Today was auspicious for the media portraying the relaxation of Covid Restrictions as some sort of freedom from prison. BBC Breakfast featured a reporter flying off to the Algarve with others, taking the opportunity presented by the relaxations to travel to a country, which still have the virus, but is judged to be safe for tourists. Something which could change overnight leaving people either stranded or rushing home to avoid quarantine.
Quarantine or self isolation, however you describe it is the most unpopular of the tools employed to fight the virus, alongside the closure of virtually everything that we value in our society, sporadically since March 2020.
It is inevitable in my view, that the there will be an increase in new infections with consequences for the NHS, but the hope is that the high level of vaccinations will at least prevent the worst that could happen, serious illness or death. We can only judge that with hind sight as so far, as I know, the Government doesn't have a "Seer" who can accurately predict these things, so it is a best guess based on a risk assessment and the law of probabilities, which can be a fickle thing.
I don't begrudge those who feel relief at the relaxation of measure and choose to do things that I would consider risky (I won't be hugging anyone apart from my spouse anytime soon). They are entitled to behave as the choose, as long as their actions do not harm others, whether unintentional or otherwise.
I have hope that we as a family can meet (at a distance) but we won't be popping in and out of each others homes anytime soon. Just being able to see and talk to them face to face, without a mask will be enough for now. The have vulnerable members as do we. Both of us are among the older generation, I am diabetic, my spouse had a stroke last year, which with her pre-existing conditions make her very vulnerable indeed. We will need time, space and evidence that we can do these things safely before we relax our guard.
The thing lots of people is ignoring is that the virus is still alive, growing and spreading, with increasingly different and possible more dangerous variations. We are told that we will learn to live with it, with vaccines being updated as needed, just like the annual Flue Jab. That the virus will become another one to catch, like the measles or chicken pox (or Shingles) or the Flue. We can vaccinate it all away.
But more recent evidence has emerged that vaccination denial is an issue. Many parents who left their children unvaccinated after the MMR (Mumps, Measles and Rubella) scandals in the past 20-30 years means that we have a hidden rump of vulnerable adults now, who could catch anyone of those diseases and potentially become seriously ill or even die. They haven't been got rid of like Small pox, but are there in the background, like Coronavirus, waiting for a victim to infect.
We don't hear much about it, until a story hits the media of an individual who has become seriously ill or died from one of those infections that we all forgot had been sorted years ago.
So the anti-vax people who are currently actively spreading their misinformation need to take a pause. They have the choice or not to accept vaccination, but seeking to manipulate public opinion through their misleading and outright lies is something they should be held to account for - soon I hope.
