New Problem: Scared Workers in the UK Don’t Want to Work, Prefer to Get Government Money

New virus strikes Britain: the Corona Sloth.

They should have expected this to happen.

This is what they were telling people back in April:

People were first told that they had to stay in their homes because there was a dangerous virus outside, and now people are being told that maybe they should return to the workplace.

But the virus is still out there.

If people return to work now, why did they have to stop going to work in the first place?

This is the dilemma of the government.

Telling people that it’s safe to go back to work is a tacit admission that the coronavirus was never dangerous enough for a lockdown in the first place, so what they’re doing instead is telling people to go back to work despite the virus still being out there, saying that there’ll be new safety measures or whatever.

Understandably, people who believe in the Doom Virus narrative are reluctant.

Daily Mail:

Some Britons have developed ‘furlough fever’ and are enjoying ‘a paid holiday’ at home too much to return to work with the situation ‘getting worse every day’ the multi-billion pound scheme continues, experts warned MailOnline today.

Bosses are struggling to persuade some staff to come back as the lockdown eases with some people openly refusing or asking a colleague to go back in their place.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced today that the Treasury would cover 80 per cent of wages up to a ceiling of £2,500 a month for furloughed staff until July, before splitting the costs with companies until the end of October.

Some of these 7.5million people have also had their salaries topped up to 100 per cent by their bosses, meaning they are not out of pocket at all despite not being required to do any work.

Nicky Jolley, managing director of HR2day, told MailOnline some of her business clients have been left short staffed because workers are reluctant to return from a life at home on furlough – and ‘the situation is getting worse’ the longer it continues.

She said: ‘There are some employees who have quite enjoyed weeks off with 80 percent pay, and with the beautiful weather, schools being closed, and perhaps a partner furloughed or having lost their job, there have been some requests to remain on the scheme.

They’ve got a touch of ‘furlough fever,’ enjoying what is, in essence, a paid holiday. Sadly, this is putting strain on businesses who need their staff back’.

She added: ‘If it’s just a case of wanting to enjoy another three weeks in the garden, employers would be well within their rights to insist this is taken as holiday, unpaid leave or even begin disciplinary proceedings’.

The way in which she’s framing the situation is totally disrespectful.

Coronavirus is supposed to be the Doom Virus.

People have been living under some kind of house arrest while hearing about the dangers of coronavirus nonstop for months now, both from the media and the government.

Saying that workers don’t want to work because they’re “enjoying weeks off” by living like prisoners is not going to fix anything.

What’s going to fix something is the government coming clean about the fact that coronavirus is just as dangerous as the flu and that the lockdown was never necessary to begin with.