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1/ I am struggling to understand why there are those that deny Covid 19 as a problem. There’s too much noise at the moment. I absolutely encourage balanced debate, discussion of facts, pursuit of science, and avoidance of conspiracy theories.
2/ It’s never made any sense to me that government want “control” by having us all locked down. There is no gain whatsoever for any government to have economic armageddon. And what of the pcr cycle times?
3/ Personally, and I may be wrong, I doubt that testing labs are varying the amplification cycles from time to time to conflate case numbers. Again that would suggest a major coordinated conspiracy which just isn’t likely at all.
4/ It is however likely that there are a contributory number of non infectious cases picked up, or detection of previous Covid infection from weeks or months ago. But these false positives are not the main driver of current case numbers. Hospital admissions tell their own story.
5/ Hospital admissions tell their own story. Stories and images from lots of other European countries support this. Balance- yes, but denying there’s a problem- no. I have wished that nphet and mainstream media could give a little more balance and less full on doom and gloom.
6/ The message is and has always been simple- wash hands, limit contacts, wear a mask (this suggestion did change as evidence grew), and socially distance. The control of this has always been in our hands, our personal responsibility, the choices that we make.
7/ I’ve never wanted or encouraged full lock downs. I fear the unreported devastation from lockdowns (isolation, depression, suicides, non Covid health issues, domestic abuse, job losses leading to years of stress dealing with banks/rent/mortgages and family disharmony).
8/ But there can be no denying what’s happening at present - Covid cases, real cases, sick patients with Covid, are on the increase, staff are sick, wards are shutting down because staff are out with Covid or as close contacts.
9/ Our GPs are all reporting a massive increase in suspected cases of Covid19 requesting consultation and testing. So the reality at present is disappointing, unfortunate, but requires (I hope), the last big sacrifice from all of us.
10/ We must be optimistic about the vaccine roll out but this take many months, and we can’t forget what we must need to do now because we are relying on a vaccine. I worry that the pace of the vaccinations will begin too slowly.
11/ I have witnessed so many examples of people ignoring the guidelines - turning up for a tennis match while awaiting a test result for a son or daughter living at home, attending a gym awaiting a test result, and then testing positive the next day.
12/ We cannot ignore the guidance simply because it doesn’t suit our schedule or narrative or because it’s currently inconvenient.
13/ The risk very soon is that the hospital system will be overwhelmed- perhaps not due solely to Covid admissions but because wards will become Covid only, or staff will be unable to come to work due to self isolating
14/ Hence beds will be lost for non Covid admissions, and zero non Covid elective work will take place. I sincerely hope that we can really ramp up vaccinations. Over 80% of nursing homes in NI are now vaccinated.
15/ Israel has in 9 days vaccinated over half a million people, over 5% of its population, and their aim is to vaccinate over 150000 people a day, and to vaccinate 20% of the population by the end of January.
16/ I shall remain optimistic, because we have to.
