Guernsey Press

Patience and civility will ease new normal

SIXTY-SIX days after it began, this Saturday sees what many will regard as an end to lockdown.

Published

Restrictions remain, of course, and the ‘new normal’ will be nothing like the old one.

But compared to the last week of March, when the streets emptied and businesses padlocked their doors, the first week of June will be as different as night and day.

It will feel strange at first.

The effect of social distancing rules will be all-pervasive. Those venturing out blinking into the sunshine will have to be patient with both the staff of newly-opened shops, hairdressers, gyms and restaurants and their fellow islanders.

Everyone will be learning at pace what is both newly possible and still forbidden in the limbo land between lockdown and true freedom.

If the spirit that has maintained the islands for the past nine weeks can be maintained such difficulties can be overcome. Civility and consideration are powerful allies in the battle against the disruptions of a pandemic.

When frustration mounts it should also be calming to look across the world and see that each country is at its own stage in the recovery and the Bailiwick of Guernsey is ahead of the game.

The ability to shop, get a haircut, workout, visit a relative in a care home and socialise is currently a privilege, one which many larger nations still in the grips of this deadly disease will look upon with envy.

That privilege comes with a huge responsibility. The islands have earned the right to return to a near normal by their sensible adherence to the rules.

That could be thrown away in the coming months if we all too quickly forget the basics and enjoy the new freedoms too much.

It is a pivotal moment. The next few weeks will show whether the islands have cantered too quickly out of lockdown.

Inevitably, there will be more cases, especially once the borders are opened up.

The trick is to build sensible caution into all our public encounters so that Covid-19 cannot quickly get a hold again.