Danger lurks over when is the right time to lift Covid restrictions
NOT long after Christmas, when the Kent variant of coronavirus first began to send case numbers soaring again, scientists and politicians were asked if we were at the most dangerous phase in the pandemic thus far.
They answered in various ways; but the gist was that, while things looked bleak – and, as we now know, we passed the 100,000 deaths milestone in this period – most said the vaccine was our route out of this appalling public health nightmare and we would win in the end.
We have been through a dreadful period in a truly appalling crisis. The second wave has proved to be even more deadly than the first, and even the brave face many politicians and their advisers tried to put on the events of the past couple of months cannot hide how bad things have been. But if there is a most dangerous phase in the pandemic and the battle to beat it, then it may just be approaching.
Because while rising case rates, hospitalisations and, sadly, deaths, are obviously terrible, the real danger comes as we take the next step to lift lockdown restrictions and attempt get our lives back on track.
A wrong move and, like a tightrope walker more than halfway across a 100ft drop, we risk plunging into the abyss. It seems, perhaps rather belatedly, the Prime Minister now grasps that fact.
It is not how you behave when the crisis is at its peak that marks out a great leader; it is how you behave when things appear to be getting better and the pressure is on to change tack.
It is no great challenge to see soaring numbers of coronavirus cases and lock down, but it is extremely difficult to watch those numbers drop dramatically but keep your nerve and hold restrictions in place until you are utterly convinced that the risk of lifting them is minimal. That is what Boris Johnson seems ready to do.
Even some of his most cautious Cabinet colleagues and advisers have looked ready to accept coronavirus as a version of seasonal flu, once the vaccine roll-out has protected the most vulnerable. By implication, they accept that it will always claim some lives every year.
Mr Johnson, once criticised for being too gung-ho about lifting restrictions, now appears to be taking a far more careful and considered approach.
Many businesses and the Chancellor of the Exchequer may criticise him for it. Most voters, we suspect, will say that, at last, he appears to be behaving in the right way.
Yesterday, in response to calls from some backbenchers for a total lifting of restrictions in pretty short order, the Prime Minister’s message was clear – lift too early, when case rates are still high – and coronavirus bounces back, picking off those for whom the vaccine is not providing full protection, because no vaccine is foolproof.
Such a scenario, would – in public health terms – be acceptable if those numbers were tiny. But given the amount of the virus currently circulating at the moment, they would be far too large.
This is a dangerous moment. Boris must make the right call.
I HEARD on the local radio this morning that it was 50 years ago that decimalisation was brought in.
It reminded me of two consequences of it, one being that teachers only had to teach up to ten-times tables, and the other the increase in inflation it brought in as prices was rounded up, not down.
A few years before, as a child, I found a 10 shilling note on the pavement and being (I would like to think) well brought up by my widowed mother, I took it to our local police station.
After three months it was not claimed and I was allowed to keep it... how proud I was, as a young child!
It couldn’t happen these days for three reasons: 1) 10 shilling notes don’t exist any more and the equivalent 50 pence is pretty insignificant; 2) probably few would take even a £50 note found on the pavement to the police station; 3) the local police station doesn’t exist either!
Mike Butterfield Paignton, Devon