We were warned the easing of the lockdown restrictions would be the moment of maximum danger.
It also appears to have become the moment of maximum confusion.
The Government's updated advice for England is to encourage people to stay alert.
If you are baffled as to what this means in practice you are not alone. So are those issuing the guidance.
These are the words of the Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick on Sky News yesterday morning: “We want now to have a message which encourages people to go to work”.
And here is Jenrick speaking minutes later on the BBC's Andrew Marr show: “So stay alert will mean stay alert by staying home as much as possible.”
Having a message which is woollier than a Welsh sheep farm would be laughable were the consequences of this ambiguity not so serious.
How the public reacts over the next few weeks will be crucial in preventing more deaths from the virus.
If they lose faith in the messenger then they could quickly lose faith in the need for social distancing.
Ministers are wrestling with a dilemma that would tax the most seasoned politician, let alone a cavalier figure such as Boris Johnson.
If he lifts the lockdown too early he has been warned there could be more than 100,000 deaths by the end of year.
Yet if the country is unable to get back to work we face an economic crisis so severe there will be no money for the public services on which people depend.
As the country walks down the uncertain route out of lockdown it needs to be guided by the Government.
But the signposts put up by ministers in the last few days have been vague, distracting and, ultimately, dangerous.
