The Freedom Day Gamble
More or Less
BBC
4.6 • 3.7K Ratings
🗓️ 19 July 2021
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On the day the Government plans to drop the remaining Covid restirictions, Tim Harford and the More or Less team try to work out how long cases will continue to rise and whether we can be sure the link with deaths and hospitalisations has been broken. Is this “freedom day" or an unnecessary gamble with people’s lives?
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds Music Radio Podcasts |
| 0:04.7 | Hello and welcome to a special edition of More or Less. |
| 0:09.8 | Well then, we've reached the end of the roadmap. |
| 0:13.5 | Today, the government lifted most restrictions in England, |
| 0:17.0 | but since nobody's told the coronavirus that the pandemic is over, |
| 0:20.6 | we thought we'd pop up one more time to try to answer some of the big questions |
| 0:25.0 | now facing the UK. |
| 0:27.1 | For example, should be vaccinate children against Covid, |
| 0:30.4 | how much of a problem is long Covid, |
| 0:32.7 | given that so many people have been either infected or vaccinated, |
| 0:36.7 | why is the virus still spreading so quickly? |
| 0:39.6 | And have vaccinations faltered because of a lack of supply or a lack of demand? |
| 0:44.1 | Music Radio Podcasts |
| 0:46.9 | First, let's talk about the situation right now. |
| 0:50.1 | Music Radio Podcasts |
| 0:51.1 | We're clearly into a third wave. |
| 0:53.7 | The second wave in January was devastating. |
| 0:56.9 | More than 4,000 people a day were being admitted to hospital |
| 1:00.3 | with more than 1,000 people a day dying. |
| 1:03.4 | This wave looks every bit as bad in terms of infections and might well get worse, |
| 1:08.5 | so despite tens of millions of vaccinations, |
| 1:11.8 | the decision to open up is a gamble. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.