The Guardian view on the government’s coronavirus gamble: winter will come | Editorial
Boris Johnson suggested that England could see something like normality by Christmas. Don't count on it
In Aesop's fable, the ant uses summer to prepare for the bleak months to come, while the grasshopper idles its time away, only to regret it as temperatures plummet. England must hope Boris Johnson remembers the tale, since as of Wednesday he had not managed more immediately relevant reading: the report commissioned by his chief scientific adviser, warning that a second wave of coronavirus this winter could kill up to 120,000 people in the worst-case scenario.
Had he taken the time to study the document, he might have been less quick to make Friday's rash assessment that this could all be over by Christmas. True, Mr Johnson made no promises. But he was clear that he hoped for a return to normality". A grasshopper by nature, he sang a merry tune: of the resumption of indoor performances, sports events with spectators and conferences in October if pilots go to plan, and even of distancing perhaps being dropped in November. The first minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford, described that outlook as a pretty sunny view" of the expert advice.
Continue reading...