Freedom day has been delayed. I understand the frustration of employers who were to have opened and now have had to change things as those who they employ, not counting how people have had issues with mental health due to all this. But I think that this is the right decision.
A lot of people have talked about deaths being the reason, but due to the ages being affected by COVID now, it is more about stopping the NHS being overwhelmed with patients requiring oxygen rather than people dying. Yes, there will be deaths, but I suspect that there will be a greater proportion of those in hospital needing oxygen as this is affecting younger people than before who have not been vaccinated, or have just had the one vaccine dose.
Our local hospital over winter was so affected that they were only doing emergency operations at one point, and then stopped doing those, only doing life or death operations instead. The children's ward had adults on oxygen on it, and radiology and staff were being redeployed to look after those on oxygen. If we do not flatten the curve, we risk this being an issue again, and that means longer waiting lists for "routine" issues such as hip replacements, gall bladder operations and the like.
Saying that, it may be that the government are being too hasty for this, but I would prefer a cautious approach rather than a careless one. After all, if the government had placed India on the red list at the same time that Pakistan was placed on it, we would have less cases of the Delta variant circulating and we would have been able to have Freedom Day on the 21st as planned!
Last of all, a reminder;
1 - COVID kills. I have treated people who survived as well as too many who died. A nursing home I am involved in looking after has yet to become full again after COVID killed many of the residents there last year.
2 - Face masks save lives. Not just by reducing the risk of spreading it if you have no symptoms, but as seen by those working in healthcare, face masks prevented many from catching this, including me, when caring for those with COVID. Some have disagreed with me about this, but have yet to answer my questions as to why I did not catch it.
3 - Funeral homes were overwhelmed over the wave of infections seen in the last surge of infections. I know as I had to visit a few. One had issues coping despite the increased capacity that they had built.
4 - People with no symptoms can spread COVID, even if they have been tested. We saw that with the super spreader event held by President Trump last year.