I'm quite a politically aware citizen and coronavirus is deeply political. It has dwarfed all other issues as the top of voters' minds on a huge majority of people who've been effected by the outbreak and continue to be challenged by it.
When it first broke out the Government was quick to seize emergency powers. It already had that anti-democratic instinct when Boris Johnson lied to the queen to prorogue parliament. (As a remainer, I am accepting of Brexit but I'm disappointed in the way the right wing extreme brexit government has carried it out)
I am also disappointed that they're still in power and still pushing for emergency powers. These are powers most police didn't use. I don't think it's such an urgent emergency any more. The main reason we're having a resurgence as bad as we have is the mixed messages coming from the top. I'm not a nut-job libertarian but I still think that the government's power-grab could be more dangerous in our lifetimes than the health crisis itself.
A few more examples:
-The Mayor of London has been denied the same rail subsidy as the rest of the country as the army and other national bodies take more powers. London Councils are regularly given directives that they just have to follow with basically their hands tied.
-The virus itself could have been brought further down if the Government hadn't encouraged its spread for instance through eat out to help out, going back to the office, and Dominic Cummings' keeping his job and political capital being wasted defending his breaking the rules. Trust is essential.
That said I was aware from the beginning that if we didn't all do it voluntarily that would lead to more severe punishments being brought in. People are behaving as if it's a massive surprise, on the radio. Maybe I didn't realise how much people would be in denial.
There was plenty of time after SARS to plan and we knew that the next pandemic could be a coronavirus. Governments and business did have plans in place - but for instance Councils thought it would be a flu which has different immunity and different characteristics, in spread and symptoms. I think they've been slow to adapt - but the answer isn't to side step democracy. MPs can't communicate a policy they don't understand themselves through scritiny and debate. The public can't be expected to follow common sense if they don't understand the reasons for instance covering their mouth and nose with face coverings.
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