Editorial Comment:
This newspaper has long made the case for getting as many people back to the office as possible, and the Government, we are happy to report, has come on board. Next week it will roll out a return to work campaign that has two prongs. The positive argument is that office work gets people socialising and is a boon for mental health – as well as, we might add, being essential for the urban economy. Some city centres have become ghost towns during the pandemic.
The negative case, think ministers, is that the longer someone stays away from their desk, the higher their chances are of losing their job. There has been an air of unreality during the lockdown: it is true that people can work from home, it can be pleasant, and this might even be the future of professional employment. But there will be costs. Some firms will calculate that if they do not need an employee to be on site, maybe they do not need them to be in the country at all – outsourcing overseas might soar. And workers who are not seen for a long time risk becoming invisible, the first to be sacked. The Government is deploying straight-talk to avoid yet more economic pain.
Honesty and confidence-building are needed; practical measures, such as keeping schools open, are essential too. An example of smart innovation is a new app that lets people know how busy their mode of transport is before they start their journey – again, we have consistently argued in favour of providing citizens with as much information as possible so that they can handle the risks the way they see fit.
The proper role of masks, however, remains controversial: France has declared them mandatory across Paris. The UK Government clearly calculates that face coverings are necessary to make Britons feel safe in public; on the other hand, many would rather stay at home than wear one. This is another reason why blanket policies, rather than targeted and localised ones, are a serious mistake.
Overall Britain is inching in the right direction: pupils are going back to school, consumers are shopping again. The threat of a second spike haunts all efforts; travel corridors are still being shut. But the Government’s instincts are right, namely that lockdown cannot be forever. Britain has to learn to live with the coronavirus, not hide from it in perpetuity.