Open letter to…

I got mad, I wrote to the Government, well, to my MP, expressing my dissatisfaction with the apparent lack of action being taken over the COVID-19 outbreak (see here: A memo to a higher office). Well, I wasn’t expecting it but I received an answer later the same day, by email, thanking me for my communication and assuring me that the Government:
“…has a clear path to ensure the public and the vulnerable are protected.”

The very next day articles were published explaining the situation and the reasons behind the Government’s response. It’s not touchy-feely, there’s no bleeding heart liberalism in there but when you read into it, it does make sense.

I went off half-cocked I suppose.
Most people if infected will only have mild symptoms, recover and, importantly, become immune. If everyone is locked-down and isolated, the number of cases of infection dwindles but nobody becomes immune, and just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water…

I’ve seen posts on Facebook, and elsewhere, saying things like: “Jeremy wouldn’t have done this to us”, well, I rather think that he would have.

Now, I’m no fan of Boris, or Jeremy for that matter, but obviously I do realise that it’s not Boris going home each day and saying; “I know, tomorrow I’ll tell then that there will inevitably be deaths.”

The Government is being guided by The Department of Health & Social Care and Public Health England who in their turn are being guided by medical professionals and experts in communicable diseases. The “experts”, those who really do know about such things are advising a course of action that on the face of it sounds callous. Let people become infected, acknowledge that there will be deaths, manage the spread of the virus.

It’s a gamble, guided by “best practice”, what else could it be when you have a disease that nobody is immune to and for which no cure yet exists? It sounds counter-intuitive when compared to an immediate lock-down, but parts of Italy were locked-down and look what happened there.

The bottom line is that there will be deaths caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the associated COVID-19 disease it produces. No government, no country has the resources to ensure that nobody dies in a situation like this.

The Government advises that the time for more stringent measures is upon us.
We should avoid pubs, clubs, restaurants, mass gatherings etc., okay, reading through the myriad documents available it does indeed seem that this is the thing to do, to reduce the burden on the NHS as the infection rate peaks but the decision not to ORDER that pubs, clubs, restaurants, mass gatherings etc. should be cancelled is in my opinion a little callous, and why is this? Because then the Chancellor would have to put his 350 billion quid where his mouth is and that is perhaps something that Jeremy would have done differently.

Anyway, stay safe out there and if you are one of those working in the NHS keeping us safe, or working in delivery supply-chains keeping us fed or one of the myriad others that have to work to keep society going… Thank you.

As for all those selfish tossers emptying the supermarket shelves for no other reason that sheer greed and selfishness, I hope you choke on your toilet paper and pasta bake.