THE so-called ‘pingdemic’ and Covid passports were the issues raised by columnists and contributors in the newspapers.
The Daily Mail
Janet Street-Porter said the hospitality industry can’t get staff to clean toilets, let alone monitor the vaccine status of who’s passing through the door.
“Border staff can’t deal with traffic at Heathrow, which is operating at 90 per cent below normal capacity. So, who are going to be the Covid Passport police?,” she asked. “Don’t you long for a day without the army of boffins telling us that there could be another surge, another wave, another rise in hospital admissions? Or - if you’re lucky, you might catch another ‘expert’ claiming there will not!”
She said by indicating Covid Passports will be necessary to enter enclosed spaces with large numbers of people - like football grounds, nightclubs and probably pubs, Boris has revealed what a bully he is.
“Now, Boris is determined to bludgeon the young into submission, by curtailing their freedom after he’s messed up their education. Truly, he is the enemy of youth and all the dreams that go with it.”
The Daily Express
Ann Widdecombe said she refused to download the ‘wretched’ Test and Trace app in the first place.
“If Sajid Javid insists on retaining the requirement to isolate if pinged until mid-August, the country will be at all but a standstill,” she said. “The most at risk were long ago double-jabbed and if it is going to be OK in three or four weeks’ time to rely on those jabs then it is OK now.”
She asked why the Government was encouraging people back to work when working from home, in many cases, suited both employees and employers.
“When the motor car replaced the horse, grooms, livery stables and blacksmiths lost their livelihoods,” she said. “Secretarial jobs were reduced when “take a letter, Miss Smith” was replaced by bosses tapping into computers. So, if working from home drives the sandwich bars out of business that is simply another social change. There is no such thing as the return to normalcy.”
The Independent
Mike Rhodes, founder of ConsultMyApp, said the pingdemic was already wreaking chaos across the country.
“Hundreds of businesses have likewise warned of “crippling staff shortages” and temporary business closures due to the sheer number of staff members being forced to isolate after being notified by the app,” he said. “
“The reality is that the NHS Test and Trace app has never been a holy grail panacea for preventing the transmission of coronavirus. With cases now rising by the minute and demands on the app increasing, one must now ask whether it is even still fit for purpose.”
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