Easing of Covid rules in England, including removal of "plan B" measures

[yorkie]

Covid: Face mask rules and Covid passes to end in England

Working from home guidance is also ending as England reverts to "Plan A", Boris Johnson says.

www.bbc.co.uk

Covid: Face mask rules and Covid passes to end in England​

England's Plan B measures are to end from next Thursday, with mandatory face coverings in public places and Covid passports both dropped, Boris Johnson has announced.
The prime minister also said the government would immediately drop its advice for people to work from home.
From Thursday, secondary school pupils will no longer have to wear face masks in classrooms and government guidance on their use in communal areas would be removed "shortly"

Further announcements on the easing of travel rules and restrictions on care home visits in England are expected in the coming days, Boris Johnson added.

This is great news and makes me feel very positive

Edit: a DfT guidance update email sent to schools this afternoon contained the following:

An update for all education and childcare settings following the Prime Minister’s announcement of the end of Plan B​

Today, the Prime Minister announced that all Plan B measures will be removed in England, with a full return to Plan A by Thursday 27 January.

In education and childcare settings, this means:

From tomorrow, Thursday 20 January, face coverings are no longer recommended in classrooms and teaching spaces for staff, and pupils and students in year 7 and above. They were introduced in classrooms at the start of the spring term as a temporary measure.

From Thursday 27 January, face coverings are no longer recommended in communal areas for staff, and pupils and students in year 7 and above.

This decision comes in response to national infection data showing the prevalence of COVID-19 to be on a downward trajectory. Whilst there are some groups where cases are likely to continue rising, it is likely that the Omicron wave has now peaked nationally. There remains significant pressure on the NHS but hospital admissions have stabilised, and the number of patients in Intensive Care Units (ICU) remain low and are falling.

This means it is right we remove the most stringent restrictions around wearing face coverings from education, but the virus is still with us, and continuing with proportionate protective measures remains vital to protect education.

Local directors of public health are able to recommend the use of face coverings in communal areas, across their area only, where DfE and public health experts judge the measure to be proportionate due to specific health concerns. This is a temporary measure. Directors of public health will continue to advise individual settings experiencing outbreaks. Any local introduction of face coverings will be subject to routine review and removed at the earliest opportunity.

Ofsted’s deferral policy has provided reassurance to schools, colleges and early years settings that have been significantly impacted by staff absence in recent weeks. That policy remains in place and Ofsted will continue to remind providers about it for the remainder of this half-term.

At the start of this term, Ofsted temporarily halted the use of part time inspectors who are also front-line leaders. They will now invite those who are able to inspect again to do so from Monday 31 January. As has always been the case, it will be for leaders to decide whether to offer their services to Ofsted.

From Thursday 27 January, venues and events will no longer be required by law to use the NHS COVID Pass. The pass can be used on a voluntary basis as was previously the case in Plan A.

The government is no longer asking people to work from home. Staff should speak to their employers about arrangements for returning to the office, and should follow the working safely during COVID-19 guidance.

We have updated the guidance for schools, further education settings, special schools and out-of-school settings to reflect these changes.

 

[Red Onion]

Fingers crossed the same common sense creeps north of the wall for us Scots!

 

[GrimsbyPacer]

The pandemic was never going to last forever, this SARS-COVID-19 has had a similar run to the Spanish 'flu a century ago.
Have been amazed with how many people stayed at homes, wore a mask, and do all the things expected by the government over the last two years. Surprised there wasn't any riots of note etc.

 

[90sWereBetter]

I'm guessing the situation with TFL and face masks will basically be a reversion to pre-November 30th i.e. lots of posters and recorded announcements about coverings being mandatory, but no actual enforcement? Unless TFL are allowed to use their heavies and the BTP I suppose...

 

[island]

I'm guessing the situation with TFL and face masks will basically be a reversion to pre-November 30th i.e. lots of posters and recorded announcements about coverings being mandatory, but no actual enforcement? Unless TFL are allowed to use their heavies and the BTP I suppose...

The BTP’s current practice is they will only attend to enforce face mask violations if there is aggravation such as public order/passenger kicking off. That will be unlikely to change.

TfL retains the theoretical right to refuse someone access to the network and claims a right to remove someone if they don’t comply with the conditions of Carriage. Can’t see it happening much or at all.

 

[yorkie]

I'm guessing the situation with TFL and face masks will basically be a reversion to pre-November 30th i.e. lots of posters and recorded announcements about coverings being mandatory, but no actual enforcement? Unless TFL are allowed to use their heavies and the BTP I suppose...

TfL tried to get a mandate through the Byelaws last Summer but failed. There will therefore be no mandate this time as the Government are hardly going to cave in after previously denying them.

TfL will stil be asking people to wear masks but everyone is free to ignore them. There is nothing BTP can do (not that BTP would do anything right now, of course!)

 

[Markdvdman]

Fingers crossed the same common sense creeps north of the wall for us Scots!

Well same for us in Wales! Fat chance with Drakeford. It seems to me that him and Sturgeon compete for who is first etc! IF Scotland ditch masks, Wales will follow and vice versa. It is utterly pathetic! Covid Passports too who do they think they are? Devolution is a disgrace! They set Draconian rules to be on power trips!

 

[farleigh]

I feel very happy about the news today.

 

[Class 33]

I'm very happy about today's news. After all the press and media reports over the last few days or so saying "Face mask rules are likely to remain"(or similar wording), I was fully expecting(but not hoping) that Johnson would announce today that face mask rules must still remain for the time being. So for him to announce that they'll be scrapped next week was a very pleasant surprise!

Hopefully this really is the end of mandatory face mask wearing once and for all now. Johnson and the government really seem to want to get the country back to normal over the coming several weeks. And I hope that certain train operators such as TfL and LNER respect this and scrap all their "Must wear face mask" signage and PA announcements(pre-recorded and live) altogether from their trains/buses/coaches from next Thursday. No more annoying whittering on from LNER(in particular) conductors putting out frequent PA announcements such as "Please wear a face covering, out of respect to others.... blah blah blah.....". All this needs to end without fail. The same goes for certain shops, etc who may still keep up their face mask signage(as well as signage about social distancing, which they should have long taken down by now as social distancing ended 6 months ago now!!!) and PA announcements going off every few minutes! No excuses, all must GO! All these companies need to respect what the government wants, to get this country back to NORMAL!

 

[geoffk]

If there is now a growth in rail passengers numbers, will the thinned-out timetables be able to cope?

 

[joncombe]

I'm very happy about today's news. After all the press and media reports over the last few days or so saying "Face mask rules are likely to remain"(or similar wording), I was fully expecting(but not hoping) that Johnson would announce today that face mask rules must still remain for the time being. So for him to announce that they'll be scrapped next week was a very pleasant surprise!

I agree. Given the press I was expecting the face mask on public transport rule to be retained. I should have listened to those on hear more who made it clear the law expired in January and so would require approval to be extended, something Johnson is unlikely to wan to do. They were right and I got it wrong - but I am certainly happy to be proven wrong in this case.

 

[A Challenge]

The one thing that does worry me about the changes announced is the apparent end to self isolation for positive cases from no later than the 24th March, I can understand people wanting to get rid of contact isolation because of the chaos that's caused, but to say that someone who knows they have the virus doesn't need to self isolate seems a bit too far (also, announcing it two months early is strange from a government that and to try and announce as late as possible).

 

[bengley]

The one thing that does worry me about the changes announced is the apparent end to self isolation for positive cases from no later than the 24th March, I can understand people wanting to get rid of contact isolation because of the chaos that's caused, but to say that someone who knows they have the virus doesn't need to self isolate seems a bit too far (also, announcing it two months early is strange from a government that and to try and announce as late as possible).

I think it's excellent. Life becomes incredibly difficult when you can't go out and get supplies for days because you have to stay home despite feeling fine.

It should just be treated like a cold in future.

 

[furlong]

The one thing that does worry me about the changes announced is the apparent end to self isolation for positive cases from no later than the 24th March, I can understand people wanting to get rid of contact isolation because of the chaos that's caused, but to say that someone who knows they have the virus doesn't need to self isolate seems a bit too far (also, announcing it two months early is strange from a government that and to try and announce as late as possible).

Politics! Successful politicians think several steps ahead. Or in other words, 'partygate' and other news that's possibly coming means they have to dismantle all this apparatus a.s.a.p. now. so they can continue to pretend to be in control of and ahead of events and take the sting out of whatever more bad news for them is coming next. (E.g. they perhaps already know of other breaches of other rules that haven't leaked out yet, and the hugely disappointing vaccine data they're trying to keep a lid on is rapidly accumulating towards a point where they'll have to accept it. So they need an exceptional media strategy ready for that - a rapid refocus onto whatever relative economic "successes" they can conjour up by reopening the economy as fast as they possibly can relative to other countries so the bad news when it lands is all history and we will already have moved along past it thanks to our Prime Minister getting all the big decisions, the ones that really matter, exactly right!)

 

[furlong]

Here's one opinion on the stage of this we're now reaching:

As predicted in these pages, the mildness and impressive transmissibility of the Omigod Covid variant is ravaging the logic of Covid countermeasures, and hitherto faithful adherents to the cult are beginning to allow their averted eyes to fall on the distortions and lies they have been fed for the last two years. They are noticing the difference between the real numbers of deaths from Covid, and the deaths ‘with’ Covid that have captured the headlines. They are daring to look at the real numbers of adverse side-effects from vaccines they were promised by the self-anointed priesthood were vanishingly rare.

As the genuinely terrified emerge from their trance, and register the chasm that lies between the catastrophe they were duped into believing in, and in whose name their liberties have been trampled on and their society spavined, and as the really rather modest threat the Covid virus actually posed becomes retrospectively clearer, they will allow themselves to start asking questions they should have asked in March 2020. And as the faux-terrified (who were responsible for terrifying the genuinely terrified, and revelled in the sense of importance and power it gave them) begin to realise that the jig is up, and that the finger of blame for the immense damage they have caused is beginning to veer towards them, we will see a similar repudiation of everything that has been most dear to the Covidistas – the pointless lockdowns, the fatuous, performative mask-wearing, the compulsory vaccinations.

 

[Pete_uk]

If free home test kits are to end, how are people going to be able to pay to test themselves twice a day every day??!!

How will they cope??

 

[DelayRepay]

Presumably, if isolation rules are scrapped from March, the whole NHS Test and Trace operation will be wound down? Which will save the taxpayer a small fortune.

I wonder if March will also be the point at which the Government stop publishing daily statistics?

 

[Jamiescott1]

The train on my commute into London is the busiest I've seen it since November.

 

[Furryanimal]

Well same for us in Wales! Fat chance with Drakeford. It seems to me that him and Sturgeon compete for who is first etc! IF Scotland ditch masks, Wales will follow and vice versa. It is utterly pathetic! Covid Passports too who do they think they are? Devolution is a disgrace! They set Draconian rules to be on power trips!

Couldn’t agree more.
We are stuck with Covid passes for at least three more weeks and I will be amazed if masks go in Wales before Summer.
And I’m pretty certain Drakeford is now at odds with his Health Minister who had stated before last weeks announcement that letting crowds return would be a mistake.

 

[westv]

The train on my commute into London is the busiest I've seen it since November.

Obviously a number of people felt they really HAD to go in to the office TODAY.

 

[ainsworth74]

The mask discussion has been moved to its own thread which can be found here.

 

[greyman42]

The pandemic was never going to last forever, this SARS-COVID-19 has had a similar run to the Spanish 'flu a century ago.
Have been amazed with how many people stayed at homes, wore a mask, and do all the things expected by the government over the last two years. Surprised there wasn't any riots of note etc.

All the " work from home" brigade were hardly likely to complain.

After all the press and media reports over the last few days or so saying "Face mask rules are likely to remain"

That is what they were hoping for and thought if they kept repeating it, it would put pressure on the government to keep the mask mandate.

 

[nw1]

The one thing that does worry me about the changes announced is the apparent end to self isolation for positive cases from no later than the 24th March, I can understand people wanting to get rid of contact isolation because of the chaos that's caused, but to say that someone who knows they have the virus doesn't need to self isolate seems a bit too far (also, announcing it two months early is strange from a government that and to try and announce as late as possible).

On the other hand, given the transmissibility from people unaware they even have it, and relative mildness of Omicron, do we want to stick with self-isolation for asymptomatic positive cases for ever? It's got to end at some point, and once winter is over seems as good a time as any. How about 'stay at home if you are ill, and until you feel better' guidance instead? What about mandating (government-funded) FFP3 masks for positive cases who wish to go out? It's going to be very disruptive if we have self-isolation requirements for possibly years ahead, given how Covid is getting progressively milder with each mutation.

I am asking this as a question to get discussion going rather than having a strong view either way, though I have to admit being of the opinion that the isolation mandate should end before too long rather than dragging on for years.

 

[Smidster]

The one thing that does worry me about the changes announced is the apparent end to self isolation for positive cases from no later than the 24th March, I can understand people wanting to get rid of contact isolation because of the chaos that's caused, but to say that someone who knows they have the virus doesn't need to self isolate seems a bit too far (also, announcing it two months early is strange from a government that and to try and announce as late as possible).

I support this.

It isn't that people who are ill should be going round spreading whatever they have (and that applies to every disease) but rather I don't see a good justification at this point for why Covid should be treated any differently to any other respiratory virus from a legal perspective.

Morally and ethnically if you are ill you should do your best to avoid contact with others, and hopefully one of the outcomes of all this is people do become less willing to "soldier on" when ill , but I don't think that it should be a matter for criminal law.

 

[Yew]

Lets increase sick pay, so that those who are unwell don't have to go to work and spread it around...

 

[MikeWM]

Lets increase sick pay, so that those who are unwell don't have to go to work and spread it around...

I think a lot of the problem there is that with zero-hours contracts and the 'gig' economy, a lot of people aren't usually eligable for sick pay to begin with. You go to work or you don't get paid.

(That doesn't mean I disagree - I think such people *should* be entitled to sick pay. And decent employment contracts, at that).

 

[danm14]

What about mandating (government-funded) FFP3 masks for positive cases who wish to go out?

How could this possibly be enforced?

Both in general terms of enforcement, and without stigmatising as "infected" those who choose to continue wearing a mask?

It would be even less enforceable than the current requirement to stay at home after testing positive.

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

This is great news and makes me feel very positive

You will be able to shut the Covid sub thread down which must have created more posts over masks than any other subject across the entire forum!!

 

[FOH]

The train on my commute into London is the busiest I've seen it since November.

It was probably the only one running that hour with the cut down timetables

 

[Jamiescott1]

It was probably the only one running that hour with the cut down timetables

Actually my service hasn't been cut at all.