The confusion over lockdown policy will not help the return to work

Editorial: The use of face masks in public is the latest issue to be subject to mixed messages from ministers. Clarity is important

Michael Gove has urged a ‘common sense’ approach to face mask use (EPA)

The UK, like all other societies that have been savaged by the coronavirus pandemic, has to get back to work. We have to get back to the shops. We have to take public transport. We have to see our friends and families. We have to rebuild our lives.

But people cannot do that until they feel it is safe to do so. That would obviously be stupid and irresponsible on a personal level, but it would also be irresponsible at a national level. Infection levels from Covid-19 have fallen and there is some sort of economic recovery in place. But infections could rise, as they have in some other parts of the world where it seemed that virus had been suppressed, and the recovery could easily be destroyed by a premature reopening.

So when the country is told to go back to the office by Michael Gove, the prime minister’s close colleague, a certain reluctance is in order. Speaking on television on Sunday he urged common sense in such matters as wearing face masks while shopping, after Boris Johnson had indicated on Friday he was considering making masks compulsory in shops and other enclosed spaces. Confusion over such issues is unhelpful and it is not the first time the government has faced such an issue.