“Freedom Day” – 19th July 2021! After a long year of lockdowns and restrictions, the Prime Minister of the UK declared the lifting of most COVID-19 related health policies including mask use and social distancing. This “opening up” has been met with mixed …
reactions; some people celebrated wildly, some people raised alarms, and most people went about their usual business.
I am not against “opening up” but it is hard to understand why there was a need to have a specific day assigned to essentially lifting all COVID-19 related restrictions. Perhaps a more slow and steady approach would have been more appropriate given the circumstances. Then again, I’m not a politician so I don’t fully understand the ramifications of making huge statements and important uplifting announcements. I suppose it is important for leaders to inject some hope and enthusiasm into the population. With only approximately 54% of the population currently fully vaccinated and vaccination uptake plateauing, a more cautious approach may have been in order.
The weirdest part about this specific date is that new COVID-19 cases in the UK are on their way up with 47,599 cases reported on 18 July 2021. Cases are being fuelled by the highly transmissible delta variant first identified in India. So the situation is that cases are surging, there is a new dominant variant hanging around, we’re not even certain as to how protective vaccines are against delta. There is strong evidence that vaccine effectiveness is reduced and some evidence that pathologies (severe COVID-19 and hospitalization), associated with the delta variant are more serious. The irony is that the Prime Minister himself will be self-isolating or ten days after coming into contact with the Health Secretary who tested positive for coronavirus. As we know the Prime Minister had a serious (life-threatening) infection and is fully vaccinated with the UKs AstraZeneca vaccine.
The fact is that we are going to have to learn to live with cases of COVID-19; the consensus is that it will be become endemic. I think the use of masks and social distancing could remain in place until the magical 70-80% (herd immunity), vaccination mark is attained in a given location – those restrictions are not too daunting. Together with regular testing and self-isolation as appropriate may be a sustainable way forward.
In the meantime, to “encourage” vaccination, in the past few hours the Prime Minister has hinted at “vaccine passports”; that’s a whole different topic for another time…
Until next time …