Sappy Monday: Confusion and danger as Tories lift Covid-19 lockdown conditions too soon
Did you go down to the beach over the weekend? Then you’ve probably caught Covid-19 and are set to overburden our hospitals. Well done, you!
More people are going to die after the Tories lifted lockdown conditions too soon.
According to Boris Johnson’s silly “Defcon” scale, the UK is still at Covid Level 4: hospitals aren’t overwhelmed but the R number (the reproductive rate of Covid-19) is still above 1 in some areas, meaning more than one person is catching it for everyone who has it already. The government’s own guidance says it should continue in lockdown.
However, the Tories are behaving as if we have reached level 1, with sports events restored (starting with pigeon racing, of all things), and vulnerable people allowed to leave home for the first time in many weeks; your diabetic granny can now visit the supermarket, even if it means she catches Covid on the way and dies in a couple of weeks time. Nice! The guidance says this level is only likely to be reached when a vaccine has been created and there is no vaccine.
Schools in England have reopened but it seems the only people sending their children back are parents who have had enough of trying to “home teach” them, or who don’t understand that they won’t be able to interact with their friends without shouting.
Monday the 1st of June, 2020.
This is the day the government told you not to meet up with more than 6 people unless you’re in a classroom, then it’s 15 plus a teacher, and despite thousands of daily new infections, your 90 year old diabetic nan can pop to the supermarket.
— Rachael Swindon (@Rachael_Swindon) June 1, 2020
As one response stated: schools should be places where knowledge is passed on – not Covid.
Are they safe? Judge for yourself on the basis of this:
https://twitter.com/TheEqualizer__/status/1267338848767541250
The gullibility defies belief:
I nearly cried when I saw her say that.
— Linda HG ⚫#NotMovingOnUntilToriesGone (@LindaGalone) June 1, 2020
And there are inevitable contradictions:
According to Jenny, the health expert at the press briefing, schools can safely reopen, because kids won't infect each other.
But …..playgrounds in parks must remain closed, as it's not safe, because kids may infect each other.Eh 😨😨
— Pete Timmins (@petertimmins3) May 31, 2020
Health officials made a desperate last-minute plea to the Tories, begging them to halt their homicidal plan to lift lockdown conditions – but their fears fell on deaf ears:
Senior public health officials have made a last-minute plea for ministers to scrap Monday’s easing of the coronavirus lockdown in England, warning the country is unprepared to deal with any surge in infection and that public resolve to take steps to limit transmisson has been eroded.
The Association of Directors of Public Health (ADPH) said new rules, including allowing groups of up to six people to meet outdoors and in private gardens, were “not supported by the science” and that pictures of crowded beaches and beauty spots over the weekend showed “the public is not keeping to social distancing as it was”.
On Saturday and Sunday, parks and seafronts were packed as people anticipated the lifting of restrictions on what has been dubbed “happy Monday”. Car showrooms and outdoor markets will also be reopened, millions of children will return to primary schools and the most vulnerable “shielded” people will be allowed out for the first time since lockdown began in March, all as long as physical distancing is maintained.
The argument is strong, and is supported by statistics:
Spain – 96 new Coronavirus cases recorded yesterday
UK – 8000 new Coronavirus cases recorded yesterday
Guess which one of these countries HASN'T extended lockdown until late June?#SecondPeak
— The Lucky Heron 🌍 (@LuckyHeronSay) June 1, 2020
The result of all this nonsense seems inevitable:
https://twitter.com/socialistbangrs/status/1267400965826711552
So what are you going to do? This, perhaps:
I refuse to do anything for Tories
– I don't want to help them kill me
disobey
withdraw you labour
destroy their hatred— Jon Harding (@_i0n) June 1, 2020
Otherwise…
I’m aware of how hysterical and melodramatic this sounds even as I type, but I can’t think of another way to say it:
All the lives lost in the coming second spike in infections will have been deliberately and consciously sacrificed by the government to protect Cummings & Johnson.— Mitch Benn (@MitchBenn) May 31, 2020
Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.
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I’m certainly continuing as if lockdown was still in place. Until the end of July at least.
Yet a recent poll still put the Tories 4% points ahead! So we still have a lot of work to do.
I fear that Starmer will be following the Blair strategy, which was to wait until the Tories have become so corrupt and laughable, that he is able to get elected almost by default.
The problem with that strategy is that Johnson might still re emerge as a winning candidate because Labour seem to lack any drive or conviction or, even, convincing policies. The other problem is that Labour might get elected out of public despair rather than a set of radical policies that have won voter support. So Starmer will just carry on as Blair did, leaving the power structure intact but trying to tweak certain aspects to improve , say, educational deliveries. But nothing very substantial. And nothing to prevent the subsequent slide in Labour vote share as the feeble centrist policies fail to attract solid support.