COVID: one year on

MONDAY, 6 APRIL 2020

The big news

I wish Alexander Boris de Piffel Johnson, or anyone else for that matter, any ill.

Late yesterday evening, news came the PM had been moved into the ICU as his condition worsened through the day.

Apparently.

I say apparently, because two sources leaked that he was already on a ventilator, which a spokesperson rubbished saying the PM was receiving his ministerial red boxes and was leading the Government as usual, but from hospital.

I suppose the question that needs to be asked here is, why did the Government (!) downplay the PM's condition for so long, really until last night? It makes them appear less trustworthy than they already were.

Then at five, Dominic Raab, the "designated survivor" of HMG admitted that he had not in fact spoken to the PM since Saturday, two full days.

So, we have no PM. No Parliament. So, no oversight or scrutiny as to what is going, just a daily 30 minute press conference during which latest infection and mortality rates are revealed. And on occasion fingers pointed at millionaire footballers.

Infection rates seem to be slowing, but that could be due to slowness in registering deaths. Last week it emerged that the mortality rate on 29th of March was under reported by 25% as it only included people who had died in hospitals, not those who had died in care homes or elsewhere.

It feels like now, anything could happen.

And yet at home, we're safe. We have food, cats, each other, and now Amazon Prime to entertain us, if we need.

Our little piece of England is fine, and we are happy.

WEDNESDAY, 8 APRIL 2020

Fighting on

People like a good war metaphor.

The latest is that Boris is Battling the virus. Or hell beat the virus as he's a fighter.

The nation is at war, perhaps.

But the truth is, in using such metaphors to describe battling an illness suggests that if the person succumbs to it, then it was because they didn't fight enough, because they were not good enough.

Survival or not depends on many things, genes, promptness of treatment and a whole load of other variables.

Again, for the record, I hope he survives, because I am a human and wish no harm on another human, no matter what they might have done in the pass. Saying that, one hopes that he and his colleagues in the various Cabinets and Governments of the last decade will reflect on the cuts and policies they have forced on the NHS, and it would be nice if one of them, just one of them, fessed up and admitted they got it wrong.

But according to the Health Secretary, now is not the time to talk about nurse's pay. Well if not now, fucking when? Nurses, doctors and staff are putting their lives on the line every day. Are the Government saying they can have a round of applause, but nothing extra in their wallets?

Even after this shit show?

In the UK and US, the unfolding horror is a direct result of policy decisions made my the respective leaders, and whether they did a good job should be based on comparing infection and mortality rates from other countries.

Trump is already blaming everyone but himself, even though his own Twitter fed show his terrible decisions and policies from only three weeks ago. In the UK, the Government wasted two months failing to increase supply of PPE and other equipment, we should not let them get away with this.

11 members of Transport for London have died from the virus, probably caught from a passenger, they are not mentioned. I mean I know there's a lot of stuff going on at the moment, but their lives must be hell too!

THURSDAY, 9 APRIL 2020

A round of applause

Tonight, at eight, the country will stand at their doors and clap the heroes in the NHS and other industries that are keeping the country functioning. Amny are doing their job even though it will put their very life at risk, and after a decade of pay freezes, staffing cuts. And yet they still do it.

I did not, and would never vote Conservative. But as well as those who will be applauding the HNS tonight, those who voted Tory could just punch themselves in the face for five minutes, that would be nice.

You voted Conservative even after seeing what they did to the NHS, the Armed Forces, The Police, The Fire Brigade, and 130,000 by the Government's own figures died as a result of austerity, and you thought, yeah, lets have more of that.

I get it you didn't like Corbyn, well, neither did I. But anything would have been better than this clusterfuck. Even Corbyn.

You knew what Johnson would be like, you voted for him anyway.

Well done.

We now have the invisible Priti as Home Secretary. Now refusing four times to appear before a select committee.

You voted for Johnson who appointed people on political belief rather than on their ability to do their job. You saw him kick Ken Clarke out last November, and thought, yeah, five more years of that. Why not?

Well, we have Dominic Raab as stand in PM.

That's where we are. A man who barely knew about Dover.

Well done you.

FRIDAY, 10 APRIL 2020

Recovery

Last night, the PM was moved out of the ICU back onto a normal ward.

It goes without saying, this is good news.

It does not reflect the fact that Johnson falling ill has made the country more aware of how serious the illness was. Its that over 7000 people have died, many doctors, nurses, care home personnel, bus drivers, shop workers. And this total does not include those who did not die in hospital. Nor those who died of other diseases or illnesses and could not get the care they needed.

The numbers are truly awful.

And this is down to the lateness of the Government taking it seriously, and the lack of PPE and equipment for front line staff.

We are several weeks from the peak, and a similar amount of lockdown will be needed afterwards to ensure there is not a second peak. So, we will be here, at home, for at least two more months.

It would be better for the Government and whoever is actually running it, f anyone is, to be honest and say this now, rather than dangling the carrot that things might be eased Monday week.

Johnson appointed his Cabinet and Minister purely of pureness of thought in Brexit. His is a Government created to delver Brexit, not to deal with national emergencies. So many Ministers have gone AWOL there's no point in listing them all. With the rotating faceless faces at the daily briefings come muddled messages, backed up with over-zealous policing, soon people will ignore the plea for lockdown. And what then?

To see how well, or how badly, the UK is doing, data is easily comparable with other countries, showing how the earlier the virs was taken serious, the less the mortality and infection rates were. Graphs flatlined.

So yes, lets be happy the PM survived, but over 7000 have already died. Many more will leave the ICU in a body bag.

Earlier this week, the Home Office announced that non-UK doctors and nurses would automatically have their permission to remain in the UK extended.

Sadly, last night it was quietly announced that all other non-UK workers would have their right withdrawn as planned on the last day of 2020.

Many thanks for helping the country, now fuck off.

Charming. And another National scandal.

SATURDAY, 11 APRIL 2020

Adding insult

Last night, and again this morning, the Health Secretary stated that there was a shortage of PE in the NHS because staff were using too much of it.

I have no words to describe this.

980 people died in the UK yesterday. I say 980, most did not die yesterday, some deaths occurred as long ago as 5th March, heaven knows what the real figure is. But the deaths are piling up, with London on second to New York as the global pandemic epicentre.

I hate to bring party politics into it, but I am anyway. But can you imagine the noise Fleet Street would have made if Labour under Corbyn or Starmer had overseen 980 deaths in a single day? But for the Tories and Boris this is a "good" Good Friday, apparently.

I'd hate to see a bad one.

Johnson will be recovering for a month at least, meanwhile, no idea who, if anyone, is in charge. Maybe its Larry the Downing Street cat?

Daily figures of fatalities are not reliable, so it seems, and little other data is available, and yet most seem to hope that the travel restrictions will be lifted on Monday week.

Hmmmmm. Had the correct travel restrictions and social distancing policies been implemented at the right time, rather than on or after March 12th, we wouldn't be here, but in order to get ahead of the curve, or ahead of the guessed curve, there has to be restrictions.

Germany is carrying out half a million tests per week. The UK has done 200,000 in total. Now tell me Johnson's doing or done a great job, because he is shit.

SUNDAY, 12 APRIL 2020

Priti Vacant

Yesterday The Home Secretary, Priti Patel, lead the Government's daily updates on the COVID-19 virus.

In it she said the following number of testing had taken place: three hundred thousand, thirty four, nine hundred and seventy four thousand.

Years ago, Labour Shadow Cabinet Minister made a mistake in reading out a number of similar size, and has not been allowed to live it down. So, Dianne Abbott is black... and not a Tory.

But this is least of Ms Patel's worries, or our worries, as when asked about the pack of PPE that frontline NHS staff are reporting, she said something along the lines of: "I am sorry if people feel there is not enough PPE".

No apology, but the suggestion the mistake is the NHS staff putting their lives on the line every day.

On Friday, an aircraft of mobile ventilators were received by the UK from Turkey.

But this wasn't sourced through the EU, but by the MOD by a request through NATO, as it would seem the Government would rather not receive any or sufficient help that have any aid from our through EU sources. Your life is worth less than their political insanity and purity of thought.

Nearly another thousand people were added to the list of deaths, though these were those in hospital and had received a positive test before deaths. Those who died elsewhere or who had not received a test though their death certificate will list COVID-19 as the cause, were not counted.

The actual number of those who have died will be much, much higher than has already been admitted to.

MONDAY, 13 APRIL 2020

Another looking glass

I have written about Brexit for nearly four years, on and off, and in that time I have remarked how the rhetoric from Brexiteers and the reality of what they espouse bare little resemblance. Stating something will happen in the way they describe, and repeating it over an over again does not make it more likely to pass, reality will have it otherwise.

Brexit was always goig to make the country poorer, make hundreds of thousands of people unemployed and lay waste to industries, but Brexiteers and their cheerleaders in the press banged on about freedom. Freedom to do this, that, the other. Their deal would be better than being a member of the EU; the biggest lie of all, but it was repeated.

Anyone who challenged this was pushing "project fear" and that was enough, so it seems to get legitimate concerns and points pushed to the side.

The only thing to be reported on was the current one true vision of Brexit.

And now COVID-19: even by official figures, a thousand people a day are dying. Many more if those who dies at home, in care homes or have not been tested. And this number will rise daily over the next week, probably the next month.

The press and digital media are mostly concentrating on the illness and recovery of the PM, painting this as a triumph, which it was. But the ray he was released from ICU a thousand others left in body bags. That was a bigger story. But, let's celebrate Boris!

Ireland and Germany had first cases and deaths at almost the same time as the UK, yet their death rates are a fraction of ours. Ireland locked down two weeks before the UK, doing so the weekend before St Patrick's Day, so that on the day of national celebration, all bars were closed. Germany tests 200,00o a day, the UK has barely done double that in total from the start of the crisis.

Germany has five times the number of ICU beds for population, and such strength in depth allowed those will mild symptoms to be treated. Germany is now in the process of releasing its lockdown. The UK has not yet reached its peak.

In the week before events overtook Government policy, 250,000 attended the Cheltenham Festival, and on the day after pubs and bars closed, ten thousand fans attended a concert in Wales by local band the Stereophonics. I remarked at the time that maybe the horsey set were immune, it seems that many who attended that day are now ill.

The Government has done its best, has taken advice, but clearly it has not got it right. Currently there is no oversight by anyone, and a thousand people are dying a day. Somehow, Parliament must sit. Electronically is not impossible. MPs might not be experts on COVID-19, but the evidence on which the Government based its decisions should be presented and questions, tough questions need to be asked. And now is the time, because as we have seen with the vote law-breaking during the referendum, after the event is too late. We need to ask questions, and get the answers now, even as the virus sweeps through the country.

Wether intentional or not, this Governments actions will result in perhaps tens of thousands of extra deaths, and as each and every one of us, who by the end will be touched by this in some way, deserve to know the answers, so that the innocent, the NHS, Civil Service, immigrants (again) don't get the blame. This was Government policy pure and simple.

One more point: UK Government advice is for people to isolate 7 days after last symptoms, WHO advice is for 14 days. Johnson was released from ICU on Thrsday, yet is back with his pregnant(!) girlfriend by Monday!