Welsh government strategy and evidence page: https://gov.wales/strategy-evidence-coronavirus

The eventual themes of the pandemic rules have been:

- reduce contact number and contact duration
- outdoor is safer than indoor*
- virus spreads quicker where there is projection which is why singing/shouting is bad and masks are good**
- greater compliance when there is a perception we're all in it together

*There was a really slow recognition that indoor can be made safer with good ventilation. It continues to be too slow.
** For whatever reason the initial advice was anti-masks. Was that bad science or wanting to avoid the cost?

It's perceived likely that we'll have a third wave.

Why no aggressive re-opening with vaccine roll-out?

No vaccine is perfect. Each vaccine will give different levels of protection
against severe disease; the chance of being infected (with symptoms or not)
and chance of infecting someone else if infected.

For example, if 100% of adults are offered the vaccine, covering 80% of
the population (i.e. excluding children), there is 90% uptake overall, and the
vaccine is effective for 80% of the population, then 58% of the population
of Wales will have protection. When combined with immunity from previous
infections, the total amount of protection is large, but it is not enough to
prevent further significant outbreaks in the population. If the virus is still
circulating in our communities, there is more chance of new mutant variations
in the virus emerging.

A large outbreak of coronavirus will put pressure on the NHS and other
local services.

In 2020, people in their late teens, 20s and 30s had significantly more social
contacts. As we relax restrictions and people being to mix again, there will
be more opportunities for COVID-19 to spread among these groups until they
are vaccinated. Although deaths in these groups are rare, around 25% of
hospitalisations are in under 60s, and long-COVID (post-COVID syndrome)
is a continuing concern.

https://gov.wales/coronavirus-contro...les-march-2021