Boris Johnson is facing increasing warnings of a summer of chaos in schools and workplaces, amid urgent demands for clarity over the government’s plans to tackle an unpredictable escalation in Covid cases.
Retaining advice to wear masks in certain settings and abandoning quarantine for anyone in England who is fully vaccinated are measures being examined by the government to stop a resurgence in cases and more enforced isolations – something that also risks hitting the NHS workforce.
Senior scientists warn that it is still possible for hospitals to be stretched over the summer should no Covid suppression measures stay in place after 19 July, when legal restrictions are due to be lifted. Doctors are already demanding that some measures remain over the summer, while teachers and parents are warning of a chaotic situation in schools, with different institutions applying different rules for sending children home if they have been exposed to Covid.
The competing demands of schools, businesses and the NHS, and the potential course of the disease, now present Johnson with difficult decisions over his timetable for the end of restrictions. While hospital admissions have been rising in England, doctors speak of a “slow burn” to levels that remain manageable. However, some are warning that along with staffing pressures and high levels of emergency admissions, an increase in Covid patients could have an effect on non-Covid services.