At its meeting of 5 March 2020, SAGE reconfirmed an explicitly gradual approach: There is epidemiological and modelling data to support implementation– within 1 to 2 weeks–of individual home isolation (symptomatic individuals to stay at home for 14 days) and whole family isolation (fellow household members of symptomatic individuals to stay at home for 14 days after last family member becomes unwell) to delay COVID-19 spread, modify the epidemic peak and reduce mortality rates. In addition, there is scientific data to support implementation–roughly 2 weeks later–of social isolation (cocooning) for those over 65 or with underlying medical conditions to delay spread, modify the epidemic peak and reduce mortality rates.113 SAGE had, however, considered advice to take a more robust precautionary approach. It received a paper, one of three, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine on the considerations for non-pharmaceutical interventions. The paper said, with moderate confidence, that “NPIs that reduce transmission substantially should be introduced later but before the peak.”114 The same paper stated that: • Taking all into consideration, building up of NPIs in terms of intensity during the epidemic has many advantages: • It provides the opportunity for modification / improvement as we see the epidemic progress, i.e. it is robust to possible futures • It leaves room for policy modification during the epidemic, and avoids the situation in late summer if an epidemic has been curbed or greatly reduced that a larger epidemic is still expected.115