Focus must be on testing and PPE

Preparing for post-lockdown easing must not take away from fundamental battle to beat the virus

Staggered workplace start times to avoid the traditional commuter crush on public transport. Classrooms reorganised with socially distant desks. Cafés and restaurants reopened with a fraction of the tables they used to operate for similar reasons.

We are learning more all the time about what life might look like under the “new normal” rules as we start to come out of lockdown.

Being able to imagine ways in which we can start to emerge from self-isolation without recklessly throwing caution to the wind offers some hope. Having a clear picture of what steps might be necessary to take is vital for business as it starts to put essential plans in place.

There are risks, however, attached to a strategy which places as much focus on narrating the detail of what post-lockdown life will be like, as the governments in London and Edinburgh now seems intent on doing.

The first is that some read too much into these pronouncements and relax their guard thinking that the end of the crisis is nearer than they would otherwise have thought. This is the same danger which was writ large in the Prime Minister’s declaration, designed to offer hope, that we had moved beyond the peak of the pandemic in the UK.

The second comes in offering people hope that the end of lockdown may be in sight when the grounds for believing this are so fragile. Forecasting the progress of this virus is difficult. This is particuarly true in the UK where testing has been nowhere near as widespread as it has been in some other countries which were better prepared for Covid-19.

There is disappointment already in some quarters that measures outlined to lift lockdown have not been implemented soon after they have been revealed. This sense will only grow as more details are outlined without being quickly put into action.

Disappointment can easily turn to frustration, and frustration to less willingness to following the rules.

It would be foolhardy to say the least to end lockdown before the scientific evidence is clear that the risk of a resurgence is absolutely minimal. The constant focus on a narrative of coming out of lockdown before we are ready to do so puts the lockdown itself at risk.

Government focus right now should remain resolutely on getting testing and PPE to those who need it most.