'Party Saturday' Could Lead To Coronavirus Infection Spikes, Tory Ex-Minister Warns
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Boris Johnson’s decision to lift lockdown on a Saturday risks creating a “party” mentality that could lead to local spikes in coronavirus infections, a Tory former minister has warned.
George Freeman told HuffPost UK’s Commons People podcast he is worried people may “overdo it” as pubs and restaurants reopen on Saturday.
He said he would have preferred a continuation of the approach that has seen the lockdown eased more gently, with the last new freedoms being introduced on June 1 – a Monday.
The MP also called for all schoolchildren to be given cheap laptops to keep for life, to help them learn at home, suggesting they could go on to use the equipment to start a business.
And he suggested that, were he American, he would “struggle” to vote for Donald Trump in the US presidential election this year as he has driven a “worrying” mentality that is “hostile” to science in his response to coronavirus.
Addressing this weekend’s lockdown easing, the former transport minister told Commons People: “I’m a bit worried by the kind of ‘party Saturday’ risk that everyone just overdoes it.
“I thought the approach of just gently easing the lockdown restrictions was rather better, and I suspect there will be a few hangovers on Sunday, Monday.
“And also I fear there may well be some very localised spikes.
“Maybe not, maybe this virus is going to be kept back by the sunshine and the heat.
“That was always part of the thinking – I went to a Cobra on coronavirus back in February and that was the advice then – it was felt that the virus would retreat back in the summer.”
Freeman meanwhile said he was “really worried” about the impact of the coronavirus crisis on education.
He turned his fire on teaching unions who have been resistant to an earlier full reopening of schools on safety grounds, saying their actions stood...
