Dozens of Britain’s largest cancer charities today make a heartfelt plea to the public to keep wearing masks in crowded places and to maintain social distancing, amid concerns that vulnerable people will once again feel barred from the basic “normal activities” of daily life when Covid restrictions end.
In a powerful joint letter before Monday’s lifting of social contact regulations in England, 40 leading charities warn that the government’s determination to press ahead with the reopening means that for those most vulnerable to Covid, it will be “a day when freedoms are taken away”.
Cancer patients are just part of a much wider group of up to 3.8 million people deemed clinically extremely vulnerable to the virus, who have spoken of feeling unsafe and abandoned in the run-up to the ending of social contact restrictions.
In their open letter, the charities said that people with serious conditions that made them susceptible to Covid and less likely to be protected by vaccines needed a “message of solidarity” from others willing to continue with some measures to help keep everyone safe as cases increased.
“Tomorrow in England we will see Covid restrictions lifted, with people no longer required to wear face masks in crowded places or maintain social distance,” write the charities, which include Cancer Research UK, Macmillan Cancer Support, Blood Cancer UK, Breast Cancer Now and Kidney Cancer UK. “Many people will be looking forward to tomorrow as the day they get their ‘freedoms back’. But for many people with cancer, tomorrow will be a day when freedoms are taken away.
“The more people exercise their freedom to stop wearing masks and stop social distancing, the more people with cancer will feel they have to stop their normal activities, and will feel more worried when they have to do things like use public transport.”
They add that they “had hoped the government would continue to insist people carry on wearing masks and social distancing in crowded places”. As the restrictions will be lifted, however, they call on everyone across the UK to keep wearing masks in crowded places, to keep their distance from people they do not know and to get vaccinated.
Concerns stretch well beyond cancer patients. Those who are deemed clinically vulnerable, who were shielding in their millions at the outset of the pandemic, are also deeply concerned about the end of restrictions. While the prime minister has become more cautious in the last week, and guidance remains to wear masks in crowded indoor settings, many say Monday’s lifting of restrictions will see them and their families retrench once again.
Sarah Hemmings, 34, a primary school teacher from Norwich, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis two years ago and began taking medication that suppresses her immune system. “In the last couple of months, because lots of the restrictions are still in place, I’ve been able to feel like I’m participating in society to a limited extent, even tiny things like going to the shop or getting a takeaway coffee,” she said. “I have an element of control. But in the last couple of weeks and what’s happening on Monday, it’ll be back where we were for large parts of last year.
“When I first heard about the decision to get rid of mandatory masks and social distancing, I was completely shocked. For most people, I feel they’re relatively minor adjustments that mean that this big group of 3.8 million people don’t have to choose between their safety and being participants in society. It’s a hugely diverse group of people. We’ve got jobs, we’ve got families. It’s going to be an incredibly difficult time. I’m really fearful because actually on ‘freedom day’, as it were, I’m having pretreatment tests. Later that week, I’m having my next immunosuppressant treatment. It’s not a comfortable time.”
The Department of Health and Social Care was contacted for comment, but had not responded by the time of publication.
