Nightclubs elated but doubts cloud England’s ‘Freedom Day’

LONDON — Sparkling wine, confetti, a midnight countdown: It’s not New Year’s Eve, but it might as well be for England’s clubbers. But leading international scientists on Friday described England’s “Freedom Day” as a threat to the whole world, and 1,200 scientists backed a letter to British medical journal The Lancet that criticized the Conservative government’s decision. “I think it’s really a degree of how bad it’s going to be.” Even Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, warned that “we could get into trouble again surprisingly fast.” Johnson himself played down talk of freedom and stressed that life wouldn’t instantly revert to how it was pre-pandemic. “That’s the perfect mixing vessel for the virus to spread and to even generate new variants.” Johnson urged the public on Sunday to exercise “prudence and respect for other people and the risks that the disease continues to present.” He wants nightclubs and other crowded venues to use COVID-19 status certification “as a matter of social responsibility,” and only to admit patrons who can show they are double-jabbed, have a negative test result or have recovered from the disease. Days after the prime minister said masks would still be “expected and recommended” in crowded indoor places but not compulsory, London Mayor Sadiq Khan announced that passengers on the capital’s subways and buses must continue to wear them.