Pubs might have to shut so schools can reopen again, government scientific advisor says

One of the government’s scientific advisors has warned England may have to close pubs to let schools reopen as a ‘matter of prioritising’. 

Professor Graham Madley, who is a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), explains that although the current rises in case numbers are found in young people it could ‘spill’ over to other parts of the population, agreeing with Chris Whitty’s comments that the country is ‘near the limits’ of what could be opened up. 

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Prof Madley said: “I think that’s quite possible.” 

“I think we’re in a situation whereby most people think that opening schools is a priority for the health and wellbeing of children and that when we do that we are going to reconnect lots of households.”

He continued: “And so actually, closing some of the other networks, some of the other activities may well be required to enable us to open schools.

“It might come down to a question of which do you trade off against each other and then that’s a matter of prioritising, do we think pubs are more important than schools?”

The comments came on the same day that further restrictions were set to be lifted, on August 1st. 

Last weekend, theatres, music venues, bowling alleys, skating rinks and casinos were set to reopen, however this has now been postponed until August 15th. 

Other restrictions on ‘high risk’ leisure attractions and facilities were also supposed to be relaxed, however close contact beauty services such as facial and eyebrow treatments have been postponed for a further fortnight. 

Widespread local lockdowns have also been implemented in Greater Manchester and parts of Lancashire and West Yorkshire. 

Prof Medley warned that the increased lockdown measures in areas across the North West of England were ‘highly unlikely’ to be the ‘last intervention that has to be done regionally’.

He added: “I fully expect that there will have to be other interventions at other times but what the interventions are really depends on what happens.” 

The chairman of the Sage sub-group on pandemic modelling said: “The age distribution of infections has changed, it has moved down into younger age groups and so it is likely we won’t see that increase in hospital admissions related to infection in the same way we did in March.

“But the big fear is the virus just gets out of control and we end up in a situation where there is so much virus that it inevitably spills out into all sections of the population.”