Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: the United Kingdom’s coronavirus cases are rising at a rapid rate, and some schools in tier four areas in England have been asked to close, while other schools in tier four areas have taken it upon themselves to close unilaterally.
The single most obvious policy fact is this: the level of restrictions in tiers one through to three do not work. If they did, we would not be where we are, with parts of England moving into tier four all the time and more expected to follow this week. There is no reason to believe that if the government in England is having to close schools in some parts of the country this week, it will not have to close them across England next week.
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