Corona Daily 026: England is Free

In England’s nightclubs, people danced and sang and hugged and kissed yesterday. Pubs and restaurants operated at full capacity. The limit of six to meet indoors was removed. Mask-wearing is no longer a legal requirement. It was called Freedom Day. You watch a nightmarish sci-fi movie, and after leaving the cinema theatre feel a level of comfort to return to the normal world outside. That was the kind of feeling in London and around the nation.

English can go back to offices, invite any number of guests for weddings. Funerals can be grand as well.

The anti-shutdown protestors enjoyed the newly-found freedom. They gathered near the parliament, holding posters like “no to vaccine passports”, “covid is a scam”, “Leave our DNA alone”. They quarreled with the uniformed police, and asked the journalists to remove their masks.

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England this month is facing a “Pingdemic”, where more than half a million people in a single week were pinged by the NHS mobile app sending them to 10 day quarantine. The Health secretary tested positive, following which the Prime minister and Chancellor received pings. Boris Johnson had not imagined himself to be in self-isolation on Freedom day.  

As a result of the pings, there is a labour shortage everywhere, in factories, pubs, restaurants, schools. Even fully vaccinated people are getting pinged. Nissan car factory has 900 ‘positive’ workers at home. Rolls Royce is considering shutting its plant.

Liverpool, Bristol, Norfolk, Sandwell, Coventry and Lancashire are smelling differently. Rubbish bin collection is disrupted by a high number of pings among the garbage collectors.

Yesterday, many English people pragmatically deleted the NHS app. The threat of a ping is deadlier than the threat of the virus.

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Now nearly 50,000 cases are found every day. Cases have gone up by 81% in the last two weeks. Deaths have increased by 131% (from a small base). Health experts expect the case numbers to rise exponentially, because of the highly contagious delta variant, the hosting of Euro 2020 with the nation coming together behind the soccer team, and the freedom from all restrictions since yesterday.

United States issued its highest level (level 4) advisory yesterday, delivering the sternest warning to Americans thinking of visiting the UK. The US state department apparently considers coronavirus in the UK to be more dangerous than terrorists. Read the first two sentences of the advisory.

“Do not travel to the United Kingdom due to COVID-19. Exercise increased caution due to terrorism.”

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Meanwhile, UK’s met office has issued an extreme heat weather warning for the first time. This week, Thursday is likely to be unbearably hot. Last weekend, all four UK nations recorded the hottest day of the year. Forecasters warned temperatures would continue to climb.

It also warns that more people are likely to visit coastal areas, lakes and rivers increasing the risk of water safety incidents. Over the weekend, six people drowned in English lakes and rivers.

Some people reading the Met office warnings have opted to shut themselves up in the house once again.

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Some health experts within the UK and outside have criticized England for opening up in this manner. Cases are rising and are expected to shoot up. The Delta variant is spreading rapidly. Vaccination levels of about 70% are expected to minimize deaths and hospitalizations. Boris Johnson has asked, when if not now?

I think the world should applaud England’s experiment. Once you accept that the elimination of coronavirus may not be possible, each nation will be forced to go for a similar trade-off. Accept a certain number of cases and deaths, and move on. Get back to life. If after vaccinating everyone willing to be vaccinated, the country is still going to be locked down, what’s the point? When are we going to dance and sing with abandon?

May England succeed in its huge gambit, and show the way out to the rest of the world.

Ravi