Mixed messaging from folks on the hill has dealt a Get-out-of-the-house-free card to all those who want it

WELL, many will say, here we go again. How is it possible to have faith in the efficacy of Government when the deadlines and timelines for managing the virus seem to change every 48 hours?

Given the dissension and delay that accompanied every single restrictive measure in Northern Ireland since last year — even as recently as the renewed guidance two weeks ago — it is hard to believe that the latest extension to restrictions announced here this week has met with hardly any opposition at Stormont or, indeed, elsewhere in society.

Yes, many of us are totally fed up with it — home schooling, caring for relatives and not being able to see loved ones all make lockdown incredibly difficult and draining. The psychological and emotional damage has been heavy. For many life has been drained of its colour as time grows ever more shapeless.

But there is also a sense of inevitability about it now.

Mixed messaging from Stormont has dealt a Get-out-of-theHouse free card to anyone who wants it. Enforcement of restrictions has been minimal. All of which means we now know it is just going to drag on and on.

Just look at the circus of the past two months. Partly as a means of mitigating the permitted Christmas festivities, a six week lockdown began on Boxing Day. Reassuring noises were made that the strictest measures would last for a week. On January 2 there was a slight relax

‘It’s certain that people will still flout the rules’

ation and the 8pm curfew was also lifted.

But the following week, as the casualties from that December free-for-all started arriving in hospitals, the latest “stay at home” order became legally enforceable — greeted with dismay from the hospitality and retail sector.

On Thursday, however, when Health Minister Robin Swann announced that current restrictions will remain for a further six weeks, with the review planned for February 18 expected to reinforce them through the Easter period, there was barely a murmur of protest.

In one sense that was surprising since these astonishing steps were being taken by Stormont leaders who have too often given the impression of being antagonistic to stringent measures.

Surprising, too, since the rollout of the vaccine across Northern Ireland was expected to herald an incremental re-opening of society rather than a progressive tightening of lockdown.

However, the fact that 145 people died here in the past seven days — the previous week the toll was 125, the week before 86 — may give an indication that the impact of those Christmas relaxations (so loudly demanded from sectors of the economy) has been nothing short of catastrophic.

Moreover, the pressure now on the NHS is extreme, with cancer patients among those whose surgery has been cancelled.

The bottom line is that it is not the measures to reduce Covid transmission that lead to deficits in care for other diseases, but the failure of existing restrictions to ensure infections don’t result in hospital beds filling up. There were 828 people with Covid in hospital yesterday.

Messaging around Covid, its impact, potential victims and its management has been poor across the UK, and haphazard locally. That lockdown stifled its spread last Spring is undeniable — that it ought to have been maintained is now a bitter lesson.

Alas, it seems Government vacillation has had a greater impact even than vaccination — and that recent versions of lockdown have not been effective, as the public loses faith in the accuracy of information heading its way.

However, it may be that finally the death toll in Northern

Ireland, coupled with frightening figures across the world, including over the border, and the gradual dampening of optimism that vaccines will be the silver bullet which “kills” the virus, is finally hitting home.

Suddenly, the rhetoric has shifted from the hallelujah moment last November with the Pfizer announcement, to a more pragmatic discourse around continued social distancing, masks and hand hygiene, with suggestions they will be a feature of life for some time to come.

We can only hazard a guess at the economic impact of such measures being extended that far — or indeed the knock-on effects for those with other serious illnesses.

But what’s certain is that everyone — whether in retail, hospitality, health, sport, school or care homes — is now increasingly reliant on each other doing the right thing.

What is also certain is that a significant minority of people will still continue to flout the regulations.

Ironically the longer they do that, the longer lockdown will continue. It’s a classic lose-lose situation.