Well, if we ever needed a reminder in my house that covid is still with us, my daughter provided it, on Christmas Day no less. She was a bit under the weather, so we tested her, and sure enough, she tested positive. Great, just great. She is, by and large, absolutely fine, as is my wife, and as am I. The problem is that avoiding covid, when we are all under one roof, sharing a kitchen, bathroom, and living room, becomes next to impossible. I’ve been testing, and every test I’ve taken has come back negative, but it feels inevitable that I’ll come down with it, for what would be the second time.
I’ve been vaccinated, and boosted, and I had covid in January, so you’d think I’d weather a second round reasonably well, and perhaps I will, but nonetheless, it won’t be a great experience. There’s also the impact upon finances. Furlough and sick pay schemes have been scaled back, so going off sick is seriously risky. I cannot afford to be out of pocket (who can?), but then, is it fair to go to work with covid, and spread it to my colleagues and customers?
Are we now in a place, as a society, where we have to accept covid will be ever-present? It’s still hurting and killing people. It is not (despite protests to the contrary) merely like the flu. We’re into a balancing act now, between the impact of covid upon a stretched NHS, and the pressure upon society caused by lockdowns. We’re unlikely to head back to lockdowns, but can we afford to be complacent about covid?
2
0
20
