In Great Britain there are people who can’t wait until Monday is finally. Then, on July 19, it will be Freedom Day, according to Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decree. From this day on, citizens are to be freed from all those restrictions that the pandemic has placed on them, at least in England. The anticipation seems to be so great for some that they no longer feel bound by the Corona rules. There is, for example, the older man who sits on the bus without a mask during rush hour in London on Tuesday evening. Or the younger woman who simply drops into a seat in the subway that is supposed to be kept free. The following still applies: social distancing, so keep your distance, please.
It looks like that shouldn’t change anytime soon. Because there is more and more resistance to the conservative prime minister’s declarations of freedom. So far this is most evident in London. There, Mayor Sadiq Khan announced on Wednesday that, contrary to the government decision, he wants to maintain the mask requirement in local public transport. The Labor politician ordered that mouth and nose covers continue to be part of the transport conditions of the state transport company Transport for London. That means: Anyone who wants to travel by bus or tube in the British capital will have to wear a mask in the future.
Khan announced quite bluntly via Twitter that he doesn’t think much of Johnson’s talk of liberty – neither in health policy nor in economic terms. “Wearing face covers helps reduce the spread of the coronavirus and gives Londoners the confidence to travel – this is central to our economic recovery,” wrote the London Mayor. And added: “My mask protects you, your mask protects me.” This principle will apply in the capital “as long as we are still worried that the virus will be transmitted”.
The uncertainty is great
London should not be left alone with this decision. In other major cities, such as Manchester, Liverpool and Bristol, mayors are already in talks with private transport companies to keep the mask requirement in place. You have the unions on your side, who warn of the potentially devastating health consequences for bus drivers and subway workers. However, some private train companies announced that they would no longer insist on masks from Monday. Airlines such as Easyjet and Ryanair, on the other hand, stated that mouth and nose covers must still be worn on board.
In any case, there is great uncertainty among the population. According to surveys, the majority would like to stick to the mask requirement in local public transport. Johnson also noticed this, and so the prime minister made it clear at the beginning of the week that it was advisable to wear masks wherever there are many people you do not know. The question remains: why does Johnson only recommend this? Or to put it another way: Why does he rely on personal responsibility and leave the decision of the extent to which Corona restrictions should continue to apply to state transport companies and private companies?
Well, in the government district the answer is relatively clear: The majority of Johnson’s conservative lower house MPs would probably refuse allegiance to the prime minister if he extended the corona measures despite promises to the contrary. And so it is now primarily up to the economy to set its own rules. And they turn out to be quite different.
Theaters want to see vaccination cards – clubs don’t
On the one hand, there are the theaters in London, which have agreed that visitors must present proof of vaccination. On the other hand, there are two of the largest club operators in the country who do not ask their guests anything at all when they enter, no negative test, no proof of vaccination, nothing at all. People should dance and have fun again like they did before the pandemic.
It didn’t help that Johnson said on Monday that it was a “question of social responsibility” that nightclubs in particular should insist that their guests show their guests the so-called Covid pass, which is automatically issued in Great Britain via the NHS health service app. Even the head of the UK Cinema Association doesn’t want to know anything about it. He made it clear that there should be no restrictions on going to cinemas. After all, the government has ordered all corona restrictions to be dropped.
The owners of pubs, cafes and restaurants also have to think about how to deal with the freedom imposed by the government. While large pub chains are already looking forward to the end of the distance obligation, there are star restaurants that will probably continue to measure the body temperature of guests and are thinking about checking the Covid Pass at the entrance in the future.
After Wembley and Wimbledon, the whole of England becomes an experimental laboratory
What is certain is that the risk of contagion in the UK is still high. The number of new infections rose by a good 25 percent to more than 36,000 cases in the past seven days. The incidence is 320, but that doesn’t seem to worry the government too much. Johnson and his scientific advisors point to the low number of deaths and hospital admissions compared to the first and second corona waves. The government’s optimism continues to feed on the vaccination campaign. So far, 87 percent of adults have received the first vaccination, 66 percent have already received the second.
The easing, which should apply from Monday, is highly controversial among British scientists. Prime Minister Johnson still wants to hold on to it. After the government had called the European Football Championship games in Wembley and the tennis tournament in Wimbledon with many spectators as research projects, the next stage is imminent on Monday, according to the motto: freedom is coming home. All of England, it seems, is now becoming an experimental laboratory.