THE OBSERVER: ‘Flexible’ lockdown takes toll on families as rows and anxiety soar

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The government’s approach to lifting the lockdown is creating dilemmas like this for many families across the UK, experts have warned. “I think what this government is doing is handing it over to us. So if it fails, guess whose fault it is in the end? It’s our fault,” says Cary Cooper, professor of organisational psychology and health at Manchester Business School.

For example, people can refuse to return to work or send their children back to school if they believe it is unsafe. “It’s quite clever politics. You say to people: ‘these are rules you can do, but make your own mind up. So if it all goes haywire, it’s not our fault. You did the wrong thing’,” he says.

The uncertainty this creates will inevitably result in conflict between family members who differ in their approach to risk. “It’s going to cause families enormous traumas,” says Cooper. “One family member may decide: ‘I don’t want to take any risks at all, and am staying locked down until I feel safe’.” If someone else in the family is then less risk-averse, “there may then be a big disagreement”.