Arlene Foster is right to signal November 13 as the end to coronavirus restrictions in Northern Ireland

Governments in some of the wealthiest societies in the world, including states in America and nations in Europe, are doing the same.

Some critics say that lockdown is the way to go because it seems to have worked in east Asia.

But it is not clear the extent to which it has, for example, worked in China. And even if so, these are countries with radically different views on liberty and the right of the state to be authoritarian. Even the democracies in that region are more rigid in their rules and acceptance of state power.

The problem with these lockdowns in the immense and untold damage that they do, yet this is not only less visible than Covid deaths, there has been little attempt to quantify them: the people plunged into despair by loneliness, the business owners ruined after a lifetime building up an enterprise, the cancer appointments missed, the increases in chronic stress, the long-term emotional and physical damage caused by people being pushed back towards poverty, the damage to young people’s educations and career prospects.

The Covid death rates are unquestionably grim, but most of the dead are very old or already very ill. Almost none of the dead are killed outright by Covid, but rather they die with it.

Only a reckless or ignorant person would then go on to say that coronavirus is no problem. It is a massive problem and a grave risk to people whose health is vulnerable.

But we cannot keep returning to the sledgehammer approach, which will not work unless everyone is locked in home with brutal enforcement for months on end, until the virus is completely eradicated by total lack of interaction.

Arlene Foster is right to look at November 13 as the date at which things return back towards normality in Northern Ireland. And everyone can play their part in bringing that about by showing personal responsibility in social distancing and taking other precautions that make spread of Covid harder.

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