Sherelle JACOBS

The Government’s response remains trapped in ludicrous second-wave pseudo-science It is official. No10 is too entangled in lockdown spin to do what it takes to save Britain. For the sake of our ailing economy, political clarity and basic scientific honesty, this was Boris Johnson’s moment to declare that the overwhelming evidence suggests lockdown was a mistake – and we must never lock down again.

Instead, the PM did the opposite. He made no acknowledgement of the costs of lockdown, downplaying it. Nor did he confront the inconvenient fact that the pandemic’s trajectory raises serious doubts about whether stay-at-home orders actually made a difference. Most alarmingly, far from ruling out another lockdown, Mr Johnson made it clear that he is willing to enforce another one.

With the death rate falling, but the virus still burning through care homes, and second-wave paranoia rising, this was the PM’S last opportunity to level with the nation about the nature of the challenge ahead. Namely, while there is no material evidence of a widespread second wave, we must learn to live with the virus, tackling local flare-ups, while protecting the vulnerable. Look closely at the “second wave” being speculated about from Beijing to Lisbon and you realise that these small clusters are not translating into higher deaths, suggesting that with track-andtrace and the steady building of herd immunity, the virus can be kept at bay.

Instead, Boris Johnson carved his statement on the second-wave danger with gaping caveats. There was no reflection on mistakes made in care homes that might be remedied. And, in borderline scaremongering, he even seemed to contradict everything we know about at-risk groups, implying that all people are equally vulnerable.

Nor was there any scientific explanation of the decision to allow pubs to open, but not gyms or spas. Nor swimming pools, even though there is no scientific evidence that the virus spreads through them. We shot ourselves in the foot with lockdown. Johnson’s speech was the sound of Britain shooting itself in the other one.