THE POSITIVE PROFESSOR

SOCIAL media’s voice of calm Karol Sikora has been signed up by the Daily Express. Readers can now enjoy his soothing advice in these troubled times which has won him hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter. If you need reassuring everything’s going to be all right read Professor Positivity.

FOR many people across the country, June 21 is circled in the calendar. The Government has built up that date to be seen as the great reopening and when all of our freedoms will be returned.

Of course there are conditions, but currently those four tests are easily being met.

The vaccine programme continues serenely and anticipated problems with vaccine uptake have not materialised, there is plenty of evidence which is growing all the time which shows the vaccines work even for the new variants. Hospital activity from Covid is now thankfully very low and there is no significant concern of increased illness caused by the new variants.

So far, the easing of the lockdown has concentrated on mainly outdoor activity where we know the risk is minimal. Schools returning fully has not resulted in the spike that some feared.

The real test will be when more indoor activity is allowed in May, if we can get past that without any significant increase in infections then I see no reason why full normality should not be resumed on June 21. Caution will be required after then and we will need to keep a close eye on the numbers, but with the numbers as low as they are now planning for life after lockdown is the right thing to do.

Enormous

People may choose to take precautions, distance themselves or even fully isolate but it will be to the individual concerned to decide what is best for them. Sweeping restrictions on our lives, that have come with enormous cost, need to be rolled back.

Public health measures always work better when they are persuasive and voluntary rather than being forced by law.

I hope that we can move back to that system in June and not look back from there.