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Coronavirus Stops-Starts Stretching Europeans' Patience

Jamie Dettmer

   ROME - The 17-second YouTube video mimicking Prime Minister Boris
   Johnson's ever shifting guidance on the coronavirus pandemic has
   attracted tens of thousands of views.

   "So we are saying don't go to work, go to work, don't take public
   transport, go to work, don't go to work, stay indoors if you can, go to
   work, don't go to work, go outside, don't go outside," deadpans Matt
   Lucas, one of the country's best known comics and famous for the BBC
   comedy series Little Britain.

     [1]pic.twitter.com/k6Sr4Iac15
     -- MATT LUCAS (@RealMattLucas) [2]May 10, 2020

   For his fans, Lucas' riff perfectly summed up the mounting frustration
   many Britons, especially the young, are feeling with the seemingly
   non-stop amendments to government regulations and the shifting advice
   of ministers.

   Early in July, the British government encouraged Britons to make use of
   "travel corridors" to the European continent, allowing vacationers to
   holiday in Europe without the need to quarantine for 14 days on their
   return home. Hundreds of thousands took up the opportunity to vacation
   on the continent and hundreds of thousands more booked trips only to
   have their plans disrupted when the government re-imposed abruptly
   quarantine requirements for those returning from Spain, Luxembourg,
   Belgium and Andorra. France is likely to be added to the quarantine
   list in the coming days.

   The sudden changes have provoked fury and led lawmakers to worry about
   consistency. "There appears to be a lack of transparency around the
   criteria that the government are using to remove destinations from the
   list of safe countries to visit. There is no consistency which is
   leading to public disquiet and concern," says Yvonne Fovargue, a Labour
   Party lawmaker.

   Frustration

   Britons are not alone in losing patience. Frustration is growing across
   Europe with inconsistencies and the backtracking by governments as they
   struggle to curb resurgences in coronavirus infections. Public
   impatience is not helping governments in their efforts to persuade
   populations to remain vigilant or to accept off-and-on restrictions
   when viral flare-ups come and go.

   "There is no logic or consistency in the Government's approach or,
   indeed, apparent end in sight to the economically crippling measures
   deemed necessary to contain the pandemic," bewails Jeremy Warner, an
   economics commentator for Britain's Independent newspaper.

   Critics concede that dealing with a virus that was completely unknown
   eight months ago is no easy feat -- virologists and other infectious
   disease professionals are learning as they go along. But the stops and
   starts and volte-faces risk eroding public confidence in some
   countries, analysts and public health officials fear. There is an
   urgent need to maintain public morale, they say, and rapid, sometimes
   overnight changes in policy, which have not been signaled in advance
   and come of the blue, suggests indecisiveness, even panic, with people
   increasingly questioning whether governments know what they are doing.

References

   1. https://t.co/k6Sr4Iac15
   2. https://twitter.com/RealMattLucas/status/1259566662791106569?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

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