Again it seems to me we are sleep walking towards disaster. Or perhaps I should say compounding the existing disaster. The pressure to ease the lockdown in the UK appears to be mostly coming from Tory donors and big money. Polling suggests the public are nowhere near as keen. This from The Times:
Public against swift coronavirus reopening, poll shows
A YouGov survey for The Times found that 28 per cent of people do not want any aspect of the lockdown eased even if all five tests have been met. Other options attract modest support: 22 per cent want more shops open and only 11 per cent want schools to be reopened. Only 4 per cent want the lockdown lifted entirely, according to the survey.
...
The YouGov survey is the latest to bolster the case of those in government who believe that MPs pressing for more clarity on ending the lockdown are out of step with public opinion. Some cabinet ministers believe that it is futile or even counterproductive to encourage people to return to work until public opinion softens.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/public-against-swift-coronavirus-reopening-poll-shows-55f620fz7
In Germany potential problems from easing restrictions are already starting to emerge:
Germany ready to tighten lockdown as coronavirus infection rate climbs again
Germany may be compelled to bring back elements of its lockdown amid signs that coronavirus cases could be on the point of starting to multiply again.
The country’s virus reproduction rate, which measures how many people the average person with Covid-19 infects, has rebounded to a value of 1.0, the dividing line between growth and decline, according to epidemiologists.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/germany-ready-to-tighten-lockdown-as-coronavirus-cases-climb-again-jgbsl5xp6
The evidence at the moment suggests a) the public want more reassurance and remain frightened, so easing too quickly could be counterproductive politically b) easing could see infection rates rapidly spiking again and that leads to the possibility of deaths reaching unacceptable levels. My view is Johnson and his government are in danger of repeating the mistakes of March when Cheltenham, the Liverpool match and the Stereophonics gigs all contributed to the initial catastrophe.
Originally Posted by: Brian Gaze