December update: In the Bleak Midwinter

A bleak month with the omicron variant of the coronavirus circulating rapidly around the world, leading to further travel restrictions and cancellation of many organised Christmas parties.  

Matt, The Telegraph, December 8th

Dominating the news in the first week of the month was the revelation that a party had been held in 10 Downing Street in December of 2020 when London was in lockdown and such mixing was illegal. As usual the Prime Minister and his weasels tried to lie their way out of this, saying that no rules were broken, but the discovery of a recorded mock interview with the Government Press Secretary, made only a few days after the alleged event, showed without doubt that the party had taken place. The public outcry, particularly from those who had abided by the rules and missed out on seeing family, many of whom were dying alone of covid in hospitals, was intense and Johnson faced a torrid Prime Minister's Questions the following day. Later in the day he convened a press conference to announce that due to increasing infections from the omicron strain, Plan B would be instigated in England, cynics suggesting that this might be a diversionary tactic to hide the Christmas party news. Surely not!

Plan B involves wider rules on mask wearing, imploring people to work from home, and the introduction of covid passports for access to nightclubs and other large gatherings. People were urged to get their booster jabs as there is little doubt that vaccination is the key to controlling this pandemic. Early in the month it was reported that more than 90% of covid sufferers in the UK requiring the most specialist care were unvaccinated and three quarters of those in intensive care beds had not been jabbed.  In Austria compulsory vaccinations start next month and Germany may follow in early spring. The UK government policy is merely to encourage people to get jabbed, but with about 10% of adults still refusing to be vaccinated, this clearly isn’t enough. 

Vaccine passports are controversial as many consider this as an infringement of human rights. The unjabbed will sacrifice their rights to access mass events, and maybe later some shops and hospitality venues, but this will allow free choice and really is little different from requiring people to have a license to drive, or to show proof of certain required vaccinations, such as yellow fever, before travelling. Our friends in Canada say that vaccine passports in that country have been very well accepted.

The UK Government advice on guidelines has been confusing to say the least. On the 15th of the month the Red List of Southern African countries, to which travel was not permitted, was scrapped, despite covid infections reaching a record level on that day, and omicron spreading at an alarming rate. 

This time last year the UK was about to go into another full lockdown, with the infection rate in England being 580 in 100, 000. Last Monday, with the rate at 1040 in 100,000 Health Secretary Sajid Javid decided not to impose any further restrictions on Plan B, further curbs being under close review. This has led to concern about the impact on hospitals and schools, as already many staff are having to self-isolate. 

Although omicron is very contagious, infections seem to be less severe than with delta, data showing very low numbers of vaccinated people in intensive care. The number of coronavirus cases in hospital in England is less than half of what it was this time last year, despite there being three times as many cases. However some scientific advisors are concerned that the Government may be taking an overly optimistic approach, particularly as the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all introduced further restrictions last week. 

We look forward to 2022 with some trepidation.  Best wishes to you all!

@barrywills