Well I guess we have a week to go before the next, January-based, lockdown. The scientists are calling for it which means they are screaming for it. Measured language, for public consumption (so as not to offend gammon in their native environments), is always a step behind true sentiment. Certainly we can't go on as we are. In fact I just visited the shop and forgot to put my mask on! The shame I now feel given how good I've been about this. So embarrassed I put it on while at the till right before I walked out probably drawing even more attention to myself.
I just don't understand where this new spread has come from. If ti's true the new strain is more infectious then that would indicate people just aren't doing enough of the measures to curtail spread. That's the problem. We know masks and social distancing works even against this more infectious strain, for the same reasons. Therefore, since the lockdown, I conclude people aren't doing enough. That is going to have to change or things will get worse and worse.
A vaccine isn't a silver bullet either. Certainly it will help, but it could also promote false security. There will still need to be a period of public caution. We won't be able to walk out of the injection appointment and toss our masks in the air before running naked through the streets. It will still present an existential threat, especially globally. Many countries in the third world will struggle to get this vaccine, thanks again capitalism, which means it won't be fully eradicated for years. Then there is the question of whether the vaccine will need a regular boost or replacement, like with the flu.
Schools are set to open for the new year in a weeks's time. There is no way, thanks to the complete death of support from the government, to prepare them. They will thus remain a vector as they have been throughout. Unless this is addressed the root of communal spread cannot be excised. Although cases did drop during the lockdown at the same time as school's being open. But the only safe answer is the safe answer we've already seen: the March lockdown. Schools shut throughout and we suppressed the spread, after a few months, relatively successfully. Can that be replicated, or are people just now too tired. The tier system clearly isn't working.
Only a few more days of this shitty year left. Then another shitty year beckons. It's going to be a long road before this is over. People have got to do what they can. That is the essence of anarchism. Unfortuantely people are also infantilised by capitalism so the road ahead will be a long struggle as, hopefully, people come to terms with both their own power, and the realisation our leaders are crap.
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