Kate Andrews Kate Andrews

Boris’s clash over masks

(Photo by John Sibley-WPA Pool/Getty Images)

‘Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government programme,’ the free market economist Milton Friedman famously noted. So just how permanent will social distancing measures be? As more positive news about vaccines and their distribution rolls in, it will be a question that grows louder: how much longer will we be asked to live with Covid rules, and might anyone make the case for keeping them in place after the virus is under control?

We caught a glimpse of the different opinions circling Whitehall tonight, when the Prime Minister and Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Van-Tam clashed over the future of mask-wearing. During the Covid press conference, the Sun asked Van-Tam if masks and hand sanitiser might become a staple in our ‘new normal’ way of living: ‘I think those kinds of habits that clearly stop the spread of other respiratory viruses, such as flu,’ he responded, ‘will perhaps persist for many years, and that may be a good thing if they do.’

The Prime Minister did not agree. In a rare moment, Johnson – who during these press conferences tends to defer to his medical and scientific officials when it comes to health advice – was quick to counter Van-Tam’s endorsement of indefinite mask-wearing: ‘Um, yes maybe. But on the other hand we may want to get back to life as pretty much as close to normal.’

Van-Tam later clarified his comments, asserting he did not think it would be necessary for social distancing measures to remain official government advice (or, presumably, enforceable by law). But he doubled down on his opinion that masks have their benefits beyond Covid: ‘Do I think possibly some of those personal habits for some people will persist longer and perhaps become enduring for some people? Yes I think that’s possible.’

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