As the government starts to ease lockdown, Judith Harvey questions what it is that we are easing ourselves back into.
Last Friday, on my way to the pharmacy, a young woman, mask-less, was walking straight towards me, her eyes glued to her phone. Fortunately, one of us was alert.
For me, she was a canary: the portent that the consensus over Covid was over. To impose lockdown was straightforward. It was – almost certainly – the right decision. Getting out of lockdown is anything but straightforward.
Sweden did lockdown-lite. It hasn’t been straightforward. Swedes are unsure what they can do and what they should do. People have made their own compromises. Their infection rates are higher than comparable countries.