Living with Covid-19

Debate between Lord Hannan of Kingsclere and Baroness Evans of Bowes Park

Tuesday 22nd February 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

We will revise the workplace guidance for employers and work with them; again, it will be published shortly, before the full measures we announced yesterday come into effect.

[Lord Hannan of Kingsclere (Con)]

My Lords, at the weekend Her Majesty the Queen was reported to have tested positive. I am sure noble Lords on all sides will join me in wishing her every success, but I was struck that, immediately, some commentators and politicians jumped on the announcement, saying that therefore we must not go ahead with the unlocking. Surely the two most salient facts are that omicron will reach even the most protected person in the country and that, if a 95 year-old woman can carry on working with her typical devotion to duty, we have reached the point where these non-clinical, non-pharmaceutical interventions are, if not wholly purposeless, certainly disproportionate?

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

On behalf of the whole House, I am sure, I wish Her Majesty the Queen all the best and a quick recovery from her current illness.