Johnson’s deconfinement plan generates divisions …

From London

The The exit plan from national confinement announced by Boris Johnson on Monday has generated divisions between the three British nations and between ultra-open libertarians on the one hand and unions and pro-vaccines on the other.

Johnson’s plan is a four-step outing that begins with schools on March 8 and ends with the whole of society “we trust on June 21”. The exception put by the Prime Minister with this verb (“we trust”) is due to the fact that the passage from one phase to the next depends on the satisfaction of four conditions:

* that the vaccination program continues to strengthen,

* that the rates of hospitalization and death continue to fall,

* do the same with infection levels

* and that no change appears to endanger the achievement of these objectives.

A day after Johnson’s announcement, Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon has unveiled a more cautious plan that maintains the lockdown until “at least” April 5 and offers a “phased” return to class.

This phased return is the main difference. Johnson’s plan is built on the success of the first of Johnson’s four stages: the simultaneous reopening of primary and middle school. This reopening, dubbed the Big Bang, has been fiercely contested not only by Scotland but also by education unions in Wales and England. “It puts 10 million people to interact from day to night. The result can be utter disaster as has happened in the past. And a setback in everything we have come forward with great sacrifices thanks to containment and vaccination, ”said a joint statement from the education unions and school principals.

The United Kingdom

Scotland proposes that on March 15, accompanied primary school, in part-time mode, for the last two years of high school: the rest of the school years will not be added until April 5. Nicola Sturgeon said the vaccination program was up and running and 1.5 million had received the first dose, but they could not let their guard down.

The data for Scotland are similar to those for England taking into account the proportionality of the respective populations. In England, more than 16 million people have been vaccinated, 30% of the population, a percentage similar to Scotland, and they have covered, like their neighbors, the first four groups at risk. The two countries estimate that by April they will have inoculated the rest of the groups at risk, thus paving the way for the entire population.

The difference lies in the perception of risk. Stungeon has been much more careful throughout the pandemic than Johnson. This is so, even if the British Prime Minister now has a much more cautious approach than he did in 2020. In Scotland, they consider that, given the persistence of the so-called British strain, much more contagious , the levels of transmission of the virus must be much lower and the vaccination program must be much closer to completion in order to make great strides in reopening.

Wales have also opted for a staggered back-to-school streak that will peak after Easter. Welsh Prime Minister Mark Drakeford recalled that the same UK government science advisory group, Sage, noted in January that a return to unison by all students would increase the reproduction rate of R by 10 to 50%.

These differences between the three nations widen the gap that opened the exit from the European Union, Brexit. In this year of pandemic England, Scotland and Wales have followed different paths regarding foreclosure and reopening rates. The level of integration of the National Health Service, the NHS, is the big unifier: Growing national differences, exacerbated by the Conservative government, are spurring differences. In the case of Scotland, the possibility of a new call for an independence referendum after the May municipal elections (the latest date in 2014) arises.

But the questioning of Johnson’s plan is not limited to these internal tensions of an increasingly non-British United Kingdom. A group of English teachers interviewed in the morning The Guardian noted that schools are unable to comply with protocols that the same government proposed as a guarantee of safety for students and teachers. “Schools cannot be reopened if teachers are not vaccinated. Social distancing is almost impossible to implement. Are we going to repeat what happened the last time there was a reopening that ended with a jump in the cases that forced many classes to close? Why not wait to act at the right time? »Says Jack Marsh, a teacher in Brockley, in south-east London.

Passports and credentials

The controversy has spread to two proposals that could accelerate the reopening of severely affected sectors of the economy, such as hotels, gastronomy and entertainment. On Monday, when announcing his plan in the House of Commons, the Prime Minister noted that the government was considering making vaccination certificates a mandatory document, a kind of pass that allows access to a series of social activities ranging from the gym to dining to the restaurant.

The initiative has met with opposition due to its potentially discriminatory nature and the violation of privacy. In the UK, as in most countries, the vaccine is not compulsory. In the UK, unlike other countries, there is no national identity card, which is seen as an unjustifiable monopolization of personal data by the state.

Boris Johnson himself has recognized the problems posed by this traditional resistance to any state control of individual data. “There are ethical questions about the right of a government to require this type of documentation or to prohibit certain people from having access to a certain type of activity. I know some staunch libertarians are totally against this idea. But there are also a lot of people who are in favor, ”Johnson said.

Among the supporters are the unions who are generally on the opposite side of the Prime Minister while, oddly enough, the most opposed saw Johnson until recently as a leader of the libertarians. Former Labor Prime Minister Tony Blair, who was very influential in Johnson’s change in coronavirus policy, supports this idea of ​​the vaccine certificate. like a document that opens or closes the doors of certain activities. This position does not deny the individual right not to be vaccinated, but argues that, like all rights, it has legal consequences.

One of the examples analyzed by the UK is Israel, the country leading the vaccination program around the world. IIsrael has a “green card” for those who have received the vaccine or who are immunized for contracting the virus. With this card, entry to gymnasiums, hotels, swimming pools and temples is guaranteed: from March, they will also serve as entry to restaurants and bars.

Another proposal that is in dance is the “immunity passport” which would serve to open the lock that has chained tourism and airlines. In practice, this would be a vaccination document similar to that required for travel to many countries. Greece has made a deal with Israel to accept tourists with a green card and urges the rest of the European Union (EU) countries to move in that direction.

The UK is no longer part of the EU, but the British make up a significant part of the tourist contingent that visits Greece each year. Greek Tourism Minister Haris Theoharis noted that there were technical discussions to include Greece as a tourist destination in the UK exit plan. The condition will be this vaccination certificate which would be as compulsory as the passport to enter a country.