Grateful to the @EveningStandard for encapsulating the right-wing case against further Covid restrictions in one neat paragraph.

But oh deary, deary me. What a paragraph.

The right seem to think of Covid as something that can be negotiated with. 1/7

"Tell you want, if we go to Tier 1, then maybe you can stop spreading exponentially - there's a good chap." Oddly, Covid is not playing ball.

Tier 1 has obviously failed to stop the rise in cases, so if we do nothing further, more and more people are going to get the virus. 2/7

Then there's the "unless there is real evidence the NHS is in danger of being overwhelmed." The evidence is the continued exponential growth. Here is @chrischirp with a projection that we are only weeks away from April levels of hospital admissions. 3/7 https://twitter.com/chrischirp/status/1316726351093784578?s=20

Of course we could wait until the NHS *does* get overwhelmed, but then lots of people will die, both from Covid AND from not receiving proper care for other conditions. Maybe... we should try to avoid that scenario...?

4/7

The point that the NHS was not overwhelmed in April is so mind-blowingly stupid it deserves a medal. The NHS wasn't overwhelmed BECAUSE WE WENT INTO HARD LOCKDOWN.

Meanwhile, if we do get back to a situation where 1,000 a day are dying, then a large number of people are... 5/7

... going to start avoiding pubs, restaurants, non-essential shops etc ANYWAY. Reminder: there are 15m people who are either over 65 or living with someone who is.

A thread on how many would die if Covid was actually allowed to rip through the population: https://twitter.com/NeilDotObrien/status/1317046902605729792?s=20

I get that right-wingers find massive state intervention and restrictions on individual liberty problematic.

But thinking that we can deal with Covid without those things is wrong and dangerous, and yet (sadly) is behind the government's current foot-dragging approach. 7/7