by Jonathan Wolfe
This week Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that he was scrapping the remaining coronavirus restrictions in England, saying it was time to live with the virus.
While he did not declare the nation’s health crisis over, the move put his country ahead of most others in Europe regarding the speed with which it hopes to return to normal life.
For insight into the approach, I spoke with Claire Moses, a writer for The Morning in London.
What happened in this latest round of lifting restrictions?
Basically, everything has been lifted. A lot of things had been open already — restaurants, pubs, movie theaters, you name it — but now the final restrictions are also gone. That includes mask requirements, even on London’s public transportation, and legal isolation requirements, even if you have the virus.
We also have access to free rapid tests, which we get through the National Health Service, but those won’t be free anymore after April 1. My guess is that will mean that people will stop testing, unless they’re very ill, because no one is going to say, “Let’s buy tests before we see each other.” It’s just not realistic.
What does lifting isolation requirements mean?
So if I test positive, I no longer have to isolate. I’m still encouraged to stay home, but it’s no longer legally required. If you get Covid or a nasty flu, you’re probably going to do the responsible thing and stay home anyway. But since you essentially no longer have to tell anyone if you test positive — and after April, you may not even know if you are infected unless you pay for a test — it may change the calculation for some people. Maybe you have a trip planned and you’re not going to cancel it. Or maybe you have a party or a dinner you really want to go to, so you do. This makes everyone’s personal risk assessment very, very difficult.
Why is Boris Johnson doing this?
On the one hand, he’s saying the virus is here to stay and we need to accept that and adopt it into our daily lives. But he’s also in the middle of a major political scandal here. There is a police inquiry into whether he broke his own government’s lockdown rules by attending multiple parties. So his critics are saying that lifting the remaining restrictions is a way to distract attention from that.
What are health experts saying?
Health officials are extremely wary, and N.H.S. leaders have also said they’re against the end of the free testing. Something else to keep in mind is that the lifting of all restrictions doesn’t protect vulnerable people. They have warned that politicians shouldn’t say the pandemic is over, because it isn’t — Covid is still among us, and while cases have been dropping dramatically, tens of thousands of people around the country still test positive every day.
The N.H.S. is also dealing with another crisis: The pandemic has worsened delays and backlogs. Millions of procedures have been delayed, including cancer screenings and essential care.
What’s the latest on Queen Elizabeth?
The queen, who is 95, seems to be having a mild case of Covid with “coldlike symptoms.” But she did cancel her virtual appearances. According to the media here, she’s still performing some “light duties.” One of those duties, as the BBC reported, is “reading state papers.”
What’s life like in London these days?
Everything is open. More and more people are starting to return to the office. I was on the tube, what we call the subway here, during rush hour this week, and it was crowded. Even if it wasn’t quite as crowded as two years ago. Nightlife is up and running. Theaters are full — and the audiences seem extremely happy to be there. People are back in pubs. In many places in town, it looks like we are living with Covid.
How does that feel?
On the one hand it feels great, because who doesn’t love normalcy? We love the theater. We love the pub. We love hugging each other. We love going to work … sometimes. But on the other hand, this pandemic has been very scary for everyone in different ways, and especially so for people who are older or more vulnerable. So, going back to a world where it seemingly doesn’t exist feels abrupt.