well, either as workers or indeed as customers.
“Local measures are always a possibility, not just here in Holyhead but we have also had some localised challenges in part of Merthyr Tydfil as well.
“We have not ruled out the need to use local measures but we are looking to try to see if we can persuade people to go along with what we are trying to do, to find more cases, to identify where that is a problem and to persuade people to do the right thing to avoid those much bigger more difficult measures that affect people and businesses in a way that most people find uncomfortable but if that is what is required to keep people safe, that is what we are prepared to do.”
All residents in a part of Anglesey are being urged to take a free Covid-19 tests in response to the growing number of cases locally.
A comprehensive community testing programme started on Sunday and includes extra tests available for families with secondary school age children, tests delivered to homes and a community testing centre set to be established at Holyhead Leisure Centre.
Latest data reports that the Holyhead and Holy Island areas have a concerning Covid-19 incidence rate several times higher than the national average.
In Anglesey, the infection rate reported yesterday stood at 107.1 cases of coronavirus per 100,000 people for the latest seven days of rolling data.
In Merthyr Tydfil, that number stood at 121 per 100,000 people.
Last week, the director of public health at Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board, which covers the Merthyr Tydfil area, said four different coronavirus clusters have been identified in the borough.
Dr Kelechi Nnoaham said that it appeared that going by profiles, young people in the area had “lost some disciplines” when it came social distancing and lack of mask wearing.
He added that the cases were linked to household and workplace transmission.