There’s a new narrative that says the U.K undoubtedly unlocked too quickly last summer and I’m not sure it’s borne out by facts. Schools went back in early June, shops reopened in mid-June and hospitality in early July. There was no major spike in cases until late September. 1/2

Was enough done to combat that spike? In hindsight clearly not, and that led to a huge second wave. But that came some months later - there wasn’t exponential growth last summer and cases stayed pretty low after lockdown was lifted. So it’s v debatable that easing was too rapid.

So when scientists say we must learn the lessons from the “rushed” lifting of lockdown last year and not make the same “mistakes”, interested to know what that’s based on. The evidence shows that reopening schools, shops, pubs etc. didn’t cause a significant spike in cases.

Of course, new variant, seasonality, higher hospital occupancy and higher level of infection now compared to last spring all make it a v different scenario. But worth remembering that the R number in England in mid-August, six weeks after even pubs reopened, was 0.9-1.