The Observer view on Boris Johnson’s Covid roadmap announcement | Observer editorial

Scientific advisers must insist that data is crucial to setting dates to ease restrictions‘Let’s use data, not dates” – so said the government’s deputy chief medical adviser, Angela McLean, on Thursday to MPs as she was questioned over the right framework for the roadmap out of lockdown. Tomorrow is the long-awaited day when the prime minister sets out his plan, and it’s plain that he and his medical advisers are at odds. Both have seen very encouraging data – the number of reported cases is falling sharply, as are hospitalisations and deaths. Imperial College’s React 1 study last week showed that infections in England have dropped by two-thirds in less than a month. The R rate is now estimated to be between 0.6 and 0.9, well below the 1.0 above which the virus spreads exponentially. Public Health England has early data suggesting the vaccination success is beginning to have an impact on Covid’s transmission.What is provoking debate is how much this encouraging data can inform pre-announced dates for easing over the next few months. The answer, beyond 8 March, is not at all – with McLean’s boss, Chris Whitty, reportedly unhappy that Johnson is insistent that dates for action should frame decision-making, even if caveated by how the data evolves. Instead, data should be the alpha and omega of the whole process. Continue reading... https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/feb/21/observer-view-on-boris-johnson-roadmap-announcement #coronavirus #boris_johnson #science #politics #health #uk_news