Tag: covid-19

The Numbers

118 new deaths, taking the total to 36,793 (and the rest). Our total is the highest numerically after the USA. Our rate per million is now equal to that of Italy. In Europe our rate is the highest after Belgium at 801 per million and Spain at 615 per million but we may still catch up and overtake them as our daily death rate is still higher than their’s at 74 and 43 respectively.

The News

All anyone is talking about is Dominic Cummings and whether he is going to resign or not. I can’t stand him! He was the architect of the Brexit campaign and conned loads of working class people into voting Tory. He’s an arrogant and selfish liar.

He’s been in No. 10 all day. Its 5pm and we’re waiting for today’s briefing by the Prime Minister.

PS. the PM is still supporting him.

I’ve coined a new phrase:

Stay Elite

Control the Masses

Save Yourselves

The New Way of Life

We’ve had a quiet day today again. I’ve been reading my book The End of the World Survivors Club. I’m in to the story now. It’s got better the further in I’ve got. The writing quality is inconsistent. In parts its clunky and overwritten. Sometimes I have to read the same section over and over again to understand what the author is trying to communicate. Some of the metaphors are just plain weird. Worst of all though, is that some elements are just not believable. A woman who had broken her leg and been in a coma for 12 weeks just wakes up and starts wandering about. Really?

But, the story is good and I want to know what happens to the characters. There are some flashes of lovely writing and some of the characters are authentic.

I’ve cooked a Beef Goulash with Caraway Dumplings for dinner.

M went on a bike ride and I went for a walk.

From tomorrow, I need to lose weight. It’s been slowly creeping up during lockdown and more so since I stopped cycling.

I’m going to eat less, drink less wine (probably only drink alcohol at weekends) and get the cycling going again. I take my last antibiotic tomorrow morning and my sinusitis feels much better now.

The Numbers

282 new deaths. Total 36,675.

The News

The big news is that Dominic Cummings, the Prime Minister’s “adviser” broke lockdown when his wife had symptoms of the virus and should have been self-isolation. Instead, they drove 260 miles, with their children, from London to his parents house in the north of England. The reason they gave was that they were concerned about childcare if he also became unwell. They apparently self-isolated in another house on the property.

There are calls for his resignation. Whatever the reason, he flouted the rules, reinforcing the feeling that there is one rule for the rich and powerful and another for the rest of us.

The government have used the excuse of “safeguarding” as a valid reason for the action. Every person asking a question on today’s briefing has laid into the spokespeople over it. It is all that anyone wanted to talk about. He’ll be gone tomorrow …

The New Way of Life

I’ve been thinking about how our mood and emotions have stabilised now. We seemed to have settled into a place of acceptance. It’s amazing how we all have adapted to such an abnormal situation. It really has become our new “normal” now.

I have been sorting out all my various unfinished cross-stitch and knitting projects. A year or so ago I set myself the goal of finishing all my unfinished projects before starting anything new. Today I did that. I finished the last cross stitch I have been working on for the past year. I try to do projects that represent our various trips. This one was a Scottish mountain scene to celebrate our trip to The Outer Hebrides and St Kilda last year. The one before that was the Taj Mahal, to celebrate our trip to India for my 60th birthday the year before. I just need to wash and press them now before framing.

I’ve had difficulty finding something appropriate to do next. I’ve gone for a London skyline. Not that we’ve been there recently, but we’ve been there lots of times before and hopefully will do again when this is all over. Because of the virus, I couldn’t buy a kit, I could only buy the chart and have had to order the thread and fabric from different places.

We had a restful day today after Quiz Night last night. We won again. Read in bed for a bit in the morning. We ate yesterday’s leftovers so no cooking or washing up. I had a little walk in the afternoon and we’re going to have a  quiet rubbish Saturday night TV night tonight after M gets home from his bike ride.

Today is the first day my head has felt truly better since I broke my nose. My sinuses have been blocked and I’ve had a constant headache. My nose is still tender to touch and if I wrinkle it, but my black eye is slowly getting better. I still have another day or two of antibiotics so hopefully should be back to 100% soon. I’ve not been cycling since the accident but hopefully I can start again next week.

 

 

 

 

The Numbers

351new deaths, bringing the total to 36,393. 

The News

Priti Patel, the Home Secretary did the government briefing today. She really is awful, so insincere and cold. You just can’t believe anything that comes out of her mouth.

The main point of discussion was the introduction, from the 8th of June, of the 14 days quarantine for anyone entering the country. The view is that it will be the kiss of death for the travel and tourism industry, as very few people will be able to go on holiday for 2 weeks and then quarantine for 2 weeks when they get home.

They are planning to police it by requiring people to give a private address where they will isolating and will be carrying out spot checks to ensure compliance. The penalty for non-compliance will be a £1000 fine.

The New Way of Life

Another fairly quite day. Not much to report to be honest. Weather has changed again, very windy and cooler but no rain, which is great.

Last night I went for my permitted 1:1, socially distanced picnic with my daughter. It was lovely! So relaxing to sit and have a chat rather than talking on the doorstep.

M took me over to hers and we walked to a nearby park. I brought a rug which we placed between us to ensure we kept 2 metres apart. We sat on a couple of little beach chairs and had cheese, salami, salad and dips, washed down with some white wine. We cleaned everything with antiseptic wipes when we were finished. Crazy times.

It was a lovely evening, there were just enough people in the park to make us feel safe but not enough to make it crowded. It was mostly other couples and families taking their daily exercise in the evening sunshine.

Our friends who had the antibody tests all tested negative. While I think they are a little surprised and disappointed, they are pleased that they have clearly done a good job of protecting their daughter.

I’m still thinking of taking the test myself. I keep thinking back to the virus I had 10 days or so before lockdown. I’d love to know if I have had it.

I’ve been taking part for many years in a longitudinal, large scale cohort study that looks at the genetics of various diseases. It’s called the UK Biobank study.

This is how it describes itself on its website:

UK Biobank is a national and international health resource with unparalleled research opportunities, open to all bona fide health researchers. UK Biobank aims to improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of a wide range of serious and life-threatening illnesses – including cancer, heart diseases, stroke, diabetes, arthritis, osteoporosis, eye disorders, depression and forms of dementia. It is following the health and well-being of 500,000 volunteer participants and provides health information, which does not identify them, to approved researchers in the UK and overseas, from academia and industry.

They contacted me to ask if I would take part in their Covid-19 sub-study and I was happy to agree. I have to do a finger-prick blood test once a month and send it back to them by post. I won’t ever know the results. That’s always been part of the conditions.

So, today my kit arrived and I have to do the first test on Tuesday the 26th of May.

Today, we had a slow start. We’re both quite tired after all our efforts over the past few days. I cleaned the kitchen and cooked our Friday night pre-quiz curry. Tonight we’re having paneer pakora, lamb and spinach curry, dal and mushroom pilau rice.

I cleaned the kitchen and went for a walk in the afternoon.

 

The Numbers

338 new deaths taking the total to 36,042.

ONS data still shows very high numbers of excess deaths but that this is slowly returning to normal.

The News

The government has done a U-turn on charging health and care workers to use the NHS. Previously, they were planning to continue to insist that migrant workers would still have to pay a surcharge to access NHS services. After a challenge on this by the new Labour Party Leader, Kier Starmer, the Prime Minister has overturned this decision. Maybe it’s something to do with the fact that the nurses who cared for him when he was in hospital were both from overseas.

5 million people have now been infected with the virus worldwide. 328,000 people have died, as far as we know.

Schools in Scotland are not going to re-open until the 11th of August.

All the talk is about the Test Track and Trace programme. NHS “bosses” have warned of dire consequences if we don’t get this right.

The NHS has bought the new Roche antibody test and it will be used mostly for health and care workers to see whether they have had the virus. This is the one that my friend has had. I’m still thinking about it.

The New Way of Life

Busy day! Working on the finishing touches to our presentation in the morning. I had a quick walk at lunch-time before we started the workshop at 2.30.

One of the delegates has got his diary mixed up and had to leave at 4pm, an hour early, so it did throw a bit of a spanner in the works, but it did go well. We got some great feedback on how to make it even better.

We finished early, and after a short debrief, I got ready to go and meet my daughter in the park on our newly permitted 1:1 meeting, always keeping 2 metres apart of course!

So, a brief post today as I’m going OUT OUT!

The Numbers

363 new deaths taking the total to 35,704.

Brazil seems to be at or close to the peak now but their death rate per million is still low at 85 compared to 594, 532, and 521 in Spain, Italy and UK respectively.

The News

London has had no new cases in the last 24 hours!

The government is gearing up for the contact tracing phase of the War on Covid. They have employed 25,000 contact tracers. Test, Track and Trace is expected to commence in June.

Rolls Royce, who supply engines to the aviation industry, are planning to cut 9000 jobs.

More and more schools are saying that they won’t open on June the 1st.

Captain Tom, who walked 100 laps of his garden, for his 100th birthday, and raised tens of millions of pounds for the NHS, has been knighted. Captain Tom is now Sir Tom!

Devon is grid-locked with cars as people from all over the country have flooded the area hoping to make the best of the heatwave at the seaside.

The New Way of Life

Well, what an unusually busy day! It’s a scorcher too – 26 degrees.

We had to set the alarm to make sure we got up in time as we have been sleeping in so late during the Time of Covid.

Did my hair and makeup for the first time in weeks for our trip out to get M’s blood test at the special “shielding” centre.

We arrived early and they did the test early as there was no-one else there. It was all done very carefully. M in mask and gloves and the staff in full PPE. They were very careful to ensure that he didn’t touch anything, and when they were done they opened the doors for him, got him to take of his gloves and gave him a new clean pair. All in all very safe and reassuring after all our anxiety about it.

As we were over on the side of Birmingham where M’s son lives, we took the opportunity to call on them and have a front garden chat with his son, grandson and daughter-in-law. It was sooo good to see them. It really lifted us both.

We spent the rest of the day working o our presentation and plan for tomorrow’s virtual workshop. It’s coming together now very nicely – we hope!

 

The Numbers

545 new deaths taking the total to 35,341. However, the ONS estimates that this figure is closer to 44,000. 11,000 of these deaths have been in Care Homes.

The News

2 million people have registered as unemployed. The Chancellor has predicted the aftermath of the pandemic will bring a severe recession the likes of which we have never seen.

Solihull Council are the first Conservative council to defy government guidance for schools to go back on the 1st of June.

Donald Trump has been taking a malaria drug, hydroxychloroquine, as a preventative treatment against the virus despite any evidence that it is effective.

The New Way of Life

A friend contacted me this morning to say that a small private health clinic in our village is offering an antibody test for £195 per person. She is considering getting it done for herself, her family and her daughter’s carers. Like us, they are all “shielding” (except the carers), as her daughter, like M, is one of the 1.8 million people deemed extremely vulnerable.

My first reaction, I have to be honest, was suspicion. Why would a private provider be offering a service that the NHS was not? Was it a legitimate test? If it was, what would it actually mean? There are always unscrupulous people who crawl out from under their stones at times this this and capitalise on the fear and vulnerability of others.

So, I made a few enquires and spoke to a few medical people I know. The consensus was that it probably is legitimate. They are a trustworthy organisation. They have been contracted by the health authorities to do this type of testing for the NHS. It’s just that they are not widely available to the general public yet. It’s also their prerogative to make some money by selling it to people who are prepared to pay rather than wait. However, there are purported to be other organisations who are selling the same test for half that price. So, it sounds like a valid test, if you are comfortable with the ethics of it only being available to people who can afford it. My friend believes that if you can pay you should, and take some of the pressure of the NHS.

But, what would such a test tell you and what would it mean? The only thing it would tell you for sure is whether you have had the virus and have antbodies. Antibodies can infer a degree of immunity at the point when the test is done. But, it does not guarantee immunity and no one knows how long any antibodies will be present for. So, it won’t allow you to think that you are “safe” and start getting out and about again. And, you could still transmit the virus to others, whether you got sick or not yourself. Lockdown and social distancing is about reducing community transmission not about self-protection.

But, for us, and M in particular, it would tell us if we have had the disease and didn’t get very sick and die. Again, no guarantee that if we got it again we wouldn’t get a more serious case. But, for me, it would remove some of the fear of certain death if M gets it. He’s not so sure and doesn’t really want to consider it at this time.

Been working on Zoom again today. Made a broth with Sunday’s bones. Went for a long walk in the sun. As usual, the day seemed to fly by.

 

 

The Numbers

170 new deaths taking the total to 34,636. Even taking account of low weekend number, definitely on the way out of this, for the moment anyway.

Barbados have got two new cases after a couple of weeks without any. They were picked up through contact tracing.

The News

Mixed messages over the likelihood of a vaccine any time soon. The government have said that 30 million people will be able to get a vaccine by September. However, experts are saying that a vaccine wont be readily available until next year.

Hospitals in Brazil are near collapse as the virus rages through the country.

Loss of taste and smell has been officially listed as a symptom of Covid-19.

Italt and Spain have begun to ease some of their lockdown restrictions. Some shops have been allowed to open again.

UK stations are putting new social distancing and crowd-control measures into place including the use of  trained security guards, as people begin to return to work.

The New Way of Life

Another quiet day. I got up early and put a leg of lamb in the oven to roast for seven hours! Later, I did some balsamic roast potatoes, greens and cauliflower cheese to go with it for Sunday Lunch.

I went out for a walk while M was on his bike ride. The weather is a bit better again. Its cloudy but the temperature has gone up. I’m not going on the bike until all my stiff and sore back and shoulder muscles have fully recovered from my fall.

Talking of my fall, the swelling and bruising is going down but as it does I have realised that my nose is a bit wonky. Still not sure whether to leave it and just accept it or get an X-Ray and get or sorted out. My view at the moment is that a wonky nose does not even come into play compared to the risk of M catching Covid-19.

Saying that, I have growing sense that there is less of it our there in the community now. No new stories of local people getting it and people being admitted to hospital. That could just be due to lockdown of course and it could come roaring back as people begin to get on with their lives.

But it’s more than that. I just don’t “feel” it’s out there anymore. It’s hard to explain. It might just be that I’m becoming complacent, which could be dangerous. Not that I’m taking any risks. We are here, like this until the end of June and we’ll just have to take it from there.

I’m also hearing more and more stories of friends and family discovering the extent of people meeting up in secret during lockdown. There has been a lot more of it going on than we’ll ever know. Maybe the government have allowed for this in their implicit pursuit of herd immunity. Maybe loads more people have had it and are immune than we know.

We are at a real turning point now. Either things will continue to improve or we will get another wave. Only time will tell. The WHO is warning the UK and Europe that we must prepare for a second wave this winter.

I’m a bit concerned about my two-year old granddaughter and how this is affecting our relationship. She’s become very cold and distant towards us. When I Facetime my daughter, she doesn’t even smile or want to say hello anymore. She’d rather just continue to play or watch TV. But what can we do? I just have to hope that when the time comes that I can kiss her and cuddle her, and play with her again, we’ll be able to rebuild the relationship.

 

 

The Numbers

468 new deaths taking the total to 34,466.

The News

Not much new news today.

Still lots of debate and discussion about whether or not it’s to soon to ease the lockdown.

The rich list was published and some of the usual leaders have slipped down the rankings a bit due to losses as a result of the virus. James Dyson, who started out making vacuum cleaners was at the top, reported to be worth £16.2 billion.

It should have been the Eurovision Song Contest but it has obviously been cancelled. Instead a TV show played some past winners and the public voted for their favourite. The “Winner of Winners” was Waterloo by Abba which won in 1974 when the contest was held in Brighton.

The New Way of Life

A chap at the end of our road has been sitting on a deck chair in the middle of the roundabout playing live music. He asked for people to join him (socially distanced of course) and a few people came out of their houses to listen.

Quite sweet, I thought.

Oh no. Apparently, he’s not allowed to do it. The roundabout is not a public space! I ask you? What harm can it do? We’re in the middle of a global pandemic and a lockdown. Nothing is the same. All the old rules have gone out of the window. Even the Care Act has been suspended at the moment. Get a grip people!

We had a quiet day after our rather drunken Friday night quiz.

Our grand-daughter’s high chair has found a new purpose in the Time of Covid. It’s the perfect vehicle to support our laptop for virtual events. We’ve tried and couple of different set-ups for these; at the dining room table (too uncomfortable for prolonged periods) and on the sofa in the lounge (coffee table too low and sofa to deep). So we’ve opted for the sofa in the kitchen with a lap-top positioned on the high chair. It’s perfect!

In the afternoon I had a trial run for my grand-daughters birthday cake. I can’t remember when I last made a cake. It’s got to be decades ago.

I used the Mary Berry all-in-one method to make two, 2-egg sponges. I had to make them one after the other as I only have one square cake-tin.  I sandwiched them with raspberry jam and vanilla buttercream icing. I think it was a success. Next time I need to try and get my butter softer before I try to work with it though.

I’m still really stiff and sore after my fall the other day. I keep finding bruises and scratches that I hadn’t noticed before. My back muscles and upper arms are tight and sore. The swelling on my face is going down as the bruising continues to develop. Today, I started to get sinus pain and a headache when I bend down and wondered if I had damaged my sinuses. I’m not even sure if that matters. Is it ok just to leave it?

I decided to ring 111. It turns out that falling onto your face from a standing position is regarded as serious injury. They were concerned that I could have fractured any number of small bones in my face. They said I should go to A&E for an X-Ray. I explained that I wasn’t too happy about that, as we are self-isolating for M’s protection. So, I agreed to keep an eye (pardon the pun) on things and, if needs be, arrange a “clean” X-Ray through my GP.

We went for a little walk and had our, now usual, very unusual, Time of Covid, Saturday Night, watching rubbish on the TV that we would never usually watch.

No alcohol after our boozy Friday!

 

 

 

The Numbers

384 new deaths taking the total to 33,998.

The News

The UK R number has gone up! It seems to vary around the country. In the North East it is over 1 and in London it is really low. Must be the rationale for the proposal to lockdown discrete geographical areas.

Not a good sign for the easing of restrictions!

The New Way of Life

My bruising had come out and I have quite an impressive black eye. I’ve never had one before. I’m quite enjoying it in a weird sort of way. I’m quite stiff and keep discovering lots of scratches all over my body. I think I have a couple of thorns in my hands too. That’ll teach me!

I went out for another walk today. I walked very slowly and carefully, as if I didn’t trust my own feet! Ha! Ha!

Haven’t done any “work” work today. M had been on virtual meetings all day. I cleaned the kitchen area again and sanitised and put away another big grocery delivery.

My daughter popped over to collect a form I printed out for her. She brought our little granddaughter, A, and her teenage stepdaughter. We had a doorstep chat. This time A seemed less upset and she didn’t try to come into the front garden. She did seem a bit bemused and not as happy to see us as she usually is. She almost seemed a bit shy as if we were strangers. I so hope we’ll be able to pick up our relationship when this is all over.

Had yesterdays left over curry for and early dinner. Writers Group starts at 5.30pm – its 5.15 now so I need to go and get ready.