The government now knows that the country is losing the battle against Covid-19. Boris Johnson has announced a series of new restrictions on our daily lives which, he suggests, could last up to six months. After the first national lockdown, the government made clear that it was putting its faith in people to act responsibly, as well as its emerging track and trace system and enhanced testing capacity. Stopping the daily briefings was a particularly loud message, louder than any of the others that the government has since tried to communicate: that we were past it.
Indeed, the government should have been fully cognisant to the fact that people do not always act responsibly and are not immune to the effects of mixed messages or information burnout. The public is not going to blindly trust government advice when promises are broken over track and trace, comprehensive testing and PPE supplies.
It is largely because of these failures that we find ourselves in today’s bleak situation.
