Today (Tuesday) at the Scottish government briefing, the First Minister made another attempt to treat us as grownups. She carefully explained the rise in numbers of infection, hospital admissions and deaths. She explained that the science shows that the rise is primarily caused by the infection getting into households and spreading to those within the household. Last week there was an outcry, quite rightly, at Margaret Ferrier for knowingly travelling on public transport while having felt unwell and then testing positive. Let us examine then how the virus gets into your house. Someone, knowingly or unknowingly, carrying the virus may have visited you. A member of your household may have brought it home from being contaminated at work or a leisure outing. These are the only ways the virus can move. That is why it is recommended that you don’t go visiting other households indoors.
Bottom line. Some people are obviously moving around with the virus on board. Now don’t go finger pointing. They may not have any symptoms and be totally unaware they have it. This is why we are being asked to follow the FACTS advice to cut down the risk of transmission. It is why we are being asked to assess if we really need to go into public places. I didn’t intend to do this rant but I am getting fed up of social media posts showing people like Boris’s dad blatantly flouting the advice. Today he had his mask on but not where it should be, we could still see his nose and mouth.
So, across the pond the US president (and a sizable chunk of his team) test positive for covid. One day locked up with his wife in the Whitehouse apartment was enough for him. Off to a military hospital he goes. Normally people in hospital with covid are isolated. Not the President. He got bored and decided to take his security team on a wee road trip around the hospital to wave thanks at all his supporters that gathered, potentially all infecting each other. When his doctors gave very mixed updates to the press, why did so many of them have to gather in front of the hospital? My interpretation of events is that illness makes the President feel weak in the eyes of the people (he thinks) so he goes to hospital for a few days and claims he gets it and he beat it. Now he looks strong again (he thinks). One massive publicity stunt for the upcoming election.
Tomorrow there are going to be tighter restrictions put to the Scottish Parliament for approval. It has been stated there will not be a lockdown but that some added restrictions are needed to reduce the infection rate. Since the second world war successive generations have had less and less restrictions imposed on how they lead their lives. I can see that for people who have grown up in the 24/7 lifestyle that doing without is tough. Truth is though this virus is tougher than us. We cannot yet eradicate it. We have got to get used to living in a manner that slows down the spread. We have to create the gaps that it cannot jump across. Yes, some people are being isolated but we have technology now to keep in touch. We have all sorts of gadgets to keep us occupied. When I was a child we had no phone, t.v. was only transmitted between certain hours and there were only 3 channels. If this had happened back then, we really would have been isolated. Please try your best to comply with the guidelines and encourage family and friends as well.
P.S. my accreditation for what I say about spreading of disease is I was a nurse and yes, there was a theory and a practical block on infectious diseases in my training.