PREPARING FOR A NEW WAVE OF COVID-19 - OR NOT

Yes, the Jeremiah is back, for his monthly update - but please put down the stones and focus on your own protection.

The coronavirus - an image licensed by Getty Images - see my latest book: Dying to Know. 

My last blogpost focusing on the coronavirus was published in late July, around a month ago. Here's a reminder of how it ended:

Not surprisingly, the 'i' on the 20 July carried a report that:

Covid scientists want seven-point plan to beat surge

Here it is, in brief:

1. Clear and consistent messaging
2. Increased efforts to promote vaccine uptake 
3. Installing/upgrading ventilation/air filtration in all public buildings
4. Free lateral-flow testing 
5. Financial support for all those self-isolating after infection
6. Promotion of higher grade masks (FFP2/FFP3)
7. More global provision of vaccines and anti-virals 

                                         WE CAN DREAM ON - 

BUT THESE NEOLIBERALS IN GOVERNMENT HAVE A PROFIT-DRIVEN AGENDA. 

                                                        HEAVEN HELP US!

Note that the scientists referenced in the 'i' are expecting another surge. This is worth emphasizing in a summertime when mask-wearing, even in supermarkets, has become a rare sight. I know. I am one of the

few mask-wearers. The scientists are forecasting a surge in virus infections leading to illness for many and death for a significant few. What is their evidence? Below is a clip from an online page that shows there are already surges happening elsewhere in the world:

"Is ‘Centaurus’ COVID BA.2.75 variant causing the recent surge in New Delhi?

 Evidence indicates the recent surge in New Delhi might be triggered by the BA.2.75 variant.

More than 19,760 COVID-19 cases in total have been recorded in Delhi from August 1-10, according to official data shared by the city health department. Meanwhile, more than half of these samples have been detected with the new sub-variant BA.2.75 of Omicron. 

Can the 'Centaurus' COVID BA.2.75 variant trigger the 4th wave here in the UK?"

Tragically, but only too believably, those who are misgoverning the nation have chosen to ignore the majority of scientists, i.e. those who are not colluding with this misgovernment. For the vast majority of the population, the message is clear: 'The pandemic is over'.

Testing and tracing was never successfully implemented during the pandemic - remember why? The responsibility was given to private enterprise. The firms made a fortune and remain unaccountable for their failures.  

The citizens of the UK are in for a rude shock when the autumn turns to winter and the consequences of the return to school and living indoors begin to be felt. We already know that the cost of living crisis will dramatically worsen. Millions of people in our increasingly unequal land will be choosing between eating and heating - and this in the sixth richest nation on earth! But as a country we have not been alerted to the next wave of the coronavirus and all that follows from that surge, not least the collapse of an already cruelly stretched NHS. 

The degree of concealment enacted by this misgovernment we are suffering in the UK is breath-taking. I used to consult the Office for National Statistics website for daily updates on Covid infections, hospitalizations, chronic cases on ventilators, and deaths. Now, there is very little to find. The point, a week or so ago when the number of Covid deaths recorded on a death certificate passed the 200,000 mark, went by without notice. The media, too, ignored the event. I only knew because I did some addition of figures that appeared in two separate places. 

We live in worrying times. 

Remember - Sars-CoV-2 kills - over 200,000 British citizens have died so far in this pandemic, one of the world's worst per capita death rates. One-in-eight infected will develop Long Covid. 

Covid cases have indeed been falling as the school holidays and warmer weather lead to people spending less time indoors together. But listen to Professor Lawrence Young, a virologist at Warwick University:

'I fear that we will be confronted with new variants over the winter and that the cycle of infection and reinfection will continue for some time - perhaps another couple of years'.  

Thank goodness, our NHS is still able to function through its GP surgery network. A couple of days ago, Louise received an email offering her the autumn booster to protect against flu and coronavirus. She phoned to confirm, and arranged during that call for me to join her for the jabs in early October. 

A politician who is very far from being one of my heroes has created a think-tank, named after himself - as you do when your ego is so massive that you can't recognise your own failures. It's called the 'Tony Blair Institute for Global Change'. The 'i' reported on Wednesday 17 August 2022 that this body was calling for the booster vaccine to be offered to every British adult in the autumn as part of its plan to avoid a meltdown of the NHS - not just to those aged 50 or over as is currently planned. 

So it seems that even some parts of the Establishment understand what is around the corner, but the section that leads our government is refusing to be bothered. Right from the start of this pandemic, they have been following a policy of herd immunity. At first, it was willful social murder, herd immunity without a vaccine. Rescued by the brilliance of scientists and their development of effective vaccines, and then by a wonderful NHS framework of GP surgeries that were able to deliver the jabs, these so-called 'leaders' in government have been prepared to write off a couple of hundred thousand of the 'oiks' in the lower orders. The economy and making money mattered more. 

And still it goes on. Remember the ending of 'Dying to Know':

Poor, deluded masses,

Please,

Please,

Please, 

Learn to fly.