The 'roadmap' out of lockdown constructed by the government and 'led by the science' is expanding almost daily, particularly as the heralded 4th of July approaches. But there are some things which seem to be either counterproductive, pointless, hypocritical and just completely ridiculous. So here are the most confusing things about the current lockdown restrictions.
1. Stay Alert
Okay so starting off with perhaps the worst slogan to ever come out of a UK government and that's competing with the Conservative's 2012 'The UK can deliver' - making Britain sound like your local takeaway restaurant - and Theresa May requesting a "Red, white and Blue Brexit". What on earth is that supposed to mean? Anyway the latest essentially redundant slogan to come out of No.10 asked an entire nation to Stay Alert to an invisible virus. At least it provided a source of humour for a while.
2. "Cricket ball is a natural vector of disease"
Here we see a fine example of hypocrisy and ignorance. Other sports which have been deemed entirely safe to play where handling a ball is not an issue include tennis and basketball, whilst playgrounds are set to reopen on July 4th. Don't get me wrong, passing the same cricket ball between a team of players isn't ideal, but it's hardly different for basketball. And if they're telling us that the monkey bars are NOT a natural vector of disease but a cricket ball is, then I'm lost. Fortunately, Public Health England have since announced there is not sufficient evidence to testify Boris Johnson's statement, and club cricket could be set to be given the green light to resume on July 11th.
3. The Leicester lockdown
Well it happened far too late, but eventually the government responded to the spike in cases in Leicester, which they had reportedly first recognised two weeks ago. At the time they claimed they would 'monitor the situation', which unfortunately for Leicester, only saw the rise in cases steepen, meaning this new bout of lockdown may last longer. Furthermore, many are unsure of the boundaries that this Leicester lockdown applies to, leaving uncertainty, and yet Downing Street refuse to hold a press conference on the issue.
4 Failure to reopen gyms
A hot area for debate lately is why some things have been able to open but others have not. For example the opening of pubs and restaurants but not clubs on July 4th, although on this one I side with the restrictions. Or why hairdressers have had to remain shut until July 4th, despite widespread claims that they were ready to open on June 15th with the suitable precautions in place. Zoos were allowed to open simply for economic reasons, which then begs the question why not gyms, who have suffered just as much. It is estimated nearly half of the UK's public leisure facilities, around 2,500 sites, may have to close permanently. In Europe, most gyms have already reopened with no incidents of coronavirus outbreaks linked to their reopening. It seems rather bizarre that the UK science appears to be so different to Europe's.
5. Boris' Speeches
The charismatic leader himself. A lot of energy and bombastic tone goes into his much awaited speeches, but it's fair to say more times than not, the nation is left rather baffled, and needing to decode the waffle that our PM so eloquently delivers. Amidst the wide array of memes that these speeches have supplied the internet, was an impersonation from Matt Lucas which encapsulated the confusion very accurately.
Regardless of the confusion though, the most significant relaxing of the lockdown yet this Saturday, should bring some much needed to relief to many across the country, and the government does deserve some elements of credit for guiding the UK through the worst part of the pandemic, although the nature of modern media means that for all the government may have done right over the last few months, they will only be remembered for what they did wrong.
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