London, Sept 27 (BUS): Britons these days are encouraged – although not required in most cases – to wear face coverings in crowded indoor spaces. However, Prime Minister Boris Johnson regularly appears in the crowded and poorly ventilated House of Commons with other unmasked Conservative MPs.
To critics, this picture epitomizes the flaw in the government’s strategy, which has abandoned most of the pandemic’s restrictions and is relying on voluntary restraint and a high vaccination rate to curb the spread of the coronavirus, the AP reports.
As winter approaches, with the threat of a new wave of COVID-19 emerging, Britain’s light touch is keeping it far from the most cautious nations.
“This government’s story in the pandemic is too little, too late,” said Leila Moran, a MP from the Liberal Democratic Party who chairs the Parliamentary Group on Coronavirus.
She said some UK hospitals were already seeing the number of virus patients in intensive care units they would normally expect in the depths of winter, even though daily hospital admissions are up to about a fifth of the January peak.
And while cases rose when restrictions were lifted this summer, deaths have not occurred anywhere near the same pace. But the winter months, when respiratory illnesses are usually at their peak, can bring an additional challenge.
“Unless the government starts doing something different, I don’t think we’ll be able to avoid the worst this winter,” Moran said.
The government argues that its plan is working so far – and could change course if necessary.
Britain has recorded more than 135,000 deaths from the Corona virus, the highest number in Europe after Russia and about the same number of deaths in the United States per capita. However, it also organized a successful vaccination campaign which saw 65% of the entire population vaccinated.
That relatively high rate led the Johnson government to decide in July that it was safe to scrap restrictions on business and daily life: no more social distancing, restrictions on gatherings or masks required anywhere in England. Companies can impose their own measures, but otherwise, Johnson encouraged people to be “reasonable.”
Unlike many other European countries – even some with higher vaccination rates than the UK – proof of vaccination is not required in England for dining in restaurants, attending group events or entering crowded places such as nightclubs. Scotland, which is part of the UK but makes its own sanitary rules, is even more cautious, offering vaccination passports to nightclubs and keeping mandatory masks indoors.
Students and teachers in England’s schools do not have to wear face coverings, despite the objections of unions and public health officials – unlike European countries including France, Italy and Spain that have kept mask requirements for schools.
While the US has made vaccinations mandatory for millions of workers, Johnson’s government requires proof of vaccination only for nursing home employees, and is considering it for health care workers.
Once the UK has some of the strictest international travel rules in Europe, but it is easing quarantine and testing restrictions for many visitors starting next month.
The UK has often gone its own way during the pandemic. Health authorities bet a two- to three-month gap between doses, instead of the three to four weeks recommended by vaccine makers, in order to speed up the rollout. And that paid off, with studies suggesting that a longer gap is at least as effective, and possibly more than that.
Britain differed from its peers again on the issue of child vaccination. When the US, Canada and much of the European Union introduced vaccinations to children aged 12 to 15, the UK stopped it, saying the health benefits for children were marginal. Britain then decided to vaccinate that age group – but initially with a single dose, rather than the usual two.
Britain has also gone further than most countries in giving the booster vaccines, providing a third dose for everyone over 50 years old. That puts it at odds with the World Health Organization, which has vehemently objected to rich countries giving a third round of vaccines when poor countries don’t have enough vaccines for the first time. In the United States, authorities have endorsed booster shots for millions of elderly or other frail Americans.
Johnson’s government is relying on vaccines to do the heavy lifting against the virus, backed by voluntary “common sense” behaviour.
But after an exceptionally long and strict lockdown earlier this year, it is not clear that Britons would freely choose which virus prevention measures they were not forced to take. When the restrictions were initially lifted, just under two-thirds of people said they intended to continue wearing masks in stores and on public transportation. Now the number of people wearing blankets has fallen sharply on the London Underground, which requires but hardly enforces the use of masks.
Critics say the government has failed to learn from experience and it appears to be fueled by optimism rather than evidence.
Stephen Reacher, a professor of psychology at the University of St Andrews who helps advise the government, noted that a year ago, Johnson’s team was slow to act when scientific advisors recommended a short, “circuit-breaking” shutdown to curb fast-rising coronavirus cases.
“As it always happens if you wait and things get out of hand, you have to put in bigger restrictions, which is why we had a period other than Christmas and a bad winter and spring,” he told Sky News.
Moran, the opposition MP, and other critics argue that moderate measures, such as better ventilation in schools and masks indoors, could avoid the need for severe restrictions this winter.
But the government notes that the scientists’ most pessimistic prediction, which said cases could rise to 100,000 per day by the time schools reopen in September, did not come true.
The UK now averages around 140 deaths a day – just over a tenth of what it saw at its peak – and 30,000 new infections a day.
Johnson said restrictions such as mandatory masks and work-from-home orders could be reimposed if hospital admissions increased. But he hoped there was no need for that.
“The result of this vaccination campaign is that we have one of the freest societies and one of the most open economies in Europe,” he said. “And that is why we are now sticking with our strategy.”
While standing next to him at a press conference, chief scientific advisor Patrick Vallance slammed the brakes.
The lesson of the pandemic, he said, is that “when you make a move, you have to go earlier than you think you want to, you have to put in more effort than you think you want to.”
“So if things go wrong … it is important that actions are taken early enough and important enough,” he said.
RAE