It was all supposed to be about data, not dates. And official figures confirm infection rates are on a sharp upturn. Lockdown rules and vaccinations have suppressed deaths and hospitalisations. But Covid-19 isn’t over.

Nonetheless, Boris Johnson insists it is time for the restrictions to go. From 19 July 2021 most of the Covid laws in England will be axed, including those requiring masks and social distancing, the prime minister said. “It will no longer be necessary for government to instruct people to work from home, so employers will be able to start planning a safe return to the workplace,” he told a 5 July 2021 Downing Street press conference.

Face coverings will not be legally required in shops, schools, hospitality, or on public transport although guidance will be in place to suggest where people might choose to wear one, Johnson said.

DARK DAY  Boris Johnson is scrapping most Covid laws in England, including rules on mask wearing, social distancing and work-from-home. Unions warn the move will put workers at increased risk of Covid-19, with workplace clusters already increasing as the Delta variant sweeps the land.

Announcing the public instead would be able to make their “own informed decisions,” the prime minister said: “If we can't reopen our society in the next few weeks, when we will be helped by the arrival of summer, and by the school holidays, then we must ask ourselves. 'when will be able to return to normal?'”

But he confirmed that by the time the changes come in, infections are predicted to hit 50,000 cases a day, possible rising to 100,000 a day through the summer. Hospital admissions will also rise, Johnson said, and “we must reconcile ourselves, sadly, to more deaths from Covid.”

The better armed variant racing through the land is being handed a government-issue licence to kill.

Scary prospect

Research conducted in the UK, where this Delta variant accounts for 99 per cent of new Covid cases, suggests it is about 60 per cent more transmissible than the Alpha variant, which previously dominated.

It may also be linked to a greater risk of hospitalisation and is more resistant to vaccines, particularly after one dose.

SERIOUSLY?  A committee of government experts gave Covid-19 a Hazards Group 3 classification, which under HSE’s Enforcement Management Model appendix 2 should require an automatic ‘serious’ risk designation. But HSE is sticking with a far less demanding, enforcement-lite ‘significant’ ranking. [See: You cannot be serious].

In Australia – which has a far superior track record on containing the virus than the UK - New South Wales premier, Gladys Berijiklian, warned “scarily fleeting” encounters could be resulting in Delta variant infection.

Health officials in the state reviewed CCTV footage which suggested the virus has been transmitted by exposures of roughly five to 10 seconds between people walking past each other in an indoor shopping area in Sydney, the New South Wales capital.

Rather than relaxing controls, June saw several large cities across Australia return to lockdown.

Dr Stephen Griffin, a virologist at the University of Leeds school of medicine, commented: “The ideal scenario is that you build your vaccine wall before you get exposed to variants because that means that even if you do get an outbreak, you’ve got sufficiently few people that are susceptible that the R [reproduction number] never gets above 1, you don’t see an increase in that outbreak.

“The problem is that we haven’t reached that protective level, and so if you do get infections and cases growing there’s plenty of susceptible people to pass that infection on to.”

Rising clusters

The impact of the Delta variant in UK workplaces is already being felt. Public Health England (PHE) weekly surveillance reports show work clusters fell consistently from the peak of the second wave in January 2021 until mid-May, when they hit a low of 15 incidents and 12 clusters.

At that point UK governments started to relax restrictions. PHE’s reports show this was shadowed by an upturn in workplace incidents and clusters, with a steady rise continuing through June, hitting 81 incidents and 52 clusters in the week up to 24 June. The first week in July saw a further rise, with PHE’s 8 July 2021 report showing “93 incidents were from workplace settings where 57 had at least one linked case that tested positive for SARS-CoV-2,” the highest rates since March 2021.

Department for Education (DfE) figures released on 29 June 2021 revealed a similar trend in schools. DfE noted: “We estimate that 2.5 per cent of teachers and school leaders in open state-funded schools were absent due to Covid-19 reasons on 24 June, up from 1.7 per cent on 17 June and 0.9 per cent on 10 June,” adding “that 2.4 per cent of teaching assistants and other staff in open state-funded schools were absent due to Covid-19 reasons on 24 June, up from 1.5 per cent on 17 June and 0.7 per cent on 10 June.”

This was with legal Covid controls still in place.

Freedom to infect

The UK government’s plan announced on 5 July was met with consternation by experts in infection control. A 7 July 2021 letter published in The Lancet and signed by more than 100 scientists and doctors from around the world accused  ministers of conducting a “dangerous and unethical experiment.” The signatories, including independent Sage adviser Sir David King and the British Medical Association’s Dr Chaand Nagpaul, blasted the “unethical and illogical” approach which could see millions develop “long Covid” postviral health problems.

The letter stated: “The UK government must reconsider its current strategy and take urgent steps to protect the public, including children. We believe the government is embarking on a dangerous and unethical experiment, and we call on it to pause plans to abandon mitigations on 19 July 2021.”

Unions have also been highly critical of the plan, saying it will exacerbate a situation that has already seen basic Covid-19 safety precautions at work widely ignored. A 23 May 2021 TUC report noted only 387 work-related deaths had been reported by employers under the legally-binding RIDDOR regulations, despite UK government figures showing 15,263 people of working age died from Covid between April 2020 and April 2021.

In a July 2021 update, HSE noted the number of work-related Covid-19 death reports it had received from employers by 12 June 2021 had risen to 402, on top of 33,448 suspected work-related cases.

The infections at work are, at least in part, the result of employer choices, not chance. TUC polling published 14 June 2021 revealed that many employers were not making workplaces Covid-secure, with 46 per cent of workers reporting their boss had not taken steps to improve ventilation and 17 per cent had not been given necessary personal protective equipment (PPE).

RAGING INFECTIONS  Removing restrictions while Covid-19 infections are soaring nationwide will create entirely avoidable risks to workers and communities, unions and medical experts have warned. [See: Don’t set the virus free].

The TUC findings came on the heels of 19 May 2021 National Audit Office report which noted from March to July 2020, NHS trusts received just 80 per cent of their estimated requirements for protective equipment and care providers just 10 per cent.

Yet despite the clear lack of action by employers and continuing Covid outbreaks in workplaces,, no employer has to date been prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for criminal safety breaches related to Covid-19 risks in the workplace.

TUC research published in May 2021 revealed just 1-in-218 workplaces had even been inspected by a workplace safety regulator during the pandemic, leading the union body to warn of an ‘enforcement crisis’.

IMPOSITION  The wholesale removal of Covid safety rules in England from 19 July 2021 will leave workers at risk, unless the government agrees effective guidance with unions, the TUC has said. So far, the government is refusing to consult with either unions or employers, it said [See: Government ‘washing its hands’ of Covid].

Commenting on the plan to remove most restrictions from 19 July, TUC deputy general secretary Paul Nowak said: “We all want the economy to unlock as soon as possible. But it is vital that people returning to work have confidence their workplaces are as Covid-secure as possible.”

He added: “It is not acceptable for the government to outsource its health and safety responsibilities to individuals and to employers. Personal responsibility will have a role to play, but ministers cannot wash their hands of keeping people safe at work. With cases rising the government must send out a clear message to employers to play by the rules or face serious action. That means publishing clear guidance based on the most up-to-date science and consulting with unions and employers.”

Safety measures at work will not happen by chance.

But now the government is – officially - washing its hands.

You cannot be serious

The Labour Party has condemned the “outrageous decision” not to re-classify Covid-19 as a “serious workplace risk” following a review by Health and Safety Executive (HSE) bosses. After reconsidering the classification in April, the government work safety regulator announced on 16 June 2021 that it would not change, despite reports from HSE inspectors’ union Prospect and others that giving this coronavirus a “significant risk” consequence descriptor — less serious than “serious” — meant HSE inspectors were discouraged from taking enforcement action (Hazards 153).

Shadow secretary of state for employment rights and protections Andy McDonald said the “decision shows that the government is putting working people and the wider public at risk. With rising case numbers of the Delta variant [first detected in India], this decision is deeply irresponsible and shows that the government is failing to keep working people safe.”

HSE denied the ‘significant’ ranking had affected its enforcement decisions. “The classification does not, and has never had, any impact on the range of enforcement actions HSE inspectors can take, and we remain determined to help employers keep their workplaces Covid-secure,” a spokesperson said.

An evidence review published online by Hazards reached a sharply divergent conclusion, noting: “There are genuine grounds for concern that HSE concocted arguments of convenience to define a pandemic in the workplace as something less than ‘serious’, to fit a narrative decided elsewhere by government. In doing so workers were sacrificed. HSE wasn’t keeping Britain safe. It was keeping Britain working.”

None of the substantive criticisms raised by Hazards are rebutted in the HSE’s review. The Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens (ACDP), the expert committee advising HSE and government, assigned Covid-19 to Hazard Group 3, a designation that under HSE’s Enforcement Management Model Appendix 2 should have come automatically with an HSE ‘serious heath effects’ consequence descriptor (Hazards 153).

HSE’s treatment of other pathogens is instructive. MERS and SARS, two other coronaviruses, were given a Hazard Group 3 ranking by ACDP and then, as stipulated in the EMM’s Appendix 2, a ‘serious health effects’ consequence descriptor by HSE. The chances of an individual worker with Covid-19 dying is far lower, relative to MERS and SARS. However, given the extremely high rates of transmission – which have been amplified by the Delta variant – the absolute numbers infected or dying from Covid-19 is  on a different and much higher scale.

And despite its protestations that the designation has no impact on its enforcement actions and HSE records of over 400 work-related Covid-19 deaths and over 33,000 related cases, HSE has yet to prosecute a single employer for Covid-19 related safety breaches.

• Review of enforcement during the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, HSE, 16 June 2021.
• An evidence review into the deadly failures of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) throughout the pandemic, Hazards magazine, 10 April 2021.

Don’t set the virus free

Commenting on the UK government plan to remove most restrictions in England from 19 July and instead leave decisions to people to make their “own informed decisions”, unions and medical experts warned it would will create entirely avoidable risks to workers and communities.

Unite assistant general for manufacturing, Steve Turner, expressed consternation at the government's lifting of Covid controls while the R-rate in England runs at 1.3 and case rates are back at January levels. He said: “It is absolutely staggering that the government has pronounced that we must now ‘live with Covid’, yet they have put zero support in place to support struggling businesses and workers through this next phase.”

UNISON assistant general secretary Jon Richards said: “Now isn’t the time to throw caution to the wind, especially with infections on the rise.” He added: “The economy is important, but so is public confidence. People want clarity from the government as restrictions are eased. They don’t need a confusing free-for-all, with ministers absolving themselves of any responsibility for public health.”

TSSA general secretary Manuel Cortes said the prime minister was sticking to a 'gung ho' strategy even while admitting that the pandemic was far from over. “We are still very much in a pandemic, something that the scientists in Downing Street recognise, even if the prime minister seems not to.” He said. “Opening up on this scale while infection rates are rising is simply gambling with lives.”

GMB general secretary Gary Smith said Boris Johnson’s “decision to throw Covid caution to the wind is a political decision” came at a time “the UK has the unenviable status as one of Europe’s Covid hotspots - with eight of Europe’s 10 highest infection rates in England and Scotland.” He added: “The use of masks should remain mandatory for the time being - ditching them flies in the face of the science and it’s a small sacrifice for the greater good that shouldn’t be beyond anyone. The government wants people to exercise judgment, but not employers exercising their legal duties by reducing the covid transmission risk to the lowest level possible.”

Unite national officer for passenger transport Bobby Morton said: “To end the requirement to wear masks on public transport would be an act of gross negligence by the government. Rates of infection are continuing to increase and not only does mask wearing reduce transmissions it helps provide reassurance to drivers and to passengers who are nervous about using public transport.” He added: “The idea of personal responsibility and hoping that people will wear masks is absolutely ridiculous, members are already reporting there is an increase in passengers ignoring the rules on mask wearing. Until rates of Covid-19 are fully under control, throughout the whole of the UK, the rules on mask wearing on public transport should remain in place.”

Mike Clancy, Prospect general secretary, said: “The end of the work-from-home guidance must not lead to a chaotic free for all with employers making decisions about their workforce with no consultation, and little guidance from government.” He said: “Managing this transition well will require employers to work with staff and trade unions to adjust to a new normal, whether that is returning to offices or continued home working, and government should be making it clear that employers should not be acting unilaterally in either forcing employees back into offices or keeping them at home.”

Paddy Lillis, general secretary of the retail union Usdaw, said: “This is too much too soon. The government should not be weakening safety measures in shops at the same time as opening up other venues. There is no reason why requirements to wear face coverings and maintain social distancing in busy public areas like shops cannot continue.” He added: “Wearing a face covering in crowded public areas like shops is not merely a personal choice, it is an important measure to help protect workers who have no option but to interact with large numbers of people as a part of their job.”

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “Yet again there's a real danger of the government making up policy on the hoof on critical issues.” He said “common sense and medical advice seems to indicate that some level of control should remain in place in the public realm.

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: “The government said it would be led by data not dates, but it is scrapping health and safety measures in education while cases are climbing rapidly.” She added: “The shocking outbreaks we have seen in colleges and universities over the past academic year show that educational settings act as Covid incubators and help the virus spread rapidly. Worryingly, it appears the government has learned nothing, and is set to repeat the same mistakes, abandoning important safety measures too early and showing a continued reckless disregard for health and safety.”

A 7 July 2021 letter published in The Lancet and signed by more than 100 scientists and doctors from around the world accused UK government ministers of conducting a “dangerous and unethical experiment.” The signatories, including independent Sage adviser Sir David King and the British Medical Association’s Dr Chaand Nagpaul, blasted the “unethical and illogical” approach which could see millions develop “long Covid” postviral health problems.

The letter stated: “The UK government must reconsider its current strategy and take urgent steps to protect the public, including children. We believe the government is embarking on a dangerous and unethical experiment, and we call on it to pause plans to abandon mitigations on 19 July 2021.”

Government ‘washing its hands’ of Covid

The wholesale removal of Covid safety rules in England from 19 July 2021 will leave workers at risk, unless the government agrees effective guidance with unions, the TUC has said. 

TUC general secretary Frances said: “Ministers must consult with unions and employers on clear and consistent guidance for workplace safety after the end of restrictions, in every type of workplace. Otherwise we risk widespread confusion.”  She added: “In particular, ministers must consult with unions and employers before making any changes to the guidance on face coverings in sectors where they currently must be worn, such as retail. The government has to take the lead – not wash its hands of its responsibility to keep workers and the public safe.”

The TUC leader was scathing on the government’s failure to address Britain’s poverty sick pay scandal (see: Sickening). “It beggars belief that the government is still refusing to provide decent sick pay. Ministers have the power to make self-isolation effective overnight – and cut transmission immediately. All they need to do is raise statutory sick pay to the level of the real Living Wage, and make sure everyone can get it. As infections surge this remains a gaping hole in our defences against the pandemic.”

Responding to the prime minister’s announcement that the work from home guidance will also be withdrawn from 19 July, the TUC called for the right to work flexibly to be extended. O’Grady said: “As the work from home guidance ends, employers must acknowledge that one size does not fit all. They should consult their staff and unions about continuing flexibility in working patterns and location. Flexible working isn’t just about working at home. It can mean having predictable or fixed hours, working as a job-share, or working flexitime, term-time only hours or compressed hours.”

The TUC leader added: “No one should miss out on flexible working. Ministers must bring in a new right to flexible working for every worker, in every job. Otherwise there will be a new class divide between those who can work flexibly from home, and those who can’t.”

The TUC said it has written to ministers to raise urgent concerns about the UK government’s back-to-work safety plans. It said the government was continuing to refuse to consult with unions and employers on the latest guidance that will “affect millions of working people”. The union body said it fears the new guidance – which is due to be published before restrictions are lifted on 19 July – will be “vague” and result in widespread confusion.

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ALL OVER?

The UK government wants you back in your workplace and personal protective equipment to again be the preserve of those in dirty, dangerous jobs. But with workplace clusters rising and the Delta variant rampant, Hazards editor Rory O’Neill warns this is no time for business as usual.