Covid-security measures work only with the public’s backing

EVEN at the height of the coronavirus crisis, when there were real fears that the NHS would be overwhelmed and that the sick on their stretchers would be backed up in hospital corridors up and down the country, the lockdown measures had to be practical and workable.

So trips out to get food and medicines, visits to help the vulnerable and the chance to take a daily walk or cycle ride were all permitted. It was a huge reduction in the liberty we’re all used to, but it meant at least a small part of life could go on as normal. Today, as we learn to accept a new period of restrictions, coming after a relative spell of freedom during the summer, the measures are far less onerous. So far.

But a worrying suggestion from a government scientific adviser, that university students might have to spend Christmas effectively locked in their halls of residence or other accommodation, has been put forward. The thinking, which may well have some basis in science, is that students coming home from university to join Christmas family gatherings put older and more vulnerable people at risk.

There are times, however, when our leaders and their advisers need to take a step back and give families a bit of credit for doing the right thing. The vast majority can surely be trusted to be sensible about gatherings, at Christmas or any other time, without telling the students that they cannot even leave their university homes when everyone else is doing their best – in a Covidsecure way – to celebrate the festive season. Any restrictions on the liberty of the population in a free and democratic country – even those backed up with the full force of the law – need to be implemented and policed with the consent and support of the public.

So far, through the imposition of some fairly tough measures, that support has stayed in place here in the UK. Brides have taken a blue pen to their wedding guest lists and scratched through all but 15 names. Mourners have been forced to restrict the numbers attending the funerals of loved ones. Families with three children, plus a granny and grandad are not able to all get together at the same time, for fear of breaking the rule of six. And pubs and restaurants are suffering huge economic hardship adhering to the 10pm curfew.

The Western Morning News supports all these measures, outlined by Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the House of Commons on Tuesday and underlined by him in a TV address to the nation later that night. It is clear they weigh heavily upon him and his ministers and are being introduced, perhaps for as long as six months, for the right reasons.

But anyone who thinks that locking down students is going to be acceptable to a majority of families at Christmas needs to think again. Not only does the measure itself look like a step too far – for the sake of the mental health of the students and their families – it also risks undermining the trust that people have in their leaders, which is already being stretched close to breaking, in some quarters. So far goodwill and support for the government in this battle – for the most part – endures. Let’s both sides work to keep it that way.