It has been a long, drear, cold winter. With the reopening in England today of shops, gyms, hairdressers and outdoor eating and drinking, a sense of liberation, akin to the unlocking of a mental and physical cage, is inevitable and welcome. Life, it seems, is at last returning to a semblance of normality. People can start spending, exercising, drinking and socialising again. Warmer days will bring warmer thoughts of holidays. Loved ones will not be or seem so far away.
It is not yet liberation. Travel is still restricted. Facemasks are still compulsory. Dropping in on friends, holding parties and arranging lavish weddings must wait several more months. The government, after a year of false starts, blighted hopes and bumbling confusion, has now learnt the message of caution. The scientists and epidemiologists who have seen their earlier advice swept aside now have the ear of Downing Street and the respect of ministers. “Stay safe” is still the watchword.
The nations of the United Kingdom are coming back, at different stages and with varying regulations, because of a single unifying factor: the astounding success of the vaccination programme. More than half the adult population, and almost everyone in the priority groups, has had a first inoculation. Some seven million people have had their second jab. Three vaccines are already in use, with enough supplies to begin the rollout to people in their forties tomorrow. A fourth vaccine, the single-dose Johnson and Johnson product, is about to be authorised. Britain remains, with Israel and most small British overseas territories, one of the best protected countries.
Luckily most of the world is now catching up. The United States managed to inoculate almost five million people in one day over the weekend, making President Biden’s ambitious target of 200 million vaccinations in his first 100 days look achievable. Europe, after months of dithering and recriminations, looks set to accelerate its inoculations, even as countries are forced by rising case numbers to bring in more lockdowns and restrictions. And countries such as India, where the latest numbers seem overwhelming , are finally mobilising all their resources to get mass vaccination under way. Brazil must now do so, too.
The coronavirus pandemic, as the word makes clear, affects all the world, and no one will be safe until the virus is under control everywhere. Britain has an interest, not purely altruistic, in helping neighbours and poorer countries to achieve the success it now enjoys: Britons cannot go on holiday to places where the virus still has a grip. For all the talk of vaccination passports, which seem both sensible and inevitable for overseas travel, these are of little use if the risk of infection at the destination remains high. Such passports are also seen as sensible at home if they can speed up a return to normal leisure and entertainment. A Times poll found them overwhelmingly popular if they can replace social distancing in pubs and restaurants — and a good way of encouraging greater take-up of the jabs. The political and libertarian objections are already softening.
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What will make today’s reopening of the retail sector in England so significant is the amount of cash available in many families. With a consumer boom possible and the ingenuity with which businesses have already adapted their ways of working and delivering products, the economy could soon see a rapid return to health. Some sectors — such as hairdressers and small shops — may even see a welcome permanent increase in demand. This in turn will fuel a spirit of optimism and confidence, essential to public morale and the mental health of a beleaguered nation.
There will, of course, be debts to pay — massive debts, as the Treasury has warned. But for now, the mood will be to eat, drink and be merry, albeit with caution and prudence. It is, at last, a happy vision.
