The new COVID divide: one rule for the elite, another for the rest of us
This week was meant to be the moment when we could celebrate the return of freedom. Instead, we’re left still navigating a maze of rules. Couples are working out what a ‘Covid-secure wedding’ means (spoiler: no dancing or hugging). Family reunions — once planned for Christmas, then delayed to Easter — are being pushed back into the autumn. Birthday parties have been axed again. No one wants to break the law, or risk asking others to do so.
Ministers make a great show of obeying the rules. The weekend before Boris Johnson announced the delay to ‘freedom day’, he was bumping elbows with Joe Biden and Justin Trudeau at the G7 in Cornwall, posing for socially distanced photos. It was the picture of Covid security.
What the official photos didn’t show, however, was the behaviour behind the scenes. Long-lens cameras captured a far more relaxed affair, with no masks or social distancing in sight. ‘Was Cornwall exempt?’ jokes one government official who attended the summit. ‘There was no adherence to the rules.’ The event was a stark illustration of the new divide in Covid Britain between the restricted public and the party elite.
The third wave of Covid is currently spreading through the country, predominantly among the young. The Spectator’s data hub reveals this week that the median age for testing positive is now 26 — far below the dangerous age range for catching Covid-19. But normal life, we’re told, still can’t return. And if you’re pinged by Test and Trace, stay home, even if you’ve received both jabs. We all need to play our part to tackle the virus.
Unless you’re Michael Gove, that is. When he was pinged after returning from watching the Champions League final in Portugal, he found his way onto a pilot scheme which allowed him to test daily rather than self-isolate. Workers reliant on an hourly wage would surely like to take advantage of a scheme like this too, but such schemes aren’t well advertised to the general public.
The first lockdown was riddled with political casualties. Professor Neil Ferguson and Scotland’s chief medical officer Dr Catherine Calderwood resigned for breaching Covid laws. Dominic Cummings held a press conference in the Downing Street rose garden to defend his trip to Barnard Castle. Other ministers faced awkward questions about their own interpretation of the rules. This time round, there has been more leeway and fewer questions. Those familiar with the system — or indeed those who designed it — can normally find an exemption.
