The Covid-19 pandemic had a huge impact on everyone and its effects are still being seen across every industry and sector. Companies were forced to close at short notice and for unspecified amounts of time, having detrimental impacts on their business and also their employees.
Everyone was impacted in one way or another by the pandemic, and only now are things starting to return to some semblance of normal. New Covid testing rules not only increase the freedoms we can all enjoy, but also help businesses and the economy to get back up and running.
The UK reached a point in the pandemic where the government turned to focusing on living with Covid-19, meaning restrictions being lifted and the Covid-19 testing rules changed dramatically from what many of us had grown used to. We don’t have to take Covid-19 tests as regularly as we used to, and the rules surrounding what to do if you get a positive test have also changed.
Incredibly, states in the USA like Texas and Florida had opened up and returned to normal very early on, even when many others, including the UK were still in the midst of the Covid pandemic. This means that the economies in those states could benefit from being fully open earlier, allowing for example, fewer people to take out loans in Texas to support their day to day lives as the pandemic raged.
People can enjoy many more freedoms now as opposed to mid-pandemic, even if they test positive for Covid-19. This is a stark change from the normal in the pandemic, where all our freedoms were restricted to protect others.
The guidance for Covid-19 in England as recently as 24th February from the government read:
“You will not be legally required to self-isolate if you test positive for COVID-19. Stay at home if you can and avoid contact with other people.”
“You will not have to take daily tests or be legally required to self-isolate following contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19.”
“The Test and Trace Support Payment Scheme will end. If you were told to self-isolate before 24 February you can still make a claim up to 6 April.”
This means that currently, you are not required to quarantine if you catch Covid-19, and you are not required to isolate or regularly test if you come into contact with someone who has the virus. While for some this may seem like too soon to ease the restrictions, for others it offers a needed lifeline after almost two years of hardship and business struggle.
With this new guidance that you aren’t required to self-isolate if you catch Covid-19, people are able to make their own informed choices about what is best for them and their loved ones. This guidance also instils confidence in the general public that returning to life as normal is safe for them and their families.
Removing the tighter Covid testing restrictions has made consumers more comfortable with returning to restaurants and bars, as well as going shopping and on days out. Furthermore, fewer people will be restricted from working, allowing them to stay out of debt. During the pandemic, in extreme cases, some people had to sell their homes quickly to make ends meet; something the government are keen to avoid happening again
As well as meaning people can enjoy their free time more with more options of things to do, the new Covid-19 testing rules allow businesses to flourish once again. Nothing will erase the hardships of the past two years, but the new Covid-19 testing rules help businesses to trade more and customers to shop with confidence.
