The three-tier system will not beat Covid but it will inflict more economic and human suffering
sir – All the tier system will do is delay coronavirus. The people who refuse to wear masks or keep socially distanced will continue to do so, and the virus will still be in the population when the lockdowns are lifted.
Meanwhile, more damage will have been done to the economy, more small businesses will have collapsed, and people in areas of low risk will have put their lives on hold for nothing.
This virus will not go away, so we have to learn to live with it. Herd immunity will help, even if we do not know how long it will give protection.
Of course the numbers are going up. We are testing many more people than we were in the spring, so more cases are being detected. Students have gone back into education, people have been on holiday and have also been going back to work, and the weather is getting colder and damper.
Though one might not believe it from the media, the situation is much better than it was in spring.
Alison Day
Camberley, Surrey sir – Much fuss is currently being made over the Government’s decision to ignore Sage’s advice for a national “circuit-breaker” lockdown, to avoid “catastrophic consequences”.
There is a simple answer to this row. Publish the modelling on which Sage’s advice was based. If it is correct, the Government would do well to heed it. If incorrect, it would serve as a reminder that we are led by elected politicians, not scientists.
Chris Mastin-lee
Goatacre, Wiltshire
sir – The average number of deaths in the UK pre-covid was 10,000 per week; that figure is currently around 8,000. The number of weekly deaths recorded since the end of July with Covid-19 mentioned on the death certificate is less than 200 per week. How can the Government justify taking away all of our liberties, and why are we accepting it?
Each day, a breakdown of figures should show what people are dying of – whether it is coronavirus, cancer, diabetes or heart disease – to put the Government’s response to Covid into context. If we were given the facts, we would be queuing for tests for diseases other than Covid. There is no logic to any of this.
Christine Brown
Richmond, Surrey
sir – On Wednesday, my phone flashed an alert from the NHS Covid app informing me that my postcode was in the medium-alert tier.
Meanwhile, my wife, on the other side of the table, was told she was in the high-alert tier. Should I be worried? James Barry
Stokesley, North Yorkshire
sir – The Government needs to be honest with us. What is the plan if a vaccine doesn’t appear? Ministers are aware that one may not be widely available for years, so why are they stringing us along?
The definition of madness applies to the latest lockdown: it didn’t work last time and it won’t work now either.
Suppression is not eradication. We will not put up with this way of life indefinitely. Vulnerable people are not unintelligent and are well able to manage their own risk. For the most vulnerable, targeted protection is needed while the rest of the population carries on and lives with the virus, as we live with numerous other contagious diseases.
Lynda Moran
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
sir – All the information implies that we are putting off the impact of the virus for possibly 28 days – just in time to let it loose for Christmas.
I don’t want that after enduring a tier-three lockdown in Merseyside. John Bergin
Oxton, Wirral
sir – We are indeed living in strange times. I never thought I would be cheering for a Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Douglas M H Crook
Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire