Dear Reader

THIS week I visited both a hospital and a care home. I was taking a family member from the latter to the former in East Anglia for tests and was struck by the different approach to Covid safety.

Before entering the care home I had to present a negative lateral flow result, wear PPE and have my temperature taken; before walking into the hospital I just needed to wear a mask — although I noticed some outpatients either weren’t bothering or had let their masks slip below their noses.

There was no one on the door to check one way or another — and that seemed sensible. NHS staff have better things to do than act as mask-checkers.

Then, yesterday, I joined a heated debate in the office about whether one should wear a mask in a supermarket. I don’t, but many of my more conscientous colleagues do.

It’s all divisive stuff and will become more so if infections continue to rise. What’s harder to gauge is how other countries will react to our difficulties. Will they go down the Morocco route and ban all flights from the UK?

Or will they examine the data closely and see that the majority of those infections affect children who have not yet been vaccinated and that death rates in Britain for the over-65s are back to normal for this time of year?

What’s unhelpful is if the UK comes across as complacent to the rest of the world. Might it not be better, for example, if the Speaker of the House of Commons makes a ruling about the wearing of masks in the chamber just as a head teacher might do in his or her school?

I noticed in Spain (Madrid, pictured above) a few weeks ago that the wearing of masks was strictly enforced in all shops. The libertarian in me didn’t like this much but it sent out a positive signal. At the very least, it was good PR and Britain needs some of that as we start to spread our wings again.