Andy Richardson: 'Covid-19 is still there and still deadly'
All eyes will on the television tomorrow when Prime Minister Boris Johnson takes to the Downing Street podium.
To put the razzle dazzle into The Sun King’s address, Downing Street aides are thinking of giving their crowd-pleasing ring master a little walk-on music. We were thinking Oops! I Did It Again, by Britney Spears. Boris would sashay from the Downing Street door like a high-kicking Moulin Rouge dancer – providing he promises not to wear Britney’s red jump suit.
The messages emanating from Number 10 this week have been nothing if not confusing. One day: shall we open the floodgates? We could send everyone to garden centres before lighting BBQs in the park then heading back to work on Tuesday? Cue furore. The next day: scrap that. We’re backtracking faster than a cyclist with his pedals fixed on backwards. Downing Street uses the media to test public opinion, sending out mixed messages each day. Oops they did it again.
It’s not necessarily our job to provide public service announcements nor be the adult in the room, but in the absence of such from Downing Street, here’s a reminder to keep you all safe: The end of ‘shelter in place’ doesn’t mean the virus is gone. On the contrary. It means the NHS now has room for you in the hospital.
Covid-19 is more widespread and therefore more deadly than it was at the beginning of March, when BoJo was shaking hands with infectious patients and failing to put in place proper testing, procure PPE for frontline staff or develop a strategy that would have prevented so many avoidable deaths in our care homes. So whatever happens tomorrow, take the necessary precautions and stay safe. Covid-19 is still there and still deadly.
VE Day celebrations reminded us of our capacity to fight adversity, as we will do through the Covid-19 pandemic. Though one wonders why there is an absence of international co-operation, as there was 75 years hence and, more recently, following the financial crash.
Still, why should we worry about such trifles when Adele has gone on a diet and is skinny. As the world gradually spins off its axis, the brilliant singer’s PR machine has generated more column inches than Johnson, Raab and Gove. Perhaps she should hold tomorrow’s briefing instead.
