The Tories not talking about Covid could seriously damage Britain’s shaky economy

There are three things the Tory leadership contenders are desperate to avoid talking about: the cost of living crisis, NHS waiting times, and Covid-19.

Let’s talk about the last of these. Covid is currently behaving like a Doctor Who villain, in that it almost feels as though it is governed by a collective intelligence – one that is taking politicians’ attempts to shove it into the corner as a personal affront.

Omicron has been busily refining its spikes, and evolving new subvariants that improve on the ability of the original to infect and reinfect the unfortunate hosts (us).

Twitter is currently alive with people who managed to avoid the OG (original gangsta) version only to find out that it can still be a vicious little swine. That applies to some of us who caught OG Covid too. The scourge is once again an unwelcome guest in my house.

Experts say this is not surprising. Viruses are good at mutating. It takes time for new ones to reach equilibrium with their hosts. And we at least have better tools to fight this one than we did any previous pandemic. Raise a glass to the scientists!

But after we’ve done that, perhaps we might like to consider the effect of a rolling wave of new Covid infections crashing into the autumn flu season, straining an NHS that is already teetering on the brink (see the second problem that would-be prime ministers must not mention) and dealing another vicious blow to a very shaky economy.

This is why I find the “Don’t mention the war” attitude of the current government’s would-be leaders so troubling. We need to start thinking about the sensible precautions that could be taken, for the sake of people’s health and the economy, to avoid things getting nasty again.

The first and most important of those would be to encourage sick people to stay at home.

The widespread adoption of home and/or hybrid working is helpful on this front. Responsible employers ought to be telling their workers to forget about their mandated “office days” at the first hint of a sneeze. I imagine some will do that. The trouble is, not all employers are sensible or responsible.

In too many sectors, the doctrine is that you turn up come what may. Polling by the TUC reveals that 9 per cent of employees displaying Covid symptoms have been forced to attend their workplaces over the past 12 months, and 10 per cent have been asked to work alongside colleagues who have tested positive.

Even when the element of compulsion is removed, workers may feel compelled to turn up with flu and/or Covid because of the financial implications of not doing so. The first problem that our future prime ministers are choosing to ignore – the cost of living crisis – will only exacerbate that.

Statutory sick pay stands at a miserable £99.35 a week. During the pandemic, people were at least able to claim this on their first day off. However, when the last of the pandemic restrictions were dropped, so was the concession. Workers are now back to having to be off for four days before they are able to claim, if they can claim at all. TUC health and safety lead Shelly Asquith notes that nearly 2 million of them can’t, because they don’t get paid enough or they don’t work sufficient hours.

People turning up sick has long helped nasty flu viruses to spread through workplaces, damaging productivity and harming the wider economy. Now we have Covid. See the problem?

“No one should be unsafe at work,” Asquith says. “Conservative ministers have been too complacent in removing requirements for Covid-specific risk controls in workplaces. And as cases surge, the government is not lifting a finger to fix our broken sick-pay system.”

She is right. When the winner of the dismal competition playing out before us has their feet under the prized Downing Street desk, someone might like to put this into their in-tray.

If they don’t, Omicron, or whatever they call its latest incarnation, will do the job. Trouble is, by then it may be too late.