Corona Diaries
A daily diary of the Covid-19 pandemic, from February to July 2020.
Latest entries
Corona Diaries
How much have I learned?
The other day I asked a handful of individuals, all non-medical, about their worries. What troubled them most? “The late effects,” one replied. “What about those?” “Which ones?” I queried.…
Corona Diaries
How safe is air conditioning?
When all this started, I remember being told that Covid-19 could only be transmitted by direct contact with a sufferer, or from a fomite , or from large droplets that…
Corona Diaries
Threat to the nervous system
I should have thought harder when I noticed patients’ symptoms were changing. I overlooked that the nature of the scientific literature was shifting at the same time. At the start,…
Corona Diaries
Mischief for the future
When Covid-19 first appeared, all the discussion was respiratory. The chances were, if you caught the bug, you might make it through in one piece. If you were old or…
Corona Diaries
The forgotten sector
When I feel it is time to have a snapshot view of my country, I make a beeline for the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and its coronavirus (COVID-19) roundup…
Corona Diaries
You ain’t seen nothing yet
The Prime Minister has done it, at least he has so far. From 4 July the nation’s lockdown status is being radically reduced in an attempt to kick life back…
Corona Diaries
An unacceptable failure
I went for a drive today, not something I do commonly these days, and was astonished by what I saw. It was a long drive, from Cumbria in the north…
Corona Diaries
Unscrupulous operators
At a time when there is so much bad news, anything good is welcome. Consequently, when the Prime Minister announced today that a major breakthrough had occurred in the management…
Corona Diaries
It is still easy to catch this virus
I find it odd that the nation is largely talking as if the virus has gone, and the thing has vanished forever. I only have to look at the global…
Corona Diaries
Fake scientific news
This morning I awoke at some unearthly hour when my computer went “Ping!” Normally I would turn away, but for some reason I scrabbled in the half dark, turned on…
Corona Diaries
A new world order
How times change. A few weeks ago, it was touch and go. Now, if public behaviour is to be believed, the UK’s troubles are almost over. Around the world there…
Corona Diaries
I’m positive but I’m not
A question I am commonly asked, and one with which I see politicians struggle, is whether having Covid-19 confers immunity to the sufferer. If so, for how long would a…
Corona Diaries
Learning the truth
Some weeks ago, at the evening government briefing, a graph that had once been shown regularly, simply vanished. There was no explanation. It just went. The graph had shown death…
Corona Diaries
Leave the windows open
I am one of those annoying people who has to sleep with a window open, whatever the temperature outside. I have sometimes come to blows in mountain refuges, especially with…
Corona Diaries
The report without a solution
I came across an interesting report today, with results that I had long anticipated. In fact, the whole country has been waiting to learn of its findings. Its title was…
Corona Diaries
How accurate is our testing?
When everything started, my intention was to keep a diary for a three-month period, as I felt sure that by then mankind would have a direction. The future would be…
Corona Diaries
Benefits do not outweigh risks
There are times when I read things that horrify me. At other times reading is fun. My horror began in 2005, a long time before Covid-19 had been considered as…
Corona Diaries
The tide is turning
The tide is turning as I look around me in London. There is the beginning of a return to some form of normal life. People are coming back to their…
Corona Diaries
Anyone for out-of-date PPE?
Sometimes, what I see forces me to double take, especially as we Londoners are being reassured that life is inching better. For so long I have heard the sound of…
Corona Diaries
The stigma of Covid-19
Well I have done it. I managed to escape from London. Just for a day, as I needed to get back, but I had to make it to Cumbria to…
Corona Diaries
Science is not infallible
Every morning, when I go for my regular stagger-stumble, I meet many of the same people in roughly the same spot. I do not know who they are, nor do…
Corona Diaries
The bug is way ahead
I received a message today from a good friend in Scandinavia. He has spent the last four weeks recovering from Covid-19. His message was very simple: “I hope you are…
Corona Diaries
Follow your horoscope
Now I know. I have a 37% chance of catching Covid-19 and a 3.621% chance of dying from it. This must be true as my computer says so. It also…
Corona Diaries
Lockdown is a form of incarceration
I looked at my watch today. It is one of those analogue designs that has hour and minute hands, plus a tiny window that reminds me of the date. This…
Corona Diaries
Whistle-blowers are in danger
It is difficult to understand body language when I look at a government politician, as they are well trained to avoid that degree of inspection. Yet if I had to…
Corona Diaries
A third wave already?
In Switzerland, we’re not bothered by a second wave,” said my colleague. He was looking tired, although I was even more so. It had been a long videoconference. I had…
Corona Diaries
The moment of maximum risk
Officially, today was the day when the nation could return to work, or at least some of us. The reality is that plenty of folk have already gone back. The…
Corona Diaries
Stay away from windows
Five years ago, a polling organisation called YouGov, undertook a survey of the self-image of various nations. A selection of adults in eight countries was polled and asked if they…
Corona Diaries
Some have difficulty with English
What part of the word “alert” do politicians not understand? Would they prefer “watchful”, “vigilant”, “attentive”, or simply “on your toes”? Yesterday evening, the Prime Minister gave a get-up-and-go speech…
Corona Diaries
People cause pandemics
As the UK nears the end of this first phase of lockdown, I now realise what causes pandemic waves. Very few pandemics, if any, have shown a single wave, however…
Corona Diaries
Bring out the e-scooters
Not far from where I live is the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LHSTM), a place that I have normally associated with exotic diseases from far-flung lands, conditions…
Corona Diaries
How much will remain for the future?
As I stagger-stumbled around the streets of London this morning, I realised once more what a unique situation this is. My capital city is largely empty, the streets are clean,…
Corona Diaries
Was lockdown worth it?
I am struggling to understand the reasons for lockdown, now it appears our current rules will soon be adjusted. Naturally, by keeping people apart, so the chances of disease transmission…
Corona Diaries
Viruses can change
On 16 July 1945, the world’s first atomic bomb was detonated 200 miles south of Los Alamos in New Mexico, on the Alamogordo Bombing Range. The bomb had taken 27…
Corona Diaries
App or no app? I must decide
The problem is whether I believe them, as so far with this pandemic, what I am being told does not always match what I see. The government is trying to…
Corona Diaries
The church bells are silent
I am not sure that being hacked is something of which I should be proud. That said, the event has just happened. My site went down, the text was corrupted,…
Corona Diaries
A can on my doorstep
It is difficult to be excited about a can of Coca-Cola on a doorstep, unless you realise that it got there in the middle of lockdown. I had decided to…
Corona Diaries
The woodpecker of Regent’s Park
It was in Regent’s Park, shortly after dawn, that I met the green woodpecker. The thing did not look well, and I was not used to seeing it on a…
Corona Diaries
The bee’s knees
Each evening, at 1700hrs on weekdays, 1600hrs at weekends, the government gives the nation its daily Covid-19 briefing. All sorts of spokesman have given it over the past five weeks,…
Corona Diaries
Care homes are a problem
I have decided to adopt the same psychology that I used during the Brexit discussions between the political parties - to stop listening to the news. News bulletins are similar…
Corona Diaries
They are trying to frighten me
Some days, from the moment you wake up, you realise there will be problems. For me, it started at 0430hrs when I turned over in bed, rubbed my left eye,…
Corona Diaries
Healthcare can be stressful
I am unreasonably excited, and for no good reason, but today all sorts of things have happened almost simultaneously. Who said that lockdown was tedious? The first good news was…
Corona Diaries
I won’t change my locks just yet
One of the few advantages of a Covid Crisis, if there is any to be had, is that experts pop up in all manner of places. Because the virus is…
Corona Diaries
Happy Birthday from Lockdown London
Today, would you believe, is my birthday. I have reached the lofty age of 67 years, can still recognise myself in a mirror and, like any true codger, wanted to…
Corona Diaries
Selfish London
This morning, as I went out for my morning stagger-stumble, I saw around me many others. Plenty were being more than selfish, yet their antics had me thinking. They say…
Corona Diaries
The perils of mass gatherings
You would have thought by now that people would have learned. Social distancing is the way to put Covid-19 on the back foot. Yet even now I can be cut…
Corona Diaries
Apparently, it can only get worse
Six weeks ago, the NHS’s Chief Executive and Chief Operating Officer wrote to the Heads of every NHS Trust, and asked them to postpone all non-urgent elective operations from 15…
Corona Diaries
Visit Eyam, once Covid-19 joins history
When all this finishes, if it ever does, my first stop will be the UK’s Peak District. It may have been England’s first National Park , it may have been…
Corona Diaries
Five-point escape from lockdown
My short stagger-stumble around London’s Hyde Park this morning was enough to show me that the country has problems ahead. The capital’s streets are unquestionably busier than barely a week…
Corona Diaries
Stop challenging our leaders
Sometimes I am ashamed to be a writer, especially when I hear the questions certain colleagues ask. I realise a journalist’s job is to probe, but sometimes you have to…
Corona Diaries
They tell me I am negative
I did not expect to behave like a secret agent while in the middle of a lockdown, yet somehow it appears that I did. It started when I decided to…
Corona Diaries
Do not lower your guard
They say that as one door closes, others open and that seems to be what is happening. My tasking at a London teaching hospital, alongside other military veterans, has now…
Corona Diaries
Seagulls love horseradish
I want to meet the person who decided to position my place of work on the north side of the hospital. The view is magnificent, with famous London landmarks laid…
Corona Diaries
Vodka for disinfection
You tell me what I should have said. Yesterday afternoon, a colleague telephoned me to say he formed part of a group working in a hospital at least a hundred…
Corona Diaries
Still not past the peak
As I listened last night to our Prime Minister thanking the staff of St Thomas’ Hospital for basically saving his life, I was more than impressed. Impressed because not only…
Corona Diaries
I love the NHS, but…
Let me say before I start, that I believe the UK’s National Health Service is doing astonishing things and its staff cannot be faulted for what they did, are doing…
Corona Diaries
Emigrate to Germany
I am not sure I did very well today. Perhaps it was because it was Good Friday or perhaps because I had been up since the very early morning. I…
Corona Diaries
Pigeons like chicken and sweetcorn
We ran out of fruit and vegetables yesterday evening, which was a problem this morning when the night staff came off shift. They staggered in, dark blue bags under sunken…
Corona Diaries
Surrounded by Covid-19
We had our first full day today, with three openings of the supermarket. Actually, the term supermarket is somewhat over-the-top. The place is more a distribution centre. The food comes…
Corona Diaries
Ask someone in yellow
It has started. At least a new phase for me in this crisis has begun. I am now based in a large London teaching hospital, not far from the city’s…
Corona Diaries
They do not understand this virus
What a day. I had no idea that life could change so rapidly, but it clearly does. It started off routinely, as I tried hard to creep from my apartment…
Corona Diaries
Clap for the stay-at-homers
I spent much of last night wide awake, as I tried to get inside the head of a covidiot, a word that has made it into our vocabulary in quadruple…
Corona Diaries
A cow’s distance between us
I went for a walk today, my permitted hour of exercise, and returned feeling unsettled. It was Bond Street that did it, that hive of shopping activity in normal times.…
Corona Diaries
Lessons from the past
One of the advantages, maybe disadvantages, of self-isolation is that I spend so much more time reading. As a medic, what better material is there than to read about pandemics…
Corona Diaries
Someone must be responsible
Whatever the crisis, there is always a conspiracy theory and April Fool’s Day seems as good a time as any to think on this further. The more widespread the disaster,…
Corona Diaries
Chloroquine returns
It seems like only yesterday, but was actually many decades ago, that I was in Africa and guzzling chloroquine weekly for my antimalarial prophylaxis. Soon I had to move on…
Corona Diaries
A Black Swan event
Some time ago I came across a book by an author called Nassim Nicholas Taleb. It was called “The Black Swan - the impact of the highly improbable,” and was…
Corona Diaries
Joggers can ruin my day
I realise a Brit is meant to have the Blitz Spirit, although it is difficult to ascribe that term to a country stockpiling loo rolls. However, I am finding it…
Corona Diaries
We have learned so little
The problem with being a writer, and a doctor too, is that I spend so much time in graveyards. They are generally where I first go when I am visiting…
Corona Diaries
Many are trying to find a solution
When events are moving fast, those working at the frontline can find it difficult to be heard. They are so busy keeping others together, and themselves as well, that to…
Corona Diaries
Healthcare is a high-risk occupation
Barely a day goes by at the moment, without me hearing of another medical colleague who has perished at the frontline of Covid-19. Each was in their prime. Researchers from…
Corona Diaries
Is the cure worse than the problem?
I read a fascinating scientific paper today, whose contents filled my thoughts as I made my early-morning stagger-stumble around London’s Regent’s Park. Self-isolators were out in their dozens, and plenty…
Corona Diaries
The dough heads have done it
The dough heads have done it. They have forced the Government’s hand. I am writing of those people who attended parties last weekend, who flocked to the seaside, and who…
Corona Diaries
Sixteen steps for sanity
I sense that writers have an advantage when it comes to self-isolation. By definition, to be an author requires you to master loneliness. There you sit, pen and paper before…
Corona Diaries
The squeeze is squeezing
Slowly the squeeze is squeezing, and it is clear what will soon occur. A full lockdown cannot be far away. Deaths are gradually increasing, and the nation has been told…
Corona Diaries
Testicles beware
One of the advantages of being a medic, especially when self-isolating, is that I spend an enormous amount of time reading. By force of circumstance I am becoming increasingly knowledgeable…
Corona Diaries
The old and bold
“Come in, sir,” said the young man with the broadest smile he could manage. He had been given the task of marshalling the supermarket’s first silver hour, when the frail…
Corona Diaries
Society is teetering
I could not believe the supermarket, barely 20 minutes after it had opened. I thought I was early but was clearly late, as there were only four empty shopping trolleys…
Corona Diaries
The air is becoming cleaner
The crisis is picking up pace as there is barely any sector of life that is unaffected. My email Inbox continues to receive notifications from conferences, businesses, hotels, restaurants, and…
Corona Diaries
Jogging in isolation
I need to understand things better as I am beginning to get confused. Yet as I look around central London, and I receive almost hourly notifications from sequential businesses that…
Corona Diaries
Beginning of the lockdown
I went to London’s Chelsea Physic Garden today and am ashamed to say that it was my first visit. After all, I am a medic and should have seen the…
Corona Diaries
Antisocial distancing
Thank Heavens for the Dutch. I know, today at least, that they have fewer confirmed cases of Covid-19 than the Brits, but they have restored my faith in normality. In…
Corona Diaries
Crisis? What crisis?
I am not sure the media has got it right, challenging the government in a time of national crisis. There are times and there are times, but when a population…
Corona Diaries
Fingers crossed for the Olympics
At last, I sense UK society is beginning to take things seriously, although there are still many people hanging on to old times. The friend who telephoned me today from…
Corona Diaries
Game and set to Covid-19
I have a theory about Covid-19. It is Nature paying us back. Mankind, after all, has been breeding and largely out of control. Twelve millennia ago the global population was…
Corona Diaries
This is the moment
If there is a turning point in the UK’s part in the Covid-19 crisis, today must be the moment. Have a look at this email, that I received from a…
Corona Diaries
Many businesses will not survive
I went into a local supermarket today as I had run out of milk. I am a lactophile and as distant from lactose sensitivity as it is possible to be.…
Corona Diaries
Apparently, we are in containment
It seems that slowly the country is getting its head round what is happening. The streets outside my flat are much quieter, there are fewer rubbish bags on the pavements,…
Corona Diaries
The medics are ahead
It seems to me that the medics are several steps ahead of society at the moment. They are certainly ahead of Government. The medical profession finds itself hovering, waiting for…
Corona Diaries
I adore marmalade
With all catastrophes, for that is what this virus is proving to be, there are many who see the amusing side, too. I have received several spoof videos from friends…
Corona Diaries
The noose is tightening
I pulled out of another conference today, one that was scheduled for three days’ time. Pulling out of conferences and meetings is becoming something of a habit at the moment.…
Corona Diaries
The virus picks up speed
As I talk with friends and colleagues, there seems to be an increasing view that the media, indeed the world, are becoming alarmist. Some say they are inciting worry and…
Corona Diaries
If I was called Covid-19
The world is manifestly struggling, and the economic consequences of this virus are becoming clear. Only today, through TravMedia , I saw a press release declaring that “Italy is a…
Corona Diaries
It won’t happen to me
I despair that the general public has no clue how to act aseptically. It may be second nature to a medic but there is a clear, “It won’t happen to…
Corona Diaries
The nation is nervous
It now appears that Covid-19 transmission is occurring in the UK between individuals without any history of travel to affected areas. That is a turning point in this saga. No…
Corona Diaries
Outdoors makes me feel safer
There is no chance of avoiding public panic, as the news and press are filled with articles and interviews about Covid-19. Interviewers and newsreaders are striking just the right tone…
Corona Diaries
I am worrying
I am worrying about this coronavirus epidemic. It is not so much the virus but in how the message is being portrayed. About four weeks ago, when the news was…