On Monday 17th December Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced plans to exit the national lockdown. He described the plan as
Source: No.10 Flickr Account
“cautious but irreversible” implying that this could be the last lockdown during the Coronavirus pandemic.
Cities like Sheffield currently have lowering coronavirus cases, as of February 5th it had dropped down to 174.2 cases per 100,000 people from the previous weeks 230.7.
Many people in Sheffield share opinions of optimism, the recent decrease in cases is a good sign for Sheffield and has left many confident that the city should be much safer in the near future.
Tim Brown, a postman from Parsons Cross, said: “We still need to be careful by using masks and keeping our distance from other people, but I feel confident that we’ll soon be able to start going outside and opening shops again soon.” He also said that he’s sure the government must have learnt from their earlier mistakes and that they’ll be able to ease restrictions in a more suitable way this time around.
Others are more optimistic about the people’s behaviour. Leader of the 7th Sheffield Boys Brigade Edwin Brown said: “I have no confidence in the decisions this Government have made throughout the Pandemic. Having said that, I do have a degree of confidence in the common sense of ordinary people”.
However, some people are still more cautious, and believe the government needs to be extremely careful. A Stannington resident said: “We need more of the vaccine rolled out and the situation in the hospitals to be better before we can expect any kind of normal. I hope we don’t have lockdown eased too quick and end up back in square one.”
Student Bee Percival agreed that lockdown shouldn’t be lifted until much more of the population has been vaccinated, he said: “I really do sympathise will everyone whose getting fed up and frustrated being stuck inside most days, but I honestly think we shouldn’t be talking about lifting lockdown until at least 80% of the population has been vaccinated.”
Overall, the people of Sheffield seem split on the best course of action, many feel there’s still too much of a risk to be planning the easing of restrictions, whereas others feel its about time people are allowed to leave their homes.
For now, all we can do it keep waiting, and on the 22nd February we’ll know exactly what the government intends to do when the Prime Minister reveal his roadmap for leaving lockdown.