Ping pong

Apparently, there's a scene in Chenobyl (the TV series) where to stop their giegercounters clicking too much, the machine's sensitivity is turned down.

One of the solutions to the pingdemic is to change the settings on the app.

Ignoring the reason why people are being pinged in ever greater numbers is the fact that the virus is now being allowed to rampage free through the younger part of the population.

Had the virus been surpressed and our borders secure, life could really be back to normal here, like it is in Australia and NZ, though there has been a surge in cases in Oz, though not on the scale we are seeing here.

Odd then to see our papers demanding that people be allowed to ignore the pings or be tested instead rather than actually surpressing the spread. Almost as though they are ignoring, like the Government, the mistakes in the unlocking last year.

Yesterday, the first real effect of the Government's unlocking policy was the decision of both the Australian and New Zealand rugby league teams not to compete in the world cup in England in December this year. Seems quite a sensible move to me, but drew sharp critism from the organisers and the UK Government.

Infection rates have dropped by about 20% this week, either due to a slowing down of infections (unlikely) or people not using or deleting the app so not getting tested.

Hospitalisation rates are now climbing, as are deaths. I mean, this is hardly mentioned, now that 84 people are dying a day again.

The country has lost it's collective mind.

Most papers on Thursday lead with the expected food shortages, caused, the mostly agreed, by the pingdemic. But there were 70,000 vacancies for drivers before the pings, and so that is not it. Much expected were problems once hospitality reopened fully and demand for supplies went up, there was no chance that the chains could cope.

And what caused the 70,000 vacancies? Well, partly because there have been no HGV tests for nearly 18 months, so natutal wastage hasn't been replaced, but there is the Brexit-shaped elephant in the room and the hoops that EU citizens have to jump through to live and work here, the red tape that the hard Brexit the UK Government imposed and the fact pay in the UK just isn't worth the effort to move here.