It only seems like April when I was mumbling away about the care home cull and it seems everyone and anyone has an observation on how badly or well the politicians are doing. Its like golf club members all knowing more about hoticulture than greenkeepers, or football supporters telling their team managers that they haven't a clue.
It is true, they haven't a clue but that's not unique. We only need to look around the world and how different politicians in different countries approach it differently. What is unique is the situation. Normally flu epidemics are one thing and pandemics tend to be unique things.
Its like the shock and awe of the 'student explosion', that everyone knew about. Its absolutely what most of us expected and while some say its not part of a 'herd immunity' tactic it should work like that. Go to Uni, get Covid in Freshers week, recover by October week, then you can go home at Christmas and see whoever you like.
I'm not sure I share the opinion of locking pubs down at 10pm as Scotland led the way in opening hours 30 years ago to ensure less violence, but it also ensures less covid. Many pubs had moved to regulars only and certainly didn't let pub crawlers in as reserving on line was essential. The cure for me is that all tables must be booked in advance and 10pm is clearly wrong on many levels. Students are fairly good at entertaining themselves and union facilities offer great opportunities.
Whether your a publican or bar worker, a taxi driver or just a punter, the economics of 10pm dont add up.
Its like the resumption of sport. I've been waiting on the rather obvious decision to allow Melrose, Galashiels or Hawick to be allowed to use their facilities for fans, let's face it on non match days they'll be allowed to open their bars. Further up the East Coast the train stops at Kirkcaldy, Arbroath and Aberdeen where a trial match took place. Clearly Arbroath is where the match should've taken place.
If Arbroath and all lower league teams are allowed to let local season ticket holders into the matches we will have a meaningful statistical trial to see how various towns are doing. For me the logic isn't flawless, but its got a few less variables than a city like Aberdeen where the population is so large that a trial involving a few hundred fans is meaningless as cross contamination on the way to the match or after it would lead to skewed data.
Arbroath being a railway town probably has a consequential higher exposure, but my general thesis, is the virus cant move around town if it ain't in the town.
If Arbroath, Montrose, Forfar or Brechin (I only use Arbroath as they are famous for Pulsebeat Plus TSB performers of great 80's pop tunes) were to hold trial matches the likelihood is the local population are covid free, albeit the players do work in other towns and are at a much greater exposure.
This brings me back to the earlier point about students. Its not really about students but about the great interactivity associated with moving house. The plague upon our halls of residences and student flats of covid were anticipated and have resulted in a spike of testing and positive tests. The only thing we need to remind ourselves is that students know they should keep it to themselves. The ridiculous accusations about students is a wonderful blanket treatment that refuses to accept only 1% are spreading it, but they are doing a great job as they bounce from bubble to bubble.
The previous spikes were produced by the over 25's getting back into partying and the under 50's who still think there's some life left in them and isolated incidents highlighted by track and trace, eg Coupar Angus. Its very easy when a town spikes to convince locals to stay indoors but its not easy when they're told to tay indoors and there's no covid in town. They know it will arrive sometime but the idea of being locked down just because our testing capability is 20 times what it was in April, we should compare like with like and the current analysis is wide, varied and the conclusions randomly chosen.
The real issue politicians need to get their heads around is balancing lockdown against complacency. We know the world will continue but desperation really will hit home as the nights draw in and people see their jobs disappear.
Social Media creates new movements and as cambridge analytics proved are forces for good and bad. The younger you are the more likely you are to live through your online world.
Apps like Grinder and Tinder will doubtless have covid bolt ons but lets not beat about the bush, (better expressions should be used), sex is going to happen and not from 2m away!
So the rise in cases will continue in the short term but the main thing we need to do is continue to educate people about their responsibility to stop the spread and the vulnerable's to avoid catching it.
Life can and does continue, just in more comfort than before. When was the last time you got a train to London and didn't have to watch someone stand! I always dye my hair grey before getting on the train, or shave myself bald, just to have a wee bit of a chance of getting a seat. I used to book a seat until the rail companies got wise and pulled bookings on busy trains. "Sorry, our ticketing machine isn't working so its free seating", the guard would helpfully announce as he put the 800 reservations in the re-cycling. Its a tip learnt from Michael O'Leary and Ryanair flight turnaround times. If a train arrives at 4.46pm and is due to depart at 5pm, there is no way there's time to put all the reservations out, any 'time and motion' radge knows that!
So back to the students and the Covid 19 or 2020 as it'll be remembered. Within 5 weeks the campus will be covid free and lecturers and tutors will feel afe they wont catch anything as all the students have had it. There will be some extremely sad events where the covid has highlighted a previous hidden condition and taken a fair deeper bite in certain cases and these will be tragic, but perhaps not preventable.
I was never in covid denial and the care home cull I wrote about back in April was because our public policy was trying to catch up with itself having dismantled much of our pandemic machinery in austerity cuts nearly 10 years back. The speed at which we shut down our airspace was comical and even now, we still dont have people being temperature checked before flights, but we do have for going into a chiropodist. Worse still when they arrive, the customs and excise are only worried if they bring a dog with rabies, not a human carrying a virus.
We've closed so many doors but left open the ones causing the largest drafts. Away and boil yer heed springs to mind when the latest suggestions appear disjointed and ill-conceived, I just think they need some time out. Every door they open, eg resumption of sport, bars, whatever, is followed by lobbying for the next door to be open and they are crushed by it so resort to closing.
I recommend the politicians take the weekend off and put some menthal crystals in a bowl of boiling water and with a towel over their heads, steam a wee bit, relax, draw breath and start getting their carrots in a row!
Next week I'll tell you about my allotment
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