Sunday 5 April 2020
It’s time to clap the stay-at-homers (Rawpixel)
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 record time. There are even songs about this strange breed of individual who ignores social distancing and believes that the rules made for society, for some reason, do not apply to them.
At first, I thought covidiots were just intellectually challenged. Take two covidiots and stand them side by side – covidiots like that, the closer the better – and you would make a synapse. For the non-scientists, a synapse is a point where two single nerve fibres join. In my thoughts I was allowing a covidiot a single nerve fibre but may have been too generous.
Then I thought further. It was unlikely that every covidiot was a daftie. They may be doing daft things but may not actually be dense. What about Hove seafront on the 21 March, when the Government was advocating social distancing? Skegness was no better. Visitors were crammed together, shoulder to shoulder, sometimes tightly entwined. Each one of them must have known they were doing the wrong thing. If there was one reason why the country was placed into lockdown, as it is now, it was the behaviour of the covidiots that day. The politicians were giving us a chance, the covidiots thought differently, and that is how we got to where we are now. What on earth was going through the brains of the covidiots that day? Clearly very little. Yet at the same time I cannot claim that each one was cerebrally challenged.
Dr Calderwood, CMO for Scotland, who failed to follow her own advice
Fast forward to today, and the announcement that sunbathing is against the social distancing rules and the closure of another London park, Brockwell Park, where 3000 people descended to enjoy the sun. Then enter the saga of Dr Catherine Calderwood, Scotland’s Chief Medical Officer. For some reason she had decided to visit her second home on two separate occasions. Apart from her behaviour making all doctors nationwide feel ashamed to be medically qualified, and the obvious errors that she admitted, there is no way she might be classed as a daftie. Consequently, I do not think that covidiocy has anything to do with intellect, it is all about a lack of understanding.
At the time of the 1918 influenza pandemic, which these days is cited regularly, the population affected was at the younger end, not the old codgers as we see with Covid-19. I have been tempted to think that covidiots are frequently young, self-centred, and because Covid-19 bumps off the diseased and the elderly, it does not interfere with the up-and-coming. One can see how a youngster might see things and just ignore the old. Of course, we know that is wrong, as there are children, youths and young adults dying from Covid-19 right now, albeit less often than for the elderly. Yet as I lay awake after midnight, I could not think that the youngsters would willingly bump off their grandparents. Why were folk still being daft?
I think it is the disease process. In 1918, the incubation period was 2-7 days, but a victim could die a horrendous death 24-48 hours later. The whole process was over in double-quick time and it was possible for a spreader to see the damage they were doing. Covid-19 is different. The incubation period may be similar, roughly five days, but the disease is more protracted. It can be as long as a month between first contact and a patient perishing. It means that if I infect my next-door neighbour today, they may not die for four weeks. How easy it would be for me to deny responsibility.
What is more, the typical disease pattern is of an initial mild illness, then improving, but then becoming worse. Not everyone becomes worse, and the degrees of deterioration vary, but the process is so lengthy that it is simple for a spreader to believe they are not involved. Covid-19 has perhaps designed it that way, lulling covidiots into a false sense of security. It thrives on the I-love-me-who-do-you-love mentality and allows a grandchild to believe it was not them that polished off granny, or for that matter, mum and dad. The coronavirus that causes Covid-19 has mankind sorted. It adores the self-centred person.
The nation is worrying about the Prime Minister today, as he has been admitted to hospital for so-called tests. That is not a reasoning I understand, as most tests could be done at home. It suggests to me that all is not well, so I am typing with fingers crossed. Next stop, you wait, will be that he will be needing oxygen. Love him or hate him – I happen to be a supporter – he is steering a difficult ship through choppy waters. When I look around the world, I see other nations struggling and they are all saying the same. I do not see UK as any different, we are simply at a separate point on the so-called curve. Basically, we are making it up as we go along and the other countries are similar.
The Queen gave a top end talk to the nation this evening and I will wager she was watched by millions. One knows, when the Queen talks, the speech will be analysed into oblivion, so each word she utters has been very carefully thought out. She thanked all the right people, the NHS of course, but also those who are staying at home. Somehow, I sense this homefast silent majority, which is only criticised for not doing what it should, is doing more than its fair share of keeping the country safe. Perhaps, when it comes to the Thursday evening clapping, which has now entered the nation’s timetable, and was designed to support healthcare and its workers, this might one day be held for the stay-at-homers. The NHS is good, of that there is no doubting, but its staff are working together and doing what they have trained for. Those who stay at home have not trained for this and must handle the stresses often in isolation. Personally, I feel they deserve a clap.
