The government has made it clear that their concern all along has been to “protect the NHS” and in their eyes this objective has now been achieved.

We have been told that the link between new cases and hospitalisations has been severed and on the face of it, that could well be true. New cases in the last seven days are up by 70%, a staggering 144000 in that period, and deaths are up 11% but the death total is only 114 in that period. The Johns Hopkins table does not show new hospitalisations but what we hear on the television is that they are relatively low and that most, but not all, of the people admitted have had no jabs.

So let us be clear. Now the NHS is largely off the hook, it appears that the people of the country are to be left to their own devices as restrictions are lifted, which is anticipated later this month.

Of course this does not mean that it is the end of covid-19; it does not mean that it is the end of variants which might creep in and of course even if the UK is doing well because of vaccinations, that is not the case world-wide.

What it does mean is that the government now plans for the covid-19 virus to become endemic.

The people of this country will now have to decide how they want to play the game of “dodge the virus” on their own initiative and rules as they can expect only marginal help from the government, if indeed any help at all. It is unlikely that there will be no restrictions at all but it is at the moment difficult to visualise what there will be which is compatible with the phrase “all restrictions lifted”.

We know that even being vaccinated is not a guarantee against being infected and if a vaccinated person is unfortunate enough to meet an infected person, there is a good chance that he will get infected too and suffer symptoms at some level.

The solution to resolve this is that each person must decide on his own measures to steer clear of infection. Do you go to the theatre or a football match? Do you go to the pub and mix with everybody in close proximity? Do you go shopping and stop wearing a mask? Do you go to meetings and mix with potentially infected persons?

Should you be going to the beach and the seaside for your holiday or would a nice national park be a safer bet?

Needless to say people, especially older and more vulnerable people, will be keeping a very close eye on how things are progressing but at the end of the day it looks like we shall largely all be on our own in the quest for a covid free future for ourselves. It will never be too soon to start planning.

Adrian Leopard 02-07-21

Photo Austin Park