Well if the family dont keep up with news or read actual scientific research then why would they?
You claimed deadly. That has never been claimed by anyone at all.

There's solid physical structure that hints it could be more infectious. We need data but its a possibility.

The fact the same mutation has arisen independently multiple times hints strongly theres some sort of selective advantage.

they probably are worried about a delayed spike in hospital deaths to be blamed for like I think fon was saying.

That was right, but it looks like their big fear, swamped hospitals in mid winter, is not materialising, in fact the doubling time is growing longer so cases are not growing as fast. They may even start to fall soon, before they ease up the government needs to see a) fewer cases in general b) fewer cases in the elderly c) fewer hospital admissions d) fewer icu beds in use e) fewer deaths. When they see all that which means R<1 for a few weeks, they will say it is safe enough.

In my view, those things will occur at the latest by Spring when the weather warms up or sooner, if the vaccine does any good. We are at a critical juncture, as this plot makes clear. Notice the trend on the right. The rate of new cases is getting smaller and smaller each day, it is a rapid decline if it continues to drop off like that, there will be no increase in cases come 2nd jan. And, if we hold it down like that, we'll be out of this pickle in a jiffy. On the other hand, the trend could quickly reverse as it often has with this virus. It is very sensitive to lockdown conditions. They will not consider any change to lockdown until that plot hits zero and is zero or less for some weeks. This is the data PHE they are using, I reckon.