One of the endless debates that will be had over the coming months is what exactly is and is not a Covid passport. The definition is loose and shifting... 1/6
The ‘passport’ bit begun in the discussion on overseas travel (which makes sense linguistically, a document that allows you to fly) before being used in debate about its use in domestic settings.... 2/6
To add to the complexity, the Government has widened out the definition of these checks to include three things: jab, negative test, antibodies. Which helps counter the criticism of discrimination (people who don’t have jab can get tests). 3/6
Then, to add in even more complexity, there is the idea that a specific thing - one of the NHS apps - can be used as a trusted, formalised way to show proof of these things. So that app is kind of a Covid passport too. 4/6
A neater description of all this stuff would probably be ‘Covid status checks’ or ‘Covid safety checks’. It is essentially a way to show you’re unlikely to catch and spread the virus. Imagine this is how ministers will frame it. 5/6
But to the public and MPs on the war path the phrase ‘Covid passports’ to mean any check on Covid status is already getting pretty baked in. Let’s see how that morphs as the debate gets more detailed / nuanced. 6/6
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
