AM very weary of this mantra: “They surely must be allowed to see their loved ones at Christmas”.
And variations on the same theme: “They need to hug their grandchildren on Christmas Day.” No, they mustn’t, and no, they don’t.
Everything about 2020 has kept us from our natural instincts. Nobody is hugging anybody. Millions of people have not spent any time with their nearest and dearest.
This year, and hopefully for this year only, December 25 is just another day in a comprehensively grotty year.
It sucks. But so does everything else right now.
The original five-day amnesty was an invitation for the virus to run amok, since it famously observes no holiday traditions itself.
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The fact that the four nations strategy quickly became the subject of heated debate does no more than reflect widespread anxiety about the likely consequences.
The idea that the invitation to mingle should stay the same, but any government should then invite the public to calculate their own risk factors is, frankly, an abdication of leadership.
The public does not have the same access to detailed modelling as their politicians – though some of the latter have been rather more adept at communicating context than others.
All over Europe, governments have cancelled their Christmas celebrations for fear of the health consequences.
Dire as that is for commerce, hugely disappointing as it is for families, it is surely a preferable fate to a rash of avoidable deaths in all age groups come the New Year.
And dire as all that is, it is surely a preferable fate to a rash of avoidable deaths in all age groups come January.
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Since the Christmas relaxation was mooted, the landscape has changed dramatically. London is reporting a new coronavirus strain which may or may not be held back by the currently available vaccine. Wales, which took more draconian measures than most, has been “rewarded” with another spike.
Like Scotland, it has a porous border with England, so it would not be easy, and political dynamite, for either to try to throw a protective ring round itself, as New Zealand has been able to do. New Zealand, the country which has just pronounced itself Covid free.
The Health Service Journal and British Medical Association journals have just published a joint editorial. It concludes thus: “The government…should now reverse its rash decision to allow household mixing, and instead extend the tiers over the five-day Christmas period in order to bring numbers down in the advance of a likely third wave.”
The desire to be popular should never outweigh the need to protect the population.
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