COVID has disappeared. It has given up trying to infect us, put on its coat, and left the United Kingdom. Or that’s what government policy would have you believe. On July 19th, we are going back to normality. The government earlier this week announced that freedom day would go ahead, and Britain would ‘learn to live with the virus’. Clubs, casinos, large events, and festivals have been given the green light, masks will no longer be mandatory – although premises can enforce them, the one metre rule is abandoned, and there will be no restrictions on sports events.
This is, quite frankly, terrible timing, and a big risk. Cases are currently soaring due to the arrival of the Delta variant earlier in the year, with numbers reaching the same levels as January. Hospitalisation numbers and deaths are now starting to rise too, although not the extent of previous waves thanks to the incredible vaccine rollout, which is proving to be effective against all current variants. We are seeing record numbers of people isolating from track and trace, and an increasing number of children learning from home due to breakouts of the virus at schools.
The government is forecasting record case numbers over the next few weeks, but says it is necessary to live with the virus going forwards in the same way we do with flu. But we shouldn’t forget that this isn’t the flu. The mortality rate is much higher, and there’s also long covid, something we don’t even know the full extent of yet, and the toll it takes on our bodies. We also can’t forget the groups of people who couldn’t have the vaccine for various reasons – and will be put at risk.
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