How Britain plans to co-exist with covid-19

ONCE UPON a time, no speech by Boris Johnson was complete without a promise to “defeat the coronavirus”. Yet his address on September 14th setting out his covid-19 plans for the winter ahead was a more modest affair. The best the prime minister could come up with was a vow to “turn jabs, jabs, jabs into jobs, jobs, jobs”.

Britain is no longer at war with the coronavirus. Instead, it is working out how best to manage its presence. Its aim is to keep the economy open while saving hospitals from being overwhelmed, which in recent months has meant accepting a high case rate (see chart).

That has been possible only because a quick and well-targeted vaccine roll-out has kept deaths at European rather than American levels, dampening public concern. According to Public Health England, immunisation has prevented nearly 25m infections and more than 110,000 deaths.

Despite the start of the autumn school term, and predictions that children...