Pandemic Thoughts: November 2021

The Following is For Reference Only, the 2021 Summary will follow in four weeks' time.

Another month starts with our attention having wandered away from Covid for a while, instead taking interest in the COP26 intergovernmental conference on Climate Change, with a small amount of hope that after nearly two years of health crisis conditions around the globe,  world leaders might actually start to take the existential threat of the climate crisis just as seriously, but despite what feel like weeks of discussions little seems to come out of it, aside from a non-binding agreement to phase out coal usage, which hasn't been signed by the remaining major coal consuming economies. It's a horrible realisation to make, that those who would govern all of us have little real interest in long term planning for the benefit of future generations, setting targets to be met by 2050, long after any of them will have any stake in the future well-being of the world, but we really shouldn't be surprised, as we ought to be aware that as soon as challenges to the enduring problems of contemporary economics are faced, the wagons are circled in an attempt to protect the status quo, and after all this is the 26th such conference on the matter, and all the previous meetings have failed to create binding agreements and actions. So we have one less reason to feel hopeful after all that, and instead reflect on where the Pandemic is leading us as we transition out of the light half of Autumn and into the Dark Season, and despite having a few days of infections spiking above 50,000 per day, a renewed surge in the rate doesn't come to pass, and the familiar sort of numbers continue throughout the month, apparently fired most prominently among family groups, and with the under 12s being the most harshly affected group for the first time, showing that circulation among the un-vaccinated is still the major issue. It can all look like that Covid is becoming socially normalized, and the risk of infection has been allowed to become 'just one of those things' that people catch, with a panel scientists speculating that even in a best-case scenario, it could very plausibly be 2023 before Covid becomes a background disease, among the mix of regular ailments suffered by the general populace, while bad scenarios could have it lasting another five years, with social counter measures and annual booster vaccinations being a regular feature for some time to come.

So we can be pretty sure that the health service is going to continue struggle, losing capacity to the treatment of Covid patients in wards and ICUs, while being compelled to take protective measures for the protection of staff and patients, with all the costs that such actions incur, which is probably why LTHT has recommended that staff don't celebrate Christmas parties in the coming month, as the infection risks remain, and that's not a development that stings me too hard, as I'd never convinced myself of the wisdom of hitting the town in December, and now I'm being granted a reason to decline that's out of my hands. Also, for my good social duty, once the walking year is done, the literal next thing to do in my week of work, on Novemebr 9th, is to get my booster jab, attending the vaccination centre at Elland Road, which has been moved from the Centenary Suite to a permanent tent in the car park by the motorway, so all through the session from booking in, to needle time and the 15 minute recovery sit afterwards, the air is filled with white noise of traffic on the M621, which turns out to be much less unpleasant than the after affects of the Pfizer vaccine. It kicks my ass for another 24 hour burst of feeling like absolute shite, which has to be quickly overcome, as My Mum is coming to visit for the remainder of the week, in order to aid me in the acquisition of a few things that are needing replacement in my flat, like replacing the microwave oven that has done me service since 1997, and the 27 year old rug that was the first item of furniture that I moved in with in 2007, as well as getting a new cover for my sofa (so the original one can get cleaned and its lifespan extended). We also have a whole day burned as Currys absolutely botch the delivery of a new fridge-freezer (to replace the old one with an over-loud fan and compressor), finally arriving on early Saturday morning to land in between two social whirls, doing a flying dash over the Pennines to have a dinner out with My Sister's family at an eatery in Milnrow in order to mark a pair of birthdays in person for the first time in an age, as well as flying over to Skipton to see friends of My Mum while the option is there, which crams more expenditure that we've made in a long while and as much activity as we'd had in my last holiday week when I'd really hoped for a time that was just a bit more relaxing.

Still, despite the shopping and sociability, we still have to remember that we are in a Pandemic situation, regarding the rising infection rates across Central Europe, where vaccination programmes are still a step or two behind those in the UK, with some countries choosing to re-impose total lockdown measures, while others increase the number of social restrictions, especially for the un-vaccinated, while over here, we still have the Health Secretary claiming there's no need to enact a Plan B, despite the immediately apparent risks (echoing what I've always called 'the Picard Syndrome'). It's tune that changes rather suddenly when the next variant of concern is publicly highlighted, the Omicron variant, which has been identified in South Africa, and over the course of the last five days of the month is reported as being the vaccine resistant variant that will doom us all, to an infectious variant that results in only mild cases, to a conclusion that lands somewhere in between the two, a situation not aided by having the PM make a statement when he clearly hasn't been properly briefed. We'll thus have to wait for those who know what they're talking about to clarify the issue, while the upshot is the immediate restoration of a number of foreign travel restrictions, and the re-imposition of compulsory mask-wearing in shops, public places and on public transport (which never should have been lifted in the first place), a measure which I'm pretty certain they'd wanted to do ahead of the Christmas shopping season anyway, but couldn't have otherwise done without losing face, and we thus find ourselves at another crossroads in the Pandemic, wondering what might come next. I'm happier, at least, to see covered faces back on the crowded trains, where masks had stopped being used but many selfish travellers had seemingly needed to maintain social distancing by solely occupying double seats, but otherwise we find our selves wondering if we're going to manage a properly sociable festive season, or look to another Christmas getting cancelled, ahead of another long and trying Winter season in the early going of 2022, just when we'd all verbally hoped that the coming year might not prove to be the almost total washout that 2021 had virtually become.

Next Up: What Have We Learned in 2021?