Dimwits Don't Wear Masks

Yesterday over 49,000 people tested positive for Covid infection.

Within the last week an average of 124 people died as a result of Covid each day in the UK.

That’s two double decker buses full of seated people. Friends, wives, husbands, grandparents, mothers, fathers and the occasional child.

Every day.

If a double decker bus ran off the road and into a ditch killing all its occupants there would be outrage. An enquiry into what happened.

Two on the same day. Well, that’s hard to imagine. Almost as bad as everyone dying on a crashed airplane. Well four a week actually if the weekly figures are compared with a Boeing 747.

BUT

The UK Government website displays the numbers vaccinated first thereby placing emphasis on this rather than the many thousands actually affected by the virus on a daily basis. Yes, vaccination appears to be saving lives, reducing the severity of illness in most of those vaccinated but coronavirus is still there. Still killing people in airplane loads.

At the start of Lockdown 1 I was part of a group of friends who started zooming each Sunday, initially to support our dear friend John who was completely socially isolated as a result. As my Blog readers will know John sadly died but not of Covid. However, we have carried on zooming most weeks as we reach out to each other, voices of reason, debating the news headlines, deciding which masks are the best to wear on an airplane and in shops…

As a group – all retired - we fit into the brigade of vaccinated, eagerly awaiting boosters, mask compliant, sanitising, handwashing, still social distancing where we can and avoiding places/situations where we can’t.

Yet it feels as though there are not many of us left.

At the weekend Mr H and I stopped at a service station on the M5 to use the loo and it was buzzing with crowds of non-mask wearing people pushing past me as I headed, slowly, towards the sign for the Toilets. Mr H as usual was by my side to block those non mask wearing pushers who were in too much of a hurry to give a wobbly me the space I needed.

You wouldn’t think we were in the midst of a pandemic at all would you I said to Mr H as we walked. I was feeling so angry I checked the UK Gov Guidance which states: When You Should Wear a Face Covering: We expect and recommend that members of the public continue to wear face coverings in crowded and enclosed places (sounds like a service station to me…) where you come into contact with people you don’t meet. For example, on public transport…

This brings me to Dimwits and back to my zooming friends. In particular our zoom master, the organiser of our weekly chats Jeff Smith. He has kept us entertained with his lengthy emails, summarising and commenting on the day’s news headlines. He has just returned from a holiday in Mallorca and this was our zoom sponsors take on what he witnessed…

There are just so many cases nowadays in the UK, very nearly 45,000 yesterday… at an average rate of 387 per every 100,000 over the last seven days. 

According to Reuters this morning, in Spain over the last seven days, the average is currently at 4% of its peak… that is an average of 1,538 cases per day, just 22 cases per 100,000. A significant difference.

 Our country isn't using avoidance of infection as one of its tools to tackle it, it appears we are relying on the vaccine alone.

 Elsewhere in Europe, even though 'things' are increasingly allowed, going shopping, meeting up, dining out; mask wearing indoors remains mandatory. In smaller shops and cafes, the numbers allowed indoors are restricted, and some social distancing is still in place. All hospitality staff engaging with customers wear masks.

 In a hotel we stayed in for our last night, our temperatures were taken at check in. The breakfast was held on the covered (but open both ends) roof terrace (yes it's warmer on the med) and everyone still had to wear a mask. The tables were well spaced and you had to wear plastic gloves for collecting food from the buffet. 

 They haven't forgotten, they aren't ignoring it. Despite starting after the UK, they're as vaccinated now and often more vaccinated - in percentage of population - than we are. But they recognise that reducing infection is key to success.

 Double vaccines alone do not prevent infection from the delta variant, it reduces the severity, but unfortunately, it doesn't guarantee it won't kill you. Above the age of 65, maybe even 60, there are deaths amongst the double vaccinated and the ratios and numbers increase with age.

 We all have to be careful.

 In the airport at Mallorca, we saw signs (in multiple languages) instructing everyone to 'respect respiratory etiquette'.  

 An excellent message. Or as I might say 'wear your bloody mask. And wear it correctly, you dimwit'!

 Here it feels as though the government message is that we are reverting to 'herd immunity' through spreading of infection. It appears as though they're not interested with how many folk get ill or infect others (even deaths), just as long as the NHS doesn't get overrun. 

 I don't understand it, I don't agree with it, but most of the UK’s population (from the evidence I see) seem not to be bothered at all.

 

This is the personal view of an intelligent member of the public who has witnessed first-hand the different approaches in the UK and Europe. It is clear that a large percentage of the UK population don’t want to protect their fellow man.

 I feel that reintroducing mandatory face coverings and social distancing in England (if only to give a visible sense to all that we are still in the middle of a Pandemic) as in other parts of Europe could have a significant impact on the numbers of airplanes, we are filling with deaths from Covid infection in the UK.

 And as the dark nights draw in and winter takes hold, the population of people who have not been exposed to the usual colds, flus and respiratory infections because of lockdowns are now moving around as though these infections also don’t exist.

 As someone with underlying health conditions and a trashed immune system I am worried. I am vaccinated, wear a mask, maintain social distancing but despite this am fearful that tomorrow or the next day I could start coughing and end up as another statistic on one of those buses or airplanes…