Lockdown remains, ‘new normal’ looms

It is still too early to lift current restrictions and life will be very different even when this begins to happen

Shortly after the publication of what has been dubbed Scotland’s “exit strategy” from the coronavirus lockdown, UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock warned it would be a “mistake” to end the restrictions too early, saying this would be “bad for our nation’s health and bad for our nation’s economy”.

Some may have detected a dispute between Edinburgh and London but their positions are much closer than this single-sentence summary makes them appear.

For a start, the Scottish strategy actually went by the rather dry name of “Covid-19: A framework for decision-making” and the word “exit”, which perhaps implies an end to all the current disruption of “normal” life, was not even mentioned.

It spoke of the “profound” effects on the lives of us all and the “real and possibly long-lasting hardship” that is being caused. But it added: “The response from the Scottish people has been equally profound.

“Despite the cost to business and society, we have complied with restrictions and thereby reduced the pressure on our health and social care services, and saved lives.” Whatever problems we are facing and will face in the future, that is worth remembering. What is more important than life itself?

The framework talked about the way decisions would be made to “ease the current restrictions” but also “should it become necessary to prevent harm, to re-impose or further tighten restrictions”, so ‘exit strategy’ is something of a misnomer. We are far from out of the woods yet and, as the Scotsman has argued previously, must resist any temptation to think that we are, lest our commitment to abide by the rules wavers enabling the further spread of the virus.

The current restrictions will remain for the time being and even when the first steps are taken to reduce them we will be in what Nicola Sturgeon described as a “new normal”. Businesses, public services and schools may all have to operate in radically different ways to enable social distancing. We have already seen how different parliamentary chambers look with elected politicians spread out to ensure a two-metre gap is maintained.

As Europe’s first human trial of a Covid-19 coronavirus vaccine gets under way in Oxford, with two volunteers being injected, we should have hope. But we must also stoically prepare for what is likely to be a long haul.