New Coronavirus News from 21 Feb 2022

Boris Johnson Moves to Lift Coronavirus Restrictions in England [The New York Times, 21 Feb 2022]

By Stephen Castle

The British prime minister is shifting toward a strategy of living with Covid-19. Critics argue that the move is too soon, even as case numbers fall.

LONDON — After almost two years of restrictions, Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain said on Monday that it was time to live with the coronavirus, announcing an end to England’s remaining legal curbs and most free testing, and making his country an outlier in its handling of the pandemic.

Although careful not to declare the country’s health crisis officially over, Mr. Johnson sought to put the country firmly on the path to normalcy, albeit just a day after an announcement that Queen Elizabeth II had tested positive for the virus.

Some critics say that news underscores the risks of moving too quickly to scrap restrictions, while political opponents say that decisions are being taken in Downing Street to distract attention from a police investigation into whether Mr. Johnson broke the coronavirus laws he himself set.

However the statement is another political landmark for Mr. Johnson, putting his government ahead of most others in Europe in the speed with which it hopes to return to normal life.
Having initially claimed the virus would be sent packing in 12 weeks, Mr. Johnson — who was himself hospitalized after being infected in 2020 — withdrew many restrictions last year but was later forced to reintroduce some to cope with the arrival of the Omicron variant.

The new plan means that, starting Thursday, routine contact tracing will end and those who test positive will no longer be legally obliged to isolate themselves, although they will be urged to do so.

The supply of free tests, which are currently available widely, will end on April 1 for all except the most vulnerable, effectively forcing people to pay to find out whether or not they are infected. Enhanced sick pay to support those suffering from the coronavirus will end in late March.

Speaking to Parliament, Mr. Johnson said he was setting out a strategy for living with the coronavirus, rather than declaring the pandemic at an end.

“It is time that we got our confidence back, we don’t need laws to compel people to be considerate to others, we can rely on that sense of responsibility toward one another,” Mr. Johnson said. He added: “Let us learn to live with this virus.”

Wishing Queen Elizabeth a speedy recovery, Mr. Johnson said that her illness was a reminder that “the virus has not gone away.” But, he said, “Whilst the pandemic is not over we have now passed the peak of the Omicron wave.”

The rules, which still need approval in Parliament, would apply only to England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own powers over health issues and make their own rules and have usually been more cautious.

Even some of Mr. Johnson’s own lawmakers have expressed concern about the new strategy, particularly because of the restriction on the availability of free tests.

On Monday, a cabinet discussion on the details of the move to end most free testing was temporarily delayed at the last moment, with news reports saying there had been differences among ministers about the continuing costs of coronavirus measures. Over the weekend, Mr. Johnson said testing was costing taxpayers around 2 billion pounds, or $2.7 billion, a month.

Tim Loughton, a Conservative member of Parliament, said the country had to “learn to live with Covid and not lock everything down and retreat until it goes away.” But, speaking before the announcement, he told the BBC that he had “slight apprehensions in that I think we still do need to have testing available widely, because I think that is the reassurance people can have that they’ve taken all possible precautions and they don’t want to infect other people.”

The health secretary, Sajid Javid, said earlier Monday that a second booster vaccination would be offered to adults 75 and over, people living in care homes and those 12 and older who suffer from conditions that suppress their immune systems.

“We know immunity to Covid-19 begins to wane over time,” Mr. Javid said in a statement. “That’s why we’re offering a spring booster to those people at higher risk of serious Covid-19 to make sure they maintain a high level of protection.” So far almost 38 million Britons have had all three shots that have already been offered.

Medical professionals have urged the government to take a cautious approach, and there was a warning from the government’s chief scientific adviser, Patrick Vallance, who said he expected further variants and added that “they could be more severe.”

The current restrictions were scheduled to expire on March 24 and, given his precarious political position, Mr. Johnson might have struggled to persuade legislators from his own Conservative Party to agree to any extension of the legal requirement to self-isolate, with fines for those who break the rules.

Some on the libertarian wing of Mr. Johnson’s would like the government to withdraw its current guidance to wear face coverings in crowded and confined spaces, given the falling case numbers, though the government did not announce that step on Monday.

Nonethethess, Ian Blackford, leader of the Scottish National Party’s lawmakers in the British Parliament, accused Mr. Johnson of appeasing right-wing lawmakers whose support he may need to keep his job if the police investigation concludes that he broke coronavirus laws. “This statement is not about protecting the public it’s about the prime minister scrambling to save his own skin, Mr. Blackford said.

Few dispute that the pandemic is receding in Britain, and the latest available statistics show 38,409 daily cases and 15 deaths within 28 days of a positive test.

But the main opposition Labour Party called on the government to publish the scientific evidence behind its decision-making.

“This is a half-baked announcement from a government paralyzed by chaos and incompetence” said Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour Party, who criticized the decision to end free testing to most people.

The government, Mr. Starmer said, was advancing “an approach which seems to think that living with Covid means simply ignoring it.”