Learning to die with Covid
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Sajid Javid is preparing to unveil a long-term plan for 'living with Covid' like the 'flu.
Firstly, comparisons between Covid and seasonal 'flu are wrong-headed at best, just plain wrong at worst. In 2 years, Covid has killed around 8 times more people than the 'flu would normally have done in the same period - in spite of lockdowns, social distancing, mask-wearing, working from home, travel restrictions, the shut-down of hospitality venues, self-isolation, and all the other things we wouldn't normally get with seasonal 'flu.
On 2nd January, a neighbour of mine - a key worker, fully-jabbed - tested positive for Covid. He had an underlying lung condition, but not bad enough to seriously inhibit him in life. He worked, drove, took exercise - all the things most of us do. The next day he was admitted to hospital with breathing difficulties, and he died overnight - leaving his wife of 42 years a widow at 60. He was 63 on the day before he died.
And now today, a colleague of mine who has been working from home whilst shielding both his young wife (who has cancer) and his disabled daughter is being told he should return to the office. They are all terrified of the risk if he gets even a 'mild' infection. Just as these people are...
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60072080
People need to bear this in mind when they go to their night-clubs, and jet off on their fly-and-flop holidays abroad again. Our 'learning to live' with Covid will, for many, also mean learning to die with it.
The 'flu of the pandemic in 1918 was much more serious than flu epidemics since, so I expect they are hoping that covid will end up a bit milder? Though some of the crowd scenes you see seem very unnecessary and naive. Rhiannon
I think it's being criminally underestimated. The Director of Care at the care facility where I work said right at the beginning of all this that it would eventually get to the stage where we would 'learn to live with it' - but that it would mean having to accept higher annual mortality rates, and they would mainly be in the social care sector. Examples like those of my neighbour and colleague, and the people in that report, show that it will unfortunately involve a wider number of people than that. Our government, with it's latest actions, is condemning an awful lot of people to illness and death. Thousands. Maybe hundreds of thousands. All we can do is wait, hope and see. And keep being cautious.
I don't mean that vague, wishy-washy, Father Ted-type 'Careful, now' caution that we're being told to take by Johnson and Co. Serious caution. For the sake of people who could easily be one of our loved-ones, or neighbours, or colleagues...
A comment posted in a mental health forum I use - in response to another commenter who had said that he no longer saw the point of any Covid precautions for himself since he was young, fit, healthy and fully-jabbed (I have received permission to post the comment):
'I'm glad you're young and healthy and can deal with the effects of covid. But if you just forget about those that aren't young or healthy and can't, you abandon your society.
This is the part a lot of people don't, or can't understand. We live in a society.
In a society we look out for each other. If someone falls we help them get up. Helping them get up means that you stop, reach down, grab their hand and lift them to their feet. Then you both go on walking. Some people are more prone to falling, so we created wheelchairs and inclined walkways so they don't have to navigate stairs. Then we created bus services that had wheelchair lifts so they could use public transport.
Now the people in wheelchairs have a shot at an active lifestyle instead of being limited to sidewalks. We need to do the same thing with covid. Everyone needs to be a part of society again. We need to look out for the ones that can't handle covid. The cancer survivors, the immunocompromised, the elderly. Those people have been restricted to their homes because covid is a serious risk for them. If we could just wear masks and, if we are able, get a shot once or twice a year, those people could have a chance at living a semi-normal life outside of their homes.
If you "just can't be bothered," or go quote the numbers in favor of yourself not getting sick or dying of it, you're ignoring that whole section of society. If you know all of this and still cling to the idea that you shouldn't alter your behavior for whatever reason - and I don't know how to put this any other way - you're selfish.'
Until the world has been vaccinated and boostered it is foolish to talk of epidemic. We are still in a pandemic. And, as you rightly point out all people matter and
'if we just wear masks and, if we are able get a shot once or twice a year... people could have a chance of living a semi-normal life outside their homes.'
I completely agree, Rachel.
Another piece of news I've just read, about someone who lived near where I am...
https://www.kentonline.co.uk/sheerness/news/familys-shock-as-fit-and-healthy-dad-27-dies-of-covid-260172/
<harry c>
..... (a brotha-n' arms)... written as it is, it ain't over, send the message...... you're much better it than I am.... (stay strong - peace, power, endurance, courage, God's Speed)
(K)