THE relative success of the United Kingdom’s Covid vaccination problem has, unsurprisingly, emboldened hardline Tories in Britain to push for a speedy easing of the third lockdown. Some business fanatics are even backing the opportunistic call from takeaway food app giants to repeat the disastrous Eat Out to Help Out scheme.
That the Tories are liable – perhaps even likely – to prioritise business over public health once more will come as news to no-one, but it is to be fervently hoped that the Stormont Executive has learned the lessons of 2021 and will plough its own furrow when it comes to making decisions on when to start easing restrictions and how quickly to do it once the process begins.
People need hope, of course they do – struggling on with no indication of an end-date will be deeply damaging to the community’s already damaged psyche.
St Patrick’s Day is already a busted flush again, but Easter – which this year is on April 4 – appears to remain a target date for too many. Using arbitrary feast days as a driver of health policy is a complete recipe for disaster, something which Health Minister Robin Swann knows all too well. He is on record as regretting his decision to ape the GB decision to lift restrictions for Christmas and the grim results of that move are to be seen in the statistics. That bleak drama cannot and must not be re-enacted at Easter and – more – an early decision must be taken to rule out another Christmas-style party season.
The earlier families know that Easter will not be a large family affair the more time they will have to make other arrangements – and the more time they will have to get used to the idea.
And, crucially, business again needs certainty to plan – even if that certainty in this case is something that it doesn’t want to hear. In particular, the hospitality sector deserves to be given for the first time sufficient notice of what lies in store for them at what’s traditionally a busy and profitable time.
The peak of the third wave has been passed, but this seven-week third bout of cabin fever must not be allowed to rush the Executive into hasty decisions. It is every bit as important to act decisively when the numbers are falling as it is to act when the numbers are rising. An angler who’s battled a long time with the fish of a lifetime knows the netting and landing is every bit as important.
The all-important R number hovers at present at around 0.75, significantly below the magic 1.0 figure that sets the alarm klaxons sounding, but still above the figure which prompted the first lockdown to be lifted last year. Common sense tells us that the next easing of lockdown should start from an even lower R rate, given the distressing and debilitating rollercoaster we’ve been on since we first dared to hope the end was in sight last summer.
People need hope, of course they do – struggling on with no indication of an end-date will be deeply damaging to the community’s already damaged psyche. Which is why when opportunities for progress present themselves they should be communicated, but in a way that is measured and factual. Slow and sure must be the watchword.
