Back in July, Boris Johnson announced Freedom Day as nearly all of the Covid restrictions were lifted. He gave the impression, very intentionally, that as a nation, under his leadership, we had conquered Covid and that we had nothing more to fear and we could return to near normality.
Many people took Johnson at his word, he is the PM and should know what he is talking about. They stopped wearing masks, shops stopped making sure the sanitation stations going in were stock with hand sanitiser & cleaning solution to wipe down trolleys, pubs & restaurants opened up completely, nightclubs were full to capacity
Many realised that as usual, Johnson was talking guff, Covid is still a potent threat to us, both n the UK and around the world. However, Johnson wasn’t interested. The management of the Covid Vaccination & Booster program was passed to a junior minister, Johnson stopped wearing a mask (as did most other Tory MPs) even in situations where he should have done. For him, the important thing was that he could be seen as a leader who has conquered the Pandemic.
Unsurprisingly, since July the number of Covid cases has continued to rise and so have, 2 weeks behind, the number of hospitalisations from Covid. Even those with both doses of the vaccine were getting ill from Covid (and many had asymptomatic Covid). This, along with other regular winter conditions is already putting a strain on NHS Hospitals. While a booster vaccination program was started, this was only aimed at the over 60’s and those deemed clinically vulnerable.
However, Johnson was not to be moved from reimposing any restrictions, not even asking people to resume wearing masks, not even to restrict how many could go to pubs. Getting business back up & running was his aim (along with basking in his seeming success in taming Covid).
Then came Omicron, the latest Covid variant. While it may cause as severe illness as previous variants, it does seem to be able to bypass some of the protection given by the vaccination, even the booster. It also appears to be able to spread very quickly
What did Johnson do when the first cases of Omicron appeared? He banned people from a number of African countries (where it was first identified) from coming here, even though there was clear evidence that it actually was originating from the UK (Israeli doctor believes he caught Omicron variant of Covid in London) before being identified in South Africa. However, no restrictions were imposed in the UK.
It came as a surprise to very few how quickly the Omicron variant is running rife across the UK so much so that visitors from Britain are now banned from Israel & (from Saturday) France.
This is entirely due to Johnson’s reluctance to admit he was wrong in July to loosen restrictions so much and his dithering when Omicron was first identified. Indeed, many now believe he has only started to introduce any measures in the last few days as an attempt to divert attention his own culpability for how those in his own office flouted the rules that were in place last year.
Throughout the whole pandemic, Johnson’s hubris & ineptitude has meant we have always been behind the curve in imposing the measures needed to control it. Now, to save the Government from having to support the entertainment industry by imposing proper restrictions, he is calling on people to use “caution” while pubs, restaurants and clubs face ruin as people show more responsibility than Cabinet Ministers.
Its time for Johnson to go.
Mantonite - A Worksop Liberal 