The government is expected to announce a new slogan for the next stage of the fight against coronavirus, but it has not been widely welcomed.
Following “stay at home, save lives, protect the NHS”, we British are now being told to “stay alert, control the virus, save lives”.
But many have criticised the wording, particularly the idea that people should be alert for a virus which is, by its nature, invisible.
A junior doctor, Julia Simons, tweeted “Please can someone tell Boris coronavirus is not a physical assailant? You can’t stay alert to single-stranded RNA”.
Boris is unique in government circles, knowing how close he came to the grim reaper. Are the scientists being too clever with this new advice? Probably!
It’s fine, although “Keep up your guard” might have been better. It means continue with the main control measures we have. Hand washing, no hand to face contact, isolate with symptoms, social distancing. We need the economy to pay the taxes to deliver our NHS.
Yes, “Keep up your guard” would be better. Being “told to Stay alert” assumes there is erosion of our concerns. I suppose there is some, evidence of flouting control measures is shown daily on live news. But I doubt the economy will recover in the remainder of my life time, as no growth is going to cause the deepest recession in living memory?