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Coronavirus

04th Jul 2021

Face masks and social distancing may no longer be mandatory from July 19th

It has been hard, but now, after what seems like decades, the end of masks and social distancing is approaching on July 19th

Kieran Galpin

Is the ‘new normal’ returning to the usual normal?

Face masks have been an indomitable force in our lives since early 2020. Clearly designed to stop the spread of coronavirus, they slowly began to pop up everywhere, first in huge supermarkets and later just about every store imaginable.

People spent hundreds on designer masks, while others made their own and sold them to mums on Etsy. But now, after what seems like decades, the end of masks and social distancing could well be approaching.

https://twitter.com/PoliticsForAlI/status/1411434900851396610

The government is in a difficult position, and one they will undoubtedly be criticised for regardless of their choices. But with ‘Freedom Day’ confirmed to be July 19th, we could at last be seeing people smile in the coming weeks. The PM has said that alternative restrictions may be operating in some effect.

“I know how impatient people are to get back to total normality, as indeed am I,” he told reporters.

“I will be setting in the course of the next few days what step four will look like exactly.

“But I think I’ve said it before; we’ll be wanting to go back to a world that is as close to the status quo, anti-Covid, as possible. Try to get back to life as close to it was before Covid.

“But there may be some things we have to do, extra precautions that we have to take, but I’ll be setting them out.”

With masks and social distancing, rules said to be eradicated on Terminus day; the UK could suddenly look very different. Will people suddenly be comfortable standing so close to each other? Or will a degree of cautiousness still guide our every action?

On Friday, 27,989 new coronavirus cases were confirmed by PHE. However, Johnson did not seem phased while he visited the Nissan factory.

“I am very confident that the double jabs will be a liberator, and they will enable people to travel.

“We’ll be setting out a lot more about the detail of that in the course of July and in the course of the next few days – about how we see it working.”