Lord help you if you have a compromised immune system, are elderly or have other health issues. I'm all for going out to gigs and football matches if you are not infected with covid. What scares the hell out of me is the abolition of mandatory isolation for people with covid and the removal of financial support for those who have covid. Last week my wife had covid. She was happy to isolate. Despite the fact that I love my missus, we were both happy to be sensible and not see each other for ten days. Saturday was the first day we could. We put this too good effect seeing a band at the Old Bull arts Centre in Barnet. I'm not someone who wants to see lockdowns, but I want a sensible balance.
This week my studio manager also has covid. I wouldn't want him in work if he was positive. If he spread it to a vulnerable customer, both of us would have that on our conscience.
Last week the UK saw over 1,000 deaths with restrictions on people who are infected, to me this is not a pandemic that is over. The purpose of the restrictions was to stop people who are infectious spreading the disease. Boris Johnson stated that he would follow the science. Where are Chris Whitty and the rest of the crew to back Boris up if the science is there?
The true purpose of todays announcement is to remove support payments for people isolating. This means that people will be forced to work to pay bills. There is a #COSTOFLIVINGCRISIS after all. I would have supported a scaling back of restriction. I cannot see why we are removing the requirements to self isolate. Boris Johnson states that people will use their common sense. How can they do this if he's scaling back testing. How can you use common sense if you can't pay the bills?
If you have a job where you are working with someone with a compromised immune system and you think you have covid, but you are falling behind on your rent, what do you do?
The sad truth is that for those who are struggling, they will be forced to make the most terrible decisions. I'm relaxed about abolition of vaccine passports. We can make our own choices about going to pubs and clubs, but we can't about work.
We have been isolating when infected for good reasons. These reasons have not gone away. We are not even past the worst of winter. This has been a decision taken to pacify right wing nutcases in his own party. I've always believed that the first duty of a government is to protect it's most vulnerable citizens. Making people who are likely to infect them go to work is, quite simply, a failure of Government.
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