‘Elderly could wear ribbons to show they are social distancing’

Measure could help most vulnerable says scientist, who advises against taking summer holidays abroad

ELDERLY people could wear ribbons to indicate they are social distancing to help life get back to normal, a Sage scientist has suggested. Prof Calum Semple, who is professor in child health and outbreak medicine at the University of Liverpool and a member of the Government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, said that as social distancing rules are relaxed elsewhere in society, older people could wear a ribbon or badge on their lapel that would signal to other people to keep their distance.

Speaking in a personal capacity, Prof Semple said in an interview with BBC 5 Live on Sunday: “I could see a position where we need as a society to respect social distancing greater in those that are elderly and more vulnerable, and potentially people might even conceive of wearing a ribbon or something on their lapel, or a badge, that just indicates that they would prefer that their social distance was respected.”

Prof Semple also said employers should consider giving public facing roles to younger people or to people who are comfortable having face-toface interaction, “and not be critical or prejudiced against someone who might be say, 65, be taking a medication for an immune problem and therefore be at high risk”.

Boris Johnson is expected to announce a relaxation of the two-metre rule to “one metre plus” for all venues, including shops, restaurants, schools, offices, factories and parks which will come into effect from July 4.

The prime minister has come under increasing pressure from Tory backbenchers over the last few weeks to relax the social distancing rules to help businesses such as restaurants and pubs to reopen.

World Health Organisation guidance calls for one-metre distancing, which is already followed by countries including France, Denmark and Singapore.

Earlier this month, it was reported that the Government’s scientific advisers were not minded to advise a change to the two-metre rule, but Prof Semple has now said it is a “reasonable political decision to relax these rules”.

Professor Semple said fewer Covid-19 cases in the community meant the restrictions can be relaxed.

“What has changed in the last three weeks is that we are now seeing lower levels of Covid activity throughout the whole of the United Kingdom, whereas three weeks ago we were still seeing some fairly high activity in the North West, particularly, and in our nursing homes and hospitals,” he said.

“Whereas three weeks later, it’s a long time in an outbreak, the number of cases are coming down quite dramatically… they’re not as low as we’d like [them] to be, but it’s low enough where we can start to think about a bit of a nuanced approach to releasing regulations.

“We still have a problem with some

‘I’m actually a bit surprised about Spain. I suspect there’s economic drivers and they want to be seen to be open’

hospital-acquired cases and nursing home-acquired cases, but on the whole the number of cases in the community is fewer. Now, two metres is definitely safer than one metre… but if there are fewer cases in the community then you can afford to release some of these restrictions.”

But the Sage adviser cautioned against taking summer holidays abroad. The Spanish government announced this weekend that British holidaymakers are free to travel to the country without having to self-isolate.

“I’m actually a bit surprised about Spain,” Prof Semple said. “You might expect a country that’s got a lower level [of Covid] to be slightly more cautious about a country where there’s a slightly higher level.

“I suspect there’s economic drivers pushing this and they want to be seen to be open for business to many countries in advance of the summer season.

“I still don’t really feel that we should be taking summer holidays and going abroad, because it’s very difficult to understand how the social distancing regulations will be maintained abroad.”

Visitors will still have to quarantine in the UK when they return. Despite Spain lifting its restrictions on travellers from the UK, the reciprocal “air bridge” deal has failed to materialise, meaning tourists will have to stay at home for two weeks on their return to Britain.

Spain initially refused to lift restrictions to Britons unless it secured a reciprocal arrangement, but appears to have caved in under pressure to boost its battered tourism industry.