We just need to make use of the data much much better. It needs to be published at an individual level incorporating the following: age, gender, occupation, Covid-19 illness status (home, hospital, recovered), location, believed source of infection (pub, school, work, household), date recovered, and the cluster-ID (if it is collected, and you’d hope it was), even postcode or street names.
These data would allow many people to identify insights on patterns of transmission, which could be widely shared for targeted social distancing.
Let the numbers show everyone the patterns of transmission and share them for targeted social-distancing. Give people the facts. Let them see for themselves, what’s dangerous and what’s not. Alter their own behaviour rather than interpret unfathomable rules and conflicting guidance.
Publish the numbers, daily, like a weather forecast. Despite what the view of many seems to be, most people aren’t totally stupid and if they can see the infections are in their local pub/corner shop/coffee shop/church or mosque, people will stop going…
I would imagine that no one wants to actually catch this disease, let alone pass it onto someone else, so we should give people all the known information to help them make the right choices.
It’s really not that difficult although I’d imagine that BoJo and his advisors, in Command and Control central will find it next to impossible.