“If we can’t live with the virus soon, we never will”
“Reckless” and “cavalier”.
This is how the Welsh Conservatives’ acceptance that we have to learn to live with coronavirus was characterised by Labour and Plaid Cymru members of the Welsh Parliament in our debate on the impact of Covid-19 on school pupils recently.
There has been a lot of criticism directed at those who have said we are reaching the point where we as a country should live with coronavirus.
And I do not mean it as Mark Drakeford did when he suggested we were living with the virus shortly before Christmas, despite numerous restrictions still being in place.
Some seem to forget that the United Kingdom has one of the most successful vaccine procurement and rollout programmes in the world. Others also seem to forget that we were told vaccines are the route out of restrictions.
And they are: vaccines work and the booster jab showed its resilience against the Omicron variant, which the Welsh Government responded to with unnecessary restrictions.
There are concerns about the waning of vaccine effectiveness. But if this concerns ministers, why don’t they move fast to establish a regularised programme of annual or biannual jabs for the most vulnerable demographics, already in place for the flu? This is all the more sensible given the approach of Covid-19’s endemic stage.
What can’t happen is that Wales stays in Alert Level 0. Although this may sound like no restrictions – or protections as the Welsh Government have started calling them – there are still ways we are not as free as we were two years ago.
These limits exist across four lines: mask mandates, business restrictions, vaccine passports, and self-isolation.
I am not anti-mask. Indeed, I long supported their use in indoor public settings like supermarkets through the pandemic, and forced a u-turn from the Welsh Government which previously said evidence in favour of them was “quite weak”.
However, we have reached the point where they should now be a matter of self-responsibility. Private businesses would be welcome to have a requirement – it would be their choice.
Shockingly, my concern for life-chances of children is to what those opening words were referring. Evidence shows facemasks do little to protect young people from transmission in the classroom but the quality of learning and, thus, learners suffer.
Again, teachers and pupils should be free to wear a mask if they so wish – and improved ventilation is being rolled out across Welsh schools – but the government should not demand our younger generation adopt a known barrier to education to stop spreading a disease against which most people are fully vaccinated.
The remaining restriction on businesses is a risk assessment in relation to Covid. However, with Covid soon to become endemic, this seems illogical. Also, businesses would be compelled to act on these risk assessments, to the detriment of many who have compact premises like the country pub. Again, entrepreneurs should be allowed to choose whether to include Covid in their assessments as many might not judge it to be a risk in itself.
But, most of all, they need to be free of the constant threat of restrictions and lockdowns whenever a hypothetical variant is spoken about. This is no way to run an economy and Wales can never move on as it stands without change. Just ask the Welsh hospitality business that traded a third down compared to England in the four weeks since Boxing Day.
Another burden on business are vaccine passports. Much has been written about these – by myself included – but suffice to say this coercive, ineffective, and pointless measure still has no proof that it works and is one of the worst ill-informed policies of the devolved era. They are not a route out of restrictions, they are a restriction. Every day they stay in place is an insult to liberal democracy.
Finally, Wales – eventually – followed England in reducing the self-isolation period to five days (with two negative tests). This shows positive progression but if we are serious about living with the virus, that means no mandatory, legal requirement to isolate for those with Covid. Of course, if someone is actually ill, then they should stay at home like if they were too sick to work, but the status quo cannot continue forever. This is inevitable and a matter of wh
That’s why I am calling on the Labour Government for the immediate removal of vaccine passports, all remaining business restrictions, and mandatory face masks in schools. The date to scrap all Covid laws should also be announced imminently.
We have not gone through the last two years, losing loved ones – to both the virus and lockdowns – waited to be vaccinated three times, and limited our lives and livelihoods only for government ministers to say “not yet” when we ask for the return of our freedoms now that there’s no real need for them to be withheld longer.
If we can’t live with the virus now or soon, we never will.
