Such mixed messages over Covid

Freedom from Covid Day, at least in England, is still booked for July 19. But anyone watching the Euros football final at Wembley last night will have seen tens of thousands of people without masks carousing and dancing and mingling together, as if freedom day had already happened. The stadium was packed, the pubs were packed, the streets were packed, Trafalgar Square was packed. Without wanting to put any further dampner on what turned out to be a desperately disappointing match for England - beaten by Italy on penalties - it must surely be true to say that the devastatingly infectious virus must have been circulating through the crowds with impunity. Many of those who filled the stadium and the streets outside Wembley will have received at least one vaccine jab but there were huge numbers of twenty and thirty year olds there. How many of them will have had the jab? Every day the virus figures are climbing alarmingly. OK, Boris Johnson says it's time to start living with the virus, but if any of those people in the crowds go down with Covid-19 and get very ill and require hospitalisation, then the risks were too high. Of course it's right to get the country back on its feet as soon as possible but the clear message from Boris must be that everyone, absolutely everyone, HAS to get vaccinated. No more doubts or delays or refusals. Too many people are still holding off. Nothing like it is in the US where millions of people are declining the jab, but enough to make Boris add conditions to his July 19 freedom day decision. He wants people to wear masks still in public places and public transport and to continue working from home if possible. So July 19 is not going to be total freedom day at all. It's a blow to business and a blow to city centres where shops and cafes and restaurants are dying. The messages are so mixed it's difficult for individuals and families to make the "common sense" decision which the prime minister wants us all to follow.