COVID — FROM HERE TO NORMALITY?

HEADING towards the relaxing of all the COVID-19 rules in mid-July, one can’t help but think we should all be feeling super-excited!

We’ve already planned two trips away in the UK—so no flying involved, but still the thought of being out of our home environment and once again able to see family and friends we haven’t seen for 18 months-to-two years is heart-warming.

The pandemic has made me, and I’m sure many others, consider how special our family and friends are and how much we need human contact in all areas of our daily lives.

Our COVID-enforced isolation has proven how easy it is to become detached despite the wonders of technology—and quite simply there’s nothing to compare with face-to-face contact, a warm smile and best of all… a great big hug!

All these human interactions are imperative for the wellbeing of each and every one of us. The lack of human contact during the pandemic has undoubtedly sparked the huge increase in the number of people suffering with both their physical and mental health, which of course are closely linked.

Being confined to our homes, restricted movement, separation from our loved ones, loneliness and fear for the future are just some of the abnormal situations in which we’ve found ourselves—and not by choice.

So, going forward, how easy will it be to return to the lives and freedoms we enjoyed all those months ago?

It would be nice to say: “very easy”. But, of course, it won’t be.

For those who’ve continued to commute to work every day during the pandemic it may feel much the same. Yet, even for those people, there will still be concerns—and for their families and friends.

If one child in a school ‘bubble’ contracts COVID then the whole bubble—sometimes up to 300 children—is sent home for ten days.

How absurd is this?

But good news! The government has now decided to scrap bubbles because of the hundreds of thousands of pupils who have been, and still are, off school unnecessarily. Though not until August 16—which, in case our Minister of Eduction hasn’t noticed, is smack-bang in the middle of the school holidays!

Why not just scrap bubbles now?

The reality of COVID-19 is that we hope to now be on top of it—thanks to the vaccination programme. But children will continue to catch it because they’re not being vaccinated.

However, if they do contract it, surely they can stay home until they recover; just as they would with any cold or infection?

As for the UK economy, we cannot continue as we have been doing. Financially the country is living on borrowed time and money—and every penny of that will have to be paid back.

While I can’t wait for the lifting of restrictions, it greatly concerns me that we still have decisions being made by politicians who’ve proven, time and time again since the pandemic started, they don’t really know what they’re doing.

It feels as though they treat COVID-19 as a game; and if you lose the first time you just keep throwing the dice until you eventually win.

More worrying is how governments and ‘scaremongers’ around the world are continuing to control populations using scare tactics, confusing messages and restricting people’s lives on a daily basis.

I have no doubts that, if and when we open up on July 19, there will be an explosion of people out-and-about, enjoying life again—though the government is relying on them to self-isolate should they be ‘pinged’ by the NHS app…

… which is simply never going to happen!

So I think it’s a ‘suck it and see’ move by the government. They have ignored the scientific advice and clearly believe they know better.

In the end COVID-19 will become just one of many other viruses we have to live with. And sadly, as happens with the flu each year, there will be a number of people who succumb to it.

On a brighter note, we still have summer to look forward to. The question is… when?

’Til next time,

Granny FlapjaX