This week isolation is the new normal

AT THE beginning of another week in the Covid-19 crisis, PM Boris Johnson seemed to have regained his sang-froid. In the daily briefing, he sounded calm as he addressed those most vulnerable to the coronavirus – identified as 1.5 million people – saying it was high time to “shield” them from the disease with a support system of pharmacists, supermarkets and local authorities.

The point is, of course, to slow the spread of the disease and save lives: an urgent priority given that yesterday there were 5,683 confirmed cases in the UK – 665 up on Saturday’s figures.

As well as giving praise to the UK’s key workers keeping Britain afloat, the PM’s conference told us that the military is now to be involved in the shielding effort – and that everyone will have the opportunity to volunteer in the weeks to come.

The message that we should pull together now has unstoppable power. If last week some elements shamefully ignored the advice to stay in and not to hoard, this is less likely to be tolerated.

And as we engage with the “new normal” there are reasons to find hope. From families finding creative ways to sit out their self-isolation, to the moving spirit of altruism that has crossed the nation – even to the environmental benefits that isolation has brought – the wheels of what a previous Prime Minister called “the big society” are turning. Let’s hope we retain the life lessons thrown up by this crisis.