Brits warned ‘don’t spend more than 15 minutes in Christmas shops’
A Government scientist has warned Brits to limit their shopping time to reduce the risk of catching Covid-19.
Shoppers should not spend more than 15 minutes inside a store to lower the risk of catching coronavirus during the Christmas rush, a Government scientist has warned.
SAGE professor Lucy Yardley advised the less time spent in a shop ‘the safer you are’, ahead of non-essential shops reopening in England next week when the national lockdown ends.
Even Brits living under the strictest tier three measures will be able to head out to do their Christmas shopping from Wednesday. Experts have raised concerns about a potential spike in transmission rates when people flock to the shops, with just weeks to buy their presents.
When asked what would be considered ‘too long’ to spend inside a shop, Prof Yardley told Times Radio: ‘Well, the rule that is useful for contact tracing, is that if you spend 15 minutes with somebody closer than two metres, then you have definitely had a potentially infectious contact with them.
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‘So that’s quite a generous amount of time. I’m not sure that most of us would need that amount of time in a shop.
‘And really the less time that you spend in there, the safer you are.
‘If you spend time close enough to somebody and they happen to breathe on you or cough on you, then it doesn’t take 15 minutes to catch the virus.’
Prof Yardley also urged people to consider whether inviting vulnerable, elderly relatives into homes over the Christmas five-day relaxation period is a sensible idea.
Brits across the UK will be allowed to form a ‘bubble’ with up to two other households between December 23 – 27, meaning families can enjoy Christmas dinner together.
But the professor questioned: ‘Is it really important for you to share your home for the entire period that’s allowed?
‘Because that is very risky to older people who are particularly vulnerable to this infection.
‘So I think, although we’re allowed to do that, and some people will want to do that, the first question to ask yourself is, would it be better to put it off for a few months until they’ve been vaccinated?
‘Which hopefully, they will be if they’re very vulnerable, and do it more safely at that time.’
Her comments come as the foreign secretary warned the UK could face a third wave if it fails to get the balance of restrictions ‘right’ over Christmas and refused to rule out a third national lockdown in the New Year.
When asked about another peak of the virus, he told the Andrew Marr Show: ‘There’s a risk of that if we don’t get the balance right. But so far the R level is coming down, that’s really important.’
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