Crude social and economic restrictions are only necessary because the government squandered precious time over the summer
For some weeks now there has been a sense of inevitability about today’s announcement of substantial new restrictive measures affecting millions of people in England, as part of a new three-tier system. The plain fact is that the virus is out of control in many areas, and the growing level of infections has started to translate into hospital admissions and deaths, as Jonathan Van-Tam and colleagues set out at a briefing on Monday.
Over the past few months the government has managed to create confusion and discord with a mixed bag of local restrictions. These seem to satisfy no one and, in terms of the overall picture, have proved to make only a limited contribution to reducing numbers of cases. In as much as the new tiered system will be clearer in which restrictions are being employed, and is to be implemented in response to a defined level of infection, it should be welcomed. However, it must be asked why the virus has been allowed to spiral out of control, and why simple measures such as reinstating the two-metre social distancing rule have not been applied.
