Boris Johnson back in coronavirus quarantine on eve of Britain's 'Freedom Day'

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/boris-johnson-quarantine-covid-ping/2021/07/18/72d71ac6-e7aa-11eb-a2ba-3be31d349258_story.html

LONDON — First, the new British Health Secretary Sajid Javid — three weeks on the job, in the middle of an explosion in cases, who had declared it was time to "live with the virus"— announced on Saturday that he'd tested positive for the coronavirus and would self-isolate.

Then on Sunday, both Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Finance Minister Rishi Sunak said they’d been alerted by the National Health Service that since they had been in close contact with an infected individual — i.e., Javid — they must immediately quarantine at home.

The quarantine of the top leadership in a British government struggling to manage the pandemic comes less than 24 hours before Johnson plans to end almost all government mandates in England for mask-wearing and social distancing. On Monday, dubbed “Freedom Day” by the press, it will be a “personal choice” whether to mask or distance in most settings. A number of health experts have condemned the opening as a reckless experiment. Others say it is about time — and prudent given the lower numbers of hospitalizations and deaths.

Johnson got the word that he must quarantine while he was spending the weekend at Chequers, the prime minister’s official countryside estate. According to his spokesman, the prime minister will spend Freedom Day not out and about, but instead conducting business, again, via remote teleconference.

*snip*

[LisaL]

1. It doesn't seem like a good idea to have a freedom day when covid cases are

skyrocketing.

[elleng]

2. 'Only' takes 2 sociopaths to destroy 'civilization,' I guess.

[Larissa]

3. Boris Johnson's Plan to Life all Covid-19 Restrictions Called Threat to the World

Meanwhile, everyone else can party, mask and restriction free, thanks to Boris. I'm hoping that Mr. Johnson will have a change of heart on this.

Boris Johnson's Plan To Lift All COVID-19 Restrictions Is A Threat To The World: Experts July 18, 2021
https://www.republicworld.com/world-news/uk-news/boris-johnsons-plan-to-lift-all-covid-19-restrictions-is-a-threat-to-the-world-experts.html

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plan to lift all COVID-19 restrictions in England on July 19 is not only a ‘threat to the world’ but it would also pave way for the emergence of vaccine-resistant variants, warned international experts as per The Guardian report. In an emergency summit, scientists and physicians have flagged concerns with Britain’s position as a global transport hub that would imply that any new variant in the country would swiftly spread across the globe. The international experts also expressed grave concerns about the plans that Downing Street has.

Reportedly, government advisers in New Zealand, Israel and Italy were among the ones who sounded an alarm over the British government's policy. Moreover, over 1,200 scientists backed a letter to the Lancet journal that warned that UK strategy could allow the development of COVID-19 vaccine-resistant variants that puts the entire world in danger after over a year of crippling pandemic. As per the report, an adviser to the New Zealand government told the summit that he and his colleagues were astonished at the approach being taken in England.

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"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts." ~~ Winston Churchill

[joetheman]

4. What is wrong with these people??? nt

[róisín_dubh]

5. I'll still be masked up indoors and avoiding nightclubs, etc.

Thankfully the weather is good so if I'm itching to go someplace, a beer garden will suffice. I hope many of the pubs keep the app ordering systems, as I don't like being jostled around in a crowd just to order a pint.

It's going to be a shitshow tonight I reckon.

[Wounded Bear]

6. Irony is not only not dead...it's out to fucking kill us all...

[area51]

7. BoJo Trump Bolsonaro Modi

All of them are (or were) trying to kill off the citizens of their country.

[BlueIdaho]

8. Worst ever British PM.

His denial is going to get people killed.