Ministers are forcing vulnerable people to shield again – with no support this time

[Northerner]

Boris Johnson dubbed tomorrow “freedom day”, but for many of the 3.8 million people in England who are clinically vulnerable, it will feel like anything but. With most of the remaining Covid restrictions lifted in England – from masks in public places and social distancing to guidance to work from home – people who are at high risk of severe illness or death from the virus are now worryingly exposed.

The government has released updated guidance to help clinically vulnerable people with the new circumstances, although “guidance” may be pushing it. It is a scant document, in essence advising people with underlying health conditions to avoid going indoors or near unvaccinated people throughout the summer. There is no word on how exactly a person is meant to know if someone else has had the jab, or how we are supposed to bubble ourselves away from the significant proportion of the population who are still not fully vaccinated, or the minority who aren’t at all (including, possibly, our own carers). Neither are there any tips on how to avoid going inside buildings, whether that’s a clinically vulnerable parent taking their child to school or an employee going into the workplace.

Ministers are forcing vulnerable people to shield again – with no support this time | Frances Ryan

By advising ‘personal responsibility’ to fight Covid, the government is putting all the responsibility on those at high risk, says Guardian columnist Frances Ryan

www.theguardian.com

 

[Eddy Edson]

Jesus wept.

 

[Ljc]

Perhaps different colour flashing beacons on our heads , ie green = vaccinated and amber= unvaccinated lol

I think it is criminal the way our so called government has handled this pandemic , too little too late and with great big gaping holes too .
I dread to think how many people have died unnecessarily.

Me , I will still continue masking. Everything gets sprayed before it comes into the house.
I use pp2 masks normally but I do have a small supply of pp3 .
I do this as I live with my extremely vulnerable dad.

 

[Eddy Edson]

I never understand UK Labour but why on earth aren't they providing a strong alternative vision? Baffling.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

I never understand UK Labour but why on earth aren't they providing a strong alternative vision?

They are asking for dramatic improvements in support for people who have to isolate, improving ventilation in schools and businesses, support for those who're vulnerable, continuing advice for working from home. And continuing mandatory face covering on public transport and in shops (and similar).

But overall it always comes across in interviews as support for "Freedom Day" with some small tweaks.

I think it's unfair, but I think the message they want to put across just isn't clear enough. There was a particularly feeble TV interview on Sunday morning with the Shadow Health Secretary.

Ah, finally they're starting to oppose with bold strokes:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1417103159047118849

 

[Robin]

I never understand UK Labour but why on earth aren't they providing a strong alternative vision? Baffling.

Basically, Keir Starmer's stance seems to be 'Wear a mask'
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-57886976 and doesn’t seem to have anything new.
(and see other thread where there’s a debate on whether that makes a difference).

https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/cloth-masks-are-comfort-blankets-according-to-sage-committee-member.94727/

 

[pm133]

They are asking for dramatic improvements in support for people who have to isolate, improving ventilation in schools and businesses, support for those who're vulnerable, continuing advice for working from home. And continuing mandatory face covering on public transport and in shops (and similar).

But overall it always comes across in interviews as support for "Freedom Day" with some small tweaks.

I think it's unfair, but I think the message they want to put across just isn't clear enough. There was a particularly feeble TV interview on Sunday morning with the Shadow Health Secretary.

Ah, finally they're starting to oppose with bold strokes:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1417103159047118849

But he's not providing a competing vision. There's no compelling narrative.
He's just attacking Boris.

What are his grand plans and why does he think those plans would have a dramatically different outcome?
What restrictions does he want and for how long?
Are those restrictions really science based or is it just more behavioural stuff?
What would trigger an exit from restrictions?

I've never understood why these politicians focus on simply attacking the other side. It's so short sighted.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

Basically, Keir Starmer's stance seems to be 'Wear a mask'
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-57886976 and doesn’t seem to have anything new.

That's what comes over in interviews, yes. It's not quite right: he wants better support for people who're sick, better ventilation (so a big campaign over the summer to get schools ready for winter), continued advice to work from home where possible.

But yes, it's the masks that always gets mentioned. Which is very disappointing, given that they're surely not that important.

He just hasn't managed to get a suitably bold message that can be taken in by the mostly politics journalists (who probably all think that masks are really important).

I wonder if he'd just gone for something like "Labour supports the ~1000 scientists who wrote the letter to The Lancet" and started from the position that he rejects the idea of opening up today. Then he could maybe go on and talk about the things that he would support doing. But maybe that wouldn't work either.

 

[Northerner]

There was a particularly feeble TV interview on Sunday morning with the Shadow Health Secretary.

If you're talking about the Marr interview, I thought it was Marr's questioning that was particularly poor. He kept insisting (as he often does) on a yes/no answer to a question that could not be answered so simply. Ashworth had to keep repeating the caveats that Labour have.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

If you're talking about the Marr interview, I thought it was Marr's questioning that was particularly poor. He kept insisting (as he often does) on a yes/no answer to a question that could not be answered so simply. Ashworth had to keep repeating the caveats that Labour have.

Yes, that's also true. The interviewer wants a soundbite, and really the answer deserves more than that.

Still, I think it would be much better to construct a soundbite that captures the main point. Something like "We agree with public health experts that with the Johnson Variant we should wait until we've vaccinated as many people as possible". Or "It's obvious that the government is going for herd immunity by a combination of vaccination and mass infection of the young, and we'd rather offer young people vaccines".

 

[nonethewiser]

Personal responsibility, others words pass buck & blame public when back in lockdown again.

Boris & cronies have been useless from day one, need to be accountable when this is all over, whenever that may be.

 

[Ljc]

Personal responsibility, others words pass buck & blame public when back in lockdown again.

Boris & cronies have been useless from day one, need to be accountable when this is all over, whenever that may be.

I heartily agree in both points.