Freedom Dazed

So freedom day came and went. We haven't descended into the next circle of pandemic hell. Or have we? I'm not convinced the numbers are even accurate anymore. I'm not a conspiracy peddler, we know the government has form on manipulating data. Not least of all because last year it massaged its PPE figures by saying a pair of gloves, for example, was two sets of gear when, clearly, that's twisting the truth.

How can it be that, following a weekend where cases rose to 54 thousand a day, the subsequent week sees such a dramatic drop, that, by the next weekend, it's half that? Cases have then been hovering around that figure up to this day. Does the virus just stop now that everyone can go clubbing? There must be something else in play. After all we know the government is motivated to get everyone 'back in the office' rather than uphold sensible restrictions. They are after all a cabinet of cranks let loose by Brexit.

It could simply be that we are not testing enough, although I'm not entirely sure that's true. There is some question as to whether people are reporting covid properly. The symptoms are more emblematic of a cold if you're vaccinated so it's possible that a higher rate of infections is being shrugged off as something else. That isn't good, it means the virus is still spreading and present in communities. It doesn't matter if you're vaccinated because we want it to stop spreading, that's why we want herd immunity, but we certainly haven't reached that over the last couple of weeks. We'll be lucky to have reached 60% of the whole population.

Certainly it is a combination of these, and possibly other, factors. Again this comes back to the prevailing ideology, driven by the Tories: end furlough, business as usual. Why else are they trying to reframe the pandemic as a 'pingdemic'. Another stupid phrase designed to trivialise a dangerous situation that has led to many deaths. They don't care after all. If people switch off the app then the app can't tell them they are infected. If they ignore actual covid in favour of something more mundane then they won't get tested. But they can still be spreading the virus. 

We are in the twilight zone. I can't see how this situation is ever going to improve. The government aren't minded to institute public health measures if they can see 'acceptable' figures while everything is open. That is the acceptable collateral damage capitalism allows, just the same as structural unemployment is acceptable under capitalism because a reserve army of labour (i.e. the unemployed) is a price worth paying to keep wages low. Forced competition, never mind the human cost.

The uncertainty all this has caused is one of the most pernicious aspects of this entire debacle. yet throughout the Tories will continue to wage their stupid culture war. How many more kids will Boris force upon the latest of his brood mares? How many more kids will Patel deny because refugees are to be scorned and hated? I'm tired of the endless gaslighting.