Plaid Cymru unveil rival 7-point plan to lift the coronavirus lockdown
As UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson prepares to lay out his plan for the next phase of the lockdown tonight, Plaid Cymru has called on the Welsh and UK Governments to agree on a different approach for Wales.
Leader Adam Price said that the Welsh Labour Government should adopt a plan similar to New Zealand to suppress cases and to reduce the number of avoidable deaths to zero.
He also said that there may need to be travel restrictions between Wales and other parts of the UK to avoid a “potentially disastrous impact” on Welsh communities.
The Plaid Cymru plan is as follows:
1. Staying in Lockdown
Wales was too slow into lockdown and needs to avoid being too fast out. Leaving the lockdown too early would be bad for Wales, and an easing of restrictions in England would also be bad for Wales.
2. Travel and Residency Restrictions
The UK Government needs to empower Wales in legislation and in messaging to enable restrictions on travel and residency so that the policy in Wales is not undermined.
If necessary, travel restrictions within Wales, and between Wales and other parts of the United Kingdom should be introduced.
Similarly, international travel should be subject to a 14-day quarantine.
3. The New Zealand Model
Driving down ‘R’ must be the priority rather than managing the number of cases based on what the Health Service can handle. This means driving the R number below 0.5 and reducing the number of cases in order to decrease the number of avoidable deaths to zero.
4. Test & Trace
Full test, trace and isolate capacity needs to be ready by end of this three-week period.
5. Care Homes
A specific strategy to drive down clusters of cases in care homes based on transparency on R number in care homes and a policy of testing should become universally available in care homes.
6. Adjustment Phase
As we enter the adjustment phase, when appropriate, local flexibility should form part of the strategy. When the number of new cases has been successfully supressed nationally, a more local approach can be adopted with the ability to re-impose lockdown measures quickly in response to the emergence of new clusters.
Such a locally targeted approach is advocated by the World Health Organization.
7. Economic Support
The economic life-support machine should not be switched off. Nations that remain in lockdown longer for public health reasons, should not be disadvantaged by any changes to economic support. Current levels of financial support should be maintained in nations that need it.
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‘Next phase’
Mr Price added that if the Prime Minister were to “insist” on relaxing the lockdown in England, then travel restrictions imposed within Wales and between Wales and other parts of the UK “may be necessary” to avoid a “potentially disastrous impact” on Welsh communities.
“With the rate of Coronavirus transmission startlingly high, the stay at home message should be sent loudly and clearly,” Adam Price said. “This is the only way to save lives. By respecting the lockdown, we will recover faster.
“If the Prime Minister insists on relaxing the lockdown in England, travel restrictions imposed within Wales and between Wales and other parts of the UK may be necessary in order to avoid a potentially disastrous impact on our communities.
“Plaid Cymru’s seven-point plan is centred on continuing the lockdown.
“When the number of new cases has been successfully suppressed nationally, then a more local approach can be adopted, with the ability to re-impose lockdown measures quickly in response to the emergence of new clusters.
“All efforts must now focus on driving down the R number – the rate at which the virus reproduces – to reduce the number of avoidable deaths to zero. This is the model adopted so successfully by New Zealand.
“Moving safely to the next phase on the path to recovery requires the Welsh Government to change gear, abandon the excuses and honour the promises to ramp up testing and tracing.”
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Plaid Cymru are flying blind as we don’t know the current trends in Wales. At the end of April, Scotland’s Covid deaths in care-homes were 60% of the total. Total Covid deaths were constant, but hospital+home deaths were dropping. The “R-value” for the latter was not given but lower than the 0.7-0.9 for mid-April, perhaps 0.5. See National Records of Scotland data https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-52472879. Northern Ireland data (NISRA) were similar. The Welsh Government won’t give figures. They hardly test care-homes, the numbers go on GP phone conversations, where there’s probably a subjective increasing inclination to include Covid on the death certificate.… Read more »
Care homes. I noticed some Finnish homes are buying old shipping containers, painting-up and fitting plexi in the middle with
microphones on tables each side. Old folk can then recieve visitors in safety.
Close the border
YES
With Westminster’s imminent change of emphasis from Stay at home to the so ambiguous ‘Stay alert’ slogan, along with no apparent qualification over travel, it’s clear to me they intend to let the lockdown drift into oblivion and couldn’t give a toss about the other devolved countries or the consequences to their people. It’ll be interesting to see how the inevitable deluge into Wales of English based beings will be handled by the Welsh Gov.
However well intentioned or misguided Plaid C’ 7 point plan is (you choose) , it’s about to be run over by the crowds from England.
Perhaps they were originally typing ‘STAY APART’ but then autocorrect got involved…
Come on, its simple. Follow the approach of the State of Texas. (1) You don’t need to shut down the whole economy. Certainly no Government, least of all a Welsh one, can print/borrow money to pay for a long shutdown. Any money you print/borrow spend should go on priority items only. (2) The priority items are care-homes. Look at the stats. Texas has a task force which does a proper job ie testing and tracing Covid infections in care homes. Way ahead of Wales. Schools back (nearly nil risk) hospitals to restart heart and cancer treatment (thats how to cut… Read more »
Aha, welcome to Jersey fan club, J.E. Agree, Welsh people should enjoy their own country!
I was very struck by a previous article on Nation that mentioned Greece. A country with the sea on all sides save one land border, similar to Cymru in a lot of ways. They have a larger population, around 10 million. They also have Covid-19 attacking their population, (our thoughts and prayers are, I’m sure, with them). 151 Deaths in Greece so far. Our number in Cymru is 10 times higher. The only real difference here is the fact that Cymru has no control of our own affairs, we have to jump when Westmisnter say jump, (or any UK institution).… Read more »
Most of this is an improvement on opposition proposals in England, however it shows a misunderstanding (widely shared) about the R number. You can’t make it transparent because it is unknown. It is a number with a range of error that makes it useless as a measure. Better lto ead good practice by measuring infections per 100,000 population.