Revelry, and alarm, on ‘Freedom Day’ as England lifts almost all COVID-19 restrictions

Corks popped, beats boomed and giddy revelers rushed onto dance floors when England’s nightclubs reopened Monday as the country lifted most remaining restrictions after more than a year of lockdowns, mask mandates and other pandemic-related curbs on freedom. One of the people attending the Piano Works party, Mark Troy, called the return of nightclubs “a most joyous occasion.” But while entertainment businesses and ravers are jubilant, many others are deeply worried about the British government’s decision to scrap restrictions at a time when coronavirus cases are on a rapid upswing because of the highly infectious Delta variant first identified in India. The Dutch prime minister admitted that lifting restrictions too early “was a mistake.” In the U.S., many areas abandoned face coverings when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said fully vaccinated people didn’t need to wear them in most settings. But leading international scientists described England’s “Freedom Day” as a threat to the world, and 1,200 scientists backed a letter to British medical journal Lancet that criticized the Conservative government’s decision. Psychologist Robert West, who sits on a science panel that advises the British government, said telling people to be careful without giving them thorough knowledge of risks was “like putting someone out on the road without having taught them to drive.” The end of restrictions in England on Monday is a critical moment in Britain’s handling of the pandemic, which has killed more than 128,000 people nationwide, the highest death toll in Europe after Russia.