Friday 10 April 2020
Germany is doing brilliantly (Photo by Ingo Joseph from Pexels)
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 had been plagued by a dream that the lines placed on the supermarket floor to mark out two-metre social distances were not parallel and perfectly straight. How was I going to keep order? By virtue of being medical I appear to have been placed in charge of keeping people safe, which is why I have become obsessed by social distancing. I can now eyeball two metres almost exactly, without the use of a tape measure. It is daft how crises force the human brain into silly places. This morning, my task at the supermarket was theoretically simple. Keep visitors separated. Sadly, events did not proceed as I had hoped.
There was one chap in particular who was going off duty but had not completed his form while he had been waiting. It is the way we run things. Visitors fill in a form before they arrive in the supermarket, and on the form they tick a box beside whatever items they seek. The form is only a sheet of A4 that carries a list of the goodies we distribute – cereal, washing-up liquid, toilet paper, biscuits, that sort of thing. In addition, visitors can choose between a bag of fruit or a bag of vegetables. These are collector’s items and run out in moments.
The situation this morning – 10 April 2020 (courtesy Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University)
I sensed mischief when the man entered without his completed form, so I pointed him to a table in one corner of the marquee and asked him to indicate the items he wanted. We had placed a biro on the table, secured with string by one end, as more than a few biros had gone missing. Healthcare staff may be whizz kids at treating patients with Covid-19, but they are also expert at making biros disappear. Off the man went, grasped the biro, scribbled something on the form and returned to me within seconds. I could tell he had taken insufficient time to tick the appropriate boxes.
As the man held his form, I could see he was confused. Indeed, initially he was holding the form upside down. Then he looked at me intently and said something I could not understand. It was either my hearing or his English, or perhaps a combination of both. To keep my two-metre distance, I could not draw closer to hear him better, so pointed him towards the tail end of a line of three others, each standing by a yellow-and-black striped marker to highlight the safe distance on the floor. The man reluctantly took his position and kept on glancing in my direction as he waited for the line to move forward. I could see that he would shortly reach a distribution table, hand over his form, volunteers would sort out what box had or had not been ticked, and the man would walk away with his goodies.
Except I could see he was unsettled. He fidgeted from foot to foot, continued to look around him, then back at me, until he appeared to crack, left the line and started to walk towards me. Again, he was saying something, at least his lips were moving, and some sound was coming out, but I could not understand what. As he approached me, he completely ignored any trace of social distancing. He might as well have shaken hands with the at least four people against whom he brushed as he drew closer to me.
“Please stay there, sir!” I instructed, pointing towards the striped marker on the floor.
Ignoring what I said, the man continued to head in my direction and, as he did so, brushed against another visitor who exclaimed, “Watch out!”
“There, sir!” I again instructed, my voice becoming increasingly desperate. I might as well have said nothing as the man kept coming, mouthing something I could not hear, while I kept retreating to maintain my two-metre social distance. As I retreated, I collided with another visitor, who in turn bumped into another, and within moments my perfectly organised queue of happy shoppers had turned into a social distancing nightmare.
The end result was a discontented man, plenty of unhappy shoppers, and me being completely frustrated. I gave up in the end and let the man and his fellow shoppers sort themselves out. There was plenty of shouting and bickering, a few gave up and ran off, but eventually the man walked from the marquee, clutching a bag of goodies. He never returned.
More died at the Somme in a single day than have so far died in the UK of Covid-19 (SteveAllenPhoto)
Once again, I had seen how some folk, even in healthcare establishments, simply did not understand the concept of keeping their distance. However many times they were told, there were a few who could not connect. No wonder, I thought, there was so much Covid-19 among healthcare workers, PPE or no PPE. The environment they inhabited did not lend itself to distancing and there were some who appeared unable to follow a guideline. I could only hope they were in a minority.
My fellow team members saw the goings-on but were kind enough not to pass comment. However, by lunchtime, I had been quietly moved to one side and a nurse, with better manners than mine, had taken over. I could see that even she became rapidly frustrated, stayed at her post for barely three hours and I was then allowed to return. I made myself promise that, somehow, I would have to do better. When I think about it now, I suspect the staff member who created the chaos was simply unable to read.
The media have just about completely abandoned the Prime Minister, who is now out of intensive care and able to start his recovery. His father, Stanley Johnson, has gone on record as saying that if nothing else, his son’s illness has got the whole country to realise this is a serious event. He is right.
The news is still full of the PPE dilemma, with healthcare workers nationwide complaining they have insufficient protection. They either do not have it at all, or it is just about to run out, or it is simply inadequate for the task. Considering the high global attrition of healthcare workers, wherever they may be, and ignoring social distancing, this is perhaps something on which the Government should be focussing. The Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, has reassured the country that there is a Herculean effort underway. I understand the analogy, but Matt Hancock should perhaps have it explained that Hercules may have killed the Centaur, but he also killed his first wife and eventually died by poison. I am not sure he is the best example at a time of national crisis.
Global deaths continue to rise, and the USA, New York in particular, is having a very rough ride. So far, in the UK, there have been almost 8000 deaths. That is plenty, indeed far too many. Yet put that in perspective against the deaths on the first day of the Somme, which was 1 July 1916. That day alone, the British forces sustained 57,740 casualties, which included 19,240 deaths. It was the bloodiest day in the history of the British Army.
Apple and Google have teamed up to make an application that will tell people when they have been near someone who has Covid-19. It is something to do with Bluetooth and will say if you have been in the vicinity of someone who is a contagion risk. A brief encounter may not be a problem, but a longer association may be. I am unsure if the government will allow it to be used but, if they do, I am looking forward to that app appearing.
Apple and Google have teamed up to make an application
The world continues to be envious of Germany. The country has managed to keep its deaths much lower than anywhere else. It is said to be because of testing. In the UK, so far we have swab-tested 316,836 people. In Germany, they have tested over 1.3 million. Widespread testing at the start made it more effective for the Germans to trace contacts, and so viral spread was reduced. No one knows if Germany will continue with such enviable figures, but for the moment we are all jealous. The German expertise at testing appears related not only to their acknowledged efficiency and discipline, but also to the their strong pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors. We cannot match those in the UK. Health spending is also a feature, as Germany spends more per head every year than we do (€4271 in Germany versus €3566 in UK).
The other country that adopted a rapid trace, test and treat strategy was South Korea. How have they done so far? Brilliantly, of course. It is time the UK did the same.
Meanwhile, and for the moment, before the second wave appears, and it will, I sense it is time to emigrate to Germany.
