News.28 May 2021 13:26
Meanwhile in the real world, the government are under pressure due to the new Indian variant increasing over the June 21st schedule for stage 4 of the roadmap. A decision on what's happening may be delayed until June 14th.
I think they really want to stick to the schedule. Rightly so. Hospitalisations are down. Caseloads are rising fast from a low base but vaccinations should keep serious disease at bay. Testing will provide the extra reassurance to enable young people to get stuck into enjoying life to the full and the rest of us can start making an appearance at the office now and again and even get out for our own social, cultural and sporting lives .
The Cabinet Office Covid Certification report is looking extremely likely to include a green light for travel as a minimum alongside major outdoor events. Jury is out on nightclubs and will be dependent on venues willingness to ensure good ventilation and possibly reduced capacities imho. That's the only way they can survive as Gove pointed out yesterday so I think that will be the trajectory there in the end too.
As is becoming increasing typical the Guardian coverage yesterday was a bit weird. Guardian Live had a couple of journo's tweets on the select committee hearing. Paul Waugh said Gove sounded downbeat. The first question that Gove was asked was: 'Is it true that the Cabinet Office was a load of s**t as quoted by Dominic Cummings?' Firstly parliamentary hearings are showing some poor standards- swearing, not usually allowed. Secondly, the question was nothing to do with the role of the select committee. Thirdly, who wouldn't sound a bit shocked by that question in that setting? Gove simply replied: 'No'.
They then mentioned that Israel are dumping their scheme. Gove's response to Israel's experience was to say 'We're looking at the public health data from Israel.' But regarding Israel's decision to back off he said very diplomatically imho- 'Israel are a very different country to Britain '. Umm, yes! They are currently in the middle of a civil war. I am guessing a lot of things are getting dumped in Israel atm.
The committee were mostly opposition MPs. The guy from the SNP was super aggressive unfortunately. Their questions were repetitive so in the end his answers were repetitive. Key takeaway: 1. the organising principle of covid certification is to manage and reduce risk by ensuring a data led approach to opening up for an agreed and unspecified period- guessing until the virus can be seen to have stabilised at very low levels. No-one assumes zero risk.
2. The trials are going very well so far.
3. Vaccinations plus lfts on the day and/or antibody status from previous infection will be in the mix.
4. Report back will be after the return of Parliament in the week June 7th.