a circuit breaker or a fire break is
like a mini lockdown
it's a short sharp period where rules
and restrictions get
much more strict so there are fewer
opportunities for covet 19 to spread
what exactly changes will vary by
country it should mean that an area then
sees a falling cases
but how far they fall isn't clear and it
depends how strict the rules are
and how much people stick to them it
gets its name from the breakers you see
in electric circuits
when there's a problem these breakers
stop electricity from flowing
preventing bigger problems down the line
in some places they're called fire
breaks
a reference to when firefighters clear
land of all trees
plants and grass to try and stop a fire
from spreading
it's usually a two-week period but a
circuit breaker could last
longer the idea is that they buy time
but what will governments do with this
time
allow the health service to recover
allow time to improve contact tracing
systems
what steps are they going to take to
ensure the problem doesn't come back
again
when the circuit breaker ends it needs
to be enough time to stop transmission
but not too long because that would
cause even more problems for the economy
which has its own consequences
you