A small percentage of a large number is still a large number

It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas (2020). the wards are full of antivaxers and some children. And many staff are isolating with covid, compounding the problem. Other than vaccinate the world to prevent new variants, which is something we surely should have been/should be working harder at, I guess there was an inevitability about omicron. The question is, what do we do now? It is, of course, about not overwhelming the NHS, and that looks close to happening.

Many of us will now get the disease and, assuming that it not as bad as delta, then we will be ill, moan a lot in bed, and get better. The problem is that for the unvaccinated and vulnerable, hospitalisation is very likely. So, a lot of people get the disease, but only a small proportion get sick enough to warrant a hospital bed … but a small percentage of a big number is still a big number. And that’s the problem. It’s the problem for the vulnerable. and it’s a problem for all the other people who need beds for non-covid reasons. A lot of people will die of the disease. And a lot of people who need life saving treatment, won’t get it. I really feel for them.

You and I are doing out best. We are being sensible with who we meet, taking tests (two this week), getting boosted and wearing decent masks. Others, not so. The 100 Tory MPs who voted against Plan B – which we all knew would be too little too late – are part of the problem. The white, 50-something man in Costa in Birmingham Airport yesterday who, with two masked friends in the queue, wasn’t wearing a mask – he’s part of the problem. And the ex-pat mother, adorned with fabulous jewellery, coming off the Dubai flight with her public school son, telling their driver that they needed to get a move on because the lad had to get to the football match – she may be part of the problem as well because, actually, madam, you need to test and isolate until a negative test comes through.

And you know my view … I still believe we should have been wearing masks in shops and public transport throughout the autumn; and we should be implementing a vaccine passport process. We are one of only a very few countries who avoided this measure. Don’t wish to be vaccinated? Fine, but don’t expect access to places where those of us who are vaccinated want to go.

Of course the problem the government have now is, with the 2020 Christmas party fiasco, they have no credibility. So why would the man in Costa give a monkeys? Or why can’t the lad go straight to the footy match? One rule etc …

Enough. I think.

the best news

Henry (oh, and Bex and Steven) are back. Fabulous. We met them at the airport, took them to Steve’s Dad’s place (thanks for supper Paul and Janet) and then we drove home. Assuming their tests come back negative we’ll pick them up tomorrow, drop off for a cuppa via James and Jen’s, and then bring them home. We have enough food to survive a four-week lockdown, even if most of it is chocolate covered.

And just a few sleeps until Christmas. That’s a way-hey! What is not a way-hey, is that we have had to cancel Chatel, well, because the French cancelled us. In some ways we’re relieved. We were already talking about how we would get to the slopes; whether we’d use the ski-bus, etc. The whole covid thing just makes you think twice, which makes you a little more worried than you want to be. Hopefully, the pandemic will slow down and there’ll be a window of opportunity in a couple of months? We’ll see.

Stay safe everyone.

And we cycled into Bristol on Thursday and had an Al fresco lunch with old pals Elizabeth and Andrew