Boarding up aisles will prevent virus spread in shops, insists Welsh Health Minister

24 October 2020, 13:08

Vaughan Gething on Welsh fire-break lockdown

The Welsh Health Minister explained the administration's strategy of boarding up supermarket aisles will reduce the spread of Covid-19.

Vaughan Gething was quizzed on what is classified as an essential item under the Welsh Government's "firebreaker" lockdown strategy.

The Welsh Health Minister told Matt Frei that "things like food and drink are essential," before telling him that "for most people, for the next two weeks they won't need a new blanket."

"The inconvenience we're asking people to live with is to avoid the much greater harm that is a great deal more than inconvenience, seeing a rising tide in serious ill health and a rising tide in death figures."

He explained that the Welsh Government have "chosen to prioritise children and young people" and because of this decision, "we have to take an even more significant approach to closures in other areas to make the sort of difference we want to."

Read More: Welsh supermarkets cover 'non-essential items' as firebreaker lockdown begins

Matt was confused by Mr Gething's logic. He wondered "how blocking off some supermarket aisles...prevents the virus from spreading if social distancing is enforced at the door anyway."

"If you have a smaller range of items and people know there's a smaller range of items available, the journeys and the opportunities for contact are reduced," the Welsh Health Minister stated.

"It's all of those smaller contributions taken together make a bigger contribution to reducing the transmission of coronavirus."

He reiterated that "exponential growth of the virus is real harm, and it's harm that can be avoided."

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