Today, on 22 February 2021, Boris Johnson announced his long-awaited “roadmap” as to how England will exit the current Coronavirus lockdown. How have the Empoword Journalism contributors reacted to the news?
As soon as England was plunged into its third national lockdown on 5 January, speculations arose as to when, and how, restrictions would be lifted. Today, the Prime Minister set out his plan for these harsh measures to be eased – first in a statement delivered to the House of Commons and then in a press conference later in the evening.
The “roadmap” outlines a slow and cautious exit that will be followed nationally, with the previously used four-tier system having been scrapped. There will also be a minimum five-week period between each stage to allow for analysis of each step’s success. Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland have their own plans in place as to how each nation will exit lockdown however, as devised by their own respective devolved governments.
You can find a detailed outline of the measures announced by the Prime Minister here.
Hannah Ward-Glenton, Current Affairs Editor, asked Empoword Journalism contributors for their reactions to the Prime Minister’s announcement.
Some contributors saw light and shade in the roadmap, acknowledging the positives but also doubts:
“I’m really excited for the end being in sight and can’t wait to go out with friends and maybe even go to a gig in the summer! I feel like we’ve all been waiting for it for so long but I can’t help feeling slightly skeptical, so I’m trying not to get too excited about the roadmap in case it doesn’t all go to plan.” Megan Price
“While it is nice to see a potential light at the end of the tunnel, I fear that we may be stuck in a never-ending cycle. I worry that the restrictions will be eased too early, resulting in an increase of Covid-19 cases, similar to what we have seen before. I’d love to be optimistic about it, but I fear we’re heading back in the same direction. When restrictions were eased last summer, look where we ended up. I just really hope that doesn’t happen again.” Lauren Taylor
“Whilst for many this announcement has outlined a step-by-step plan to return to normality, for many this isn’t the news they had been hoping for. Despite indoor hospitality venues remaining closed until the end of May, hospitality staff have been given no promises of an extension to furlough past April. University students have also been seemingly forgotten about, not making any of the Prime Minister’s speech cuts – I thought they attended educational institutions too? Whilst this has given us all a sense of hope and a light at the end of the tunnel, there is still a long way to go before we can return to normality.” Madeleine Raine
Another contributor mentioned the financial implications, highlighting that some business owners will remain in the dark until Chancellor Rishi Sunak announces his budget on 3 March:
“Prime Minister Boris Johnson emphasized the importance of ‘data not dates for this easing out of lockdown, but his roadmap does contain dates for each phase of reopening. This should provide some comfort to business owners who will now have an idea of when they should be making preparations to reopen in April. Though other businesses will not be able to reopen for another four months. With the budget coming out next week, there should be financial support for many of the businesses that will be shut for many more months.” Monique Mulima
The prime minister’s first announcement was that all schools in England would return to full capacity on 8 March. While this may come as a relief to parents, many contributors emphasised that this move isn’t without risk:
“Although I’m selfishly quite pleased to be going back to school as I’ll be able to get some sense of normality during my last year of secondary school, I can’t help but wonder why teachers haven’t been vaccinated. As Keir Starmer rightly pointed out, it would not take much doing given the fantastic work of our NHS at rolling out the vaccine so far. Teachers are providing childcare for the children of some of the pillar stones of our society – doctors, nurses, paramedics, care staff – and they need all the protection so they can avoid difficult situations when the necessity to self isolate arises.” Eva Bailey
“Personally, I think the Prime Minister’s comment that ‘Classrooms are the best places for our young people to be’, is far from the truth. I’ve spoken to classmates who have sat and cried about their worries about the relaxation of lockdown too early. Also, I’ve spoken to teachers who fear of catching the virus (from one of their 90 students that they see per day), and taking it back home to their loved ones. From this afternoon’s announcement, I’m struggling to understand the logic in sending all school children back when we are just getting the infection rate to drop. Additionally, although the dates are not set in stone, I believe that some people will see the government’s eagerness to relax restrictions as a belief that we’re completely out of the pandemic. This isn’t the case, we need consistency and safety.” Annaleece Longmore
“I think today’s announcement from Boris is generally quite promising, showing a more cautious and scientifically driven approach than previous easing of lockdown. The effectiveness of the vaccine rollout system is also likely to help a lot with this too. I do think it remains to be seen however what effect returning pupils to schools so early will have considering how easily the vaccine can spread in classrooms and the lack of vaccinations for teachers. Whilst it’s important that pupils catch up on all the lost months of study, I do think this could have a potentially detrimental effect on the spread of the virus if the return to schools isn’t carried out properly and with the correct social distancing measures in place.” Lauren Mcgaun
It’s clear that Boris Johnson’s announcement has conjured a mixed response from the Empoword journalists, as a much-needed sense of hope is tinged with worry as to what may be on the horizon. If all goes to plan, England could be free of restrictions by 21 June. But as this piece highlights, the journey to that point is unlikely to be as smooth as the neatly packaged roadmap that the Prime Minister presented to the country today.
Hannah Ward-Glenton
Featured image courtesy of simis1 on Pixabay. The license for usage can be found here. No changes were made to this image.