Straight talking

I’m confused. Please help me! 

I’ve just read on the front page of one of tomorrow’s Sunday papers and now seen in Robert Jenrick’s tweet below that all of us who are shielding will be allowed out from Monday. I’m amazed that major government changes to what is allowed like this i discover first on the BBC news website and then on Twitter on Mr Jenrick’s account.

“From Monday, the 2.2 million people who’ve been shielding can go outside for first time.

This will be with either members of their household, or, if they live alone, to meet one other person.

Full guidance will follow tomorrow.” 

I so want to go out and see other people. But am

I safe? I can’t help thinking this is all too fast. There hasn’t been a hint of this change coming all week. Schools can go back on Monday - though some aren’t going to because heads and governing bodies think it is too early; we can meet folk in our gardens though they really shouldn’t use the loo inside; and horse racing is back also from Monday. As Matt Hancock tweeted earlier:

Thanks to the nation’s resolve, horseracing is back from Monday.

Wonderful news for our wonderful sport.

To which someone responded: 

If you wanted to show how out of touch you are, you've succeeded admirably.

I’m as frustrated by this being unable to live fully as anyone. We are having to go back to the Old Vicarage to sort stuff before removers come to put our stuff into storage from June 12 and tonight I drove past a pizza shop and I’d love a pizza - Pizza Perfection in Sutton Bridge is one of the best pizza take aways I’ve ever experienced. But we cannot risk being out yet, can we? I can’t risk interacting with society just yet. Professor Van Tam earlier said we are at a dangerous point. I’m

amazed a major change in government policy has been leaked at 10pm on a Saturday night. There was no sign of any change for those shielding all week! 

I guess all of this comes down to who you trust. I’m listening far more intensely to the likes of Professor Van Tam, who I’ve always liked through this and to Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance than I am to Boris Johnson and Robert Jenrick and Oliver Dowden. The latter really wanted us to get excited that horse racing is back from Monday. 

I want to trust the politicians who are guiding us through this crisis. I feel for them as this is unprecedented. But suddenly announcing the shielding and the vulnerable can go out and meet people, well, it feels like it’s all too fast, especially as the scientists warn government the R is still very near 1. 

Don’t get me wrong. I’m really pleased, if it is safe, to have limited interaction with wider society. But I’m not yet sure it is... 

For now, I will choose to almost shield and get my food shopping delivered. We will come out of this stronger, but for now, we dig in and we keep going. There is a bright future ahead. But we have to be careful for now, don’t we? 

I want to engage with society more. I’m bored of staying in. I want those who yearn to see their grandchildren to be able to see them. I want life to move on. But I need to know the answer to this question: 

How am I safer now than I was when you locked me down in March, Mr Jenrick?