Tag: #facemask

Wind of Change

The terms “pandemic”, “Shielding”, “self-isolation”, “lock-down” and others that became common in conversations have become rare in discussions. Lock downs are barely mentioned now, only as bad time from that awful year that was 2020 and the conspiracy theorist nut nuts have mostly fallen silent. For two and a half years I managed to avoid the dreaded Covid-19. Finally it caught up with me, and it wasn’t pretty.

The current strain (Omicron BA. 4/5 at time of writing) seems to be rampaging it’s way through the UK with varying effects. Most victims suffer flu-like symptoms, My experience was that I thought I was going to die….for about 24 hours. My head felt like someone had been poking knitting needles in it, my body ached, breathing was painful. The next day I had the same symptoms as most other people – just like flu. I did however, on day four, lose my sense of taste and smell.

The dreaded second line in the LFT stick appeared, and showed on every test for 10 days before being strangely, but happily absent on day 11. Still I felt fluey though.

It struck me how complacent we have become. Did we end restrictions too early? Were the majority even following the rules properly? Should there still be some form of mandatory infection management – face coverings in built up public places and events etc?

I had a trip away and a concert booked for the day after the first positive test. I toyed with the idea of still going, but my conscience wouldn’t let me go, knowing I might be the cause of someone else suffering the same as I had….or worse! A former colleague put it well – “Us oldies have morals”. At the time, I wasn’t sure that was a good thing but now, having had time to reflect, I’d not have felt right had I travelled on a crowded train then sat at a crowded concert knowing I had Covid. Also, I’m not sure I’d have coped physically as I was still feeling quite ill. A week after testing negative I’m still feeling wheezy and I tire quickly, and coffee (and everything else) still tastes strange or of nothing.

Why am I typing this? My experience seems to be a common one at the moment. There were almost quarter of a million recorded cases in the last month, who knows how many unrecorded? Most were very mild cases, but some weren’t. We will definitely need to get used to living with this virus in time but, perhaps for now (at least until we have it as under control as possible) we need better forms of management. It hasn’t gone away, it has actually mutated again and will continue to do so. The sensible among us are vaccinated and that is clearly helping, but maybe, just maybe it’s time for a rethink on how we view this, still ongoing, pandemic.

More Than Words

It’s been months…

Life has changed dramatically, and we’ve learned new words and phrases: “lockdown”, “social distancing”, “keyworkers”, “shielding”, “Coronavirus”, and more recent ones such as “local lockdown”, “covidiots”…… Words and terms we’d never heard or used before, now they’re used daily.

What does it mean though? What’s it all about? Why does it affect every one of us, everywhere?

I was on the front line for the avian flu “crisis” a few years ago. It was worrying as a frontline worker, A&E departments were concerned and hospitals had to put measures in place to handle it all. But the general public didn’t really have much idea of the seriousness, and it lasted a relatively short time. Coronavirus, aka Covid-19, is a whole world different, and it has created a different world.

We’ve all been in various stages of lockdown for months, travel restrictions are in place, people are fed up and, of course, there are the conspiracy theories!

How on earth in the 20th Century can (even slightly) educated people believe that a mobile data communication method (5G) could spread Covid-19?? It’s a virus (not of the computer variety)!! Why, when people are clearly dying, do people believe that Covid-19 is not real and think its some kind of government plot?? And why do grown people not realise that their noses are connected to their mouths and they must cover both with their face mask to help prevent the virus spreading effectively?

As I write this post, a number of cities in the UK have been placed in a state of local lockdown. A second wave has been predicted. Having walked city streets, and been in public places, I’m not surprised. Social distancing is non-existent, its more like social risk-taking, an face coverings are scarce. Many are being worn in completely ineffective ways. It’s very frustrating, but no one is doing anything about it. Daily, the government is adding countries to the ‘quarantine list’, stating travellers must self isolate fir 14 days if they are returning from any of them, but who polices that? People are holding protests against lockdown and being told to wear face coverings but, by doing so, are they not extending the need for measures they’re protesting about?! Nobody really has the answers, it’s new land and unknown to everyone, but casting blame wherever possible isn’t going to help.

Companies are folding on a daily basis, businesses are closing, online sales are rocketing. Will we ever see the ‘normal’ we used to know?

NHS staff are being hailed as heroes, but they’re not being given the correct equipment, in high enough quantities, to protect themselves as they do their job.

These are times like the world has not experienced for decades, centuries. Stresses are high, lives are being lost, not just from the killer virus among us. But we can get through this. Not by protesting about whatever is fashionable this week, not by complaining, and not by trying to do it on our own.

By simply following the rules; wearing a face covering in public, hand hygiene and looking after each other, checking others are doing ok, this will soon be nothing more than another memorae period in history. If we don’t, it will drag on and on. There are many of the rules that are ‘inconveniences’, but surely those inconveniences are tolerable for the short period of time necessary? They’re not just new words, this is all real and it’s happening to everyone, everywhere.

As those great philosophers, Bill & Ted, once said – “Be excellent to each other”. By doing so, we’ll see some form of normality again much sooner.

Then there’s Brexit……