It comes before dawn, you know. It’s an apt phrase that’s currently in popular use, but often without an explanation. I’ll offer my ray of hope. I think it is very reasonable to say that the next eight to ten weeks are going to be very difficult in the U.K. The new ‘British strain’ of the novel coronavirus has made itself known through rocketing infection rates over the last few weeks, and it shows no sign of letting up significantly for the moment. I think it’s likely that this strain will make it to your neighbourhood to, wherever you are in the world. Sorry about that.
High death rates through till March at least are already baked in. We’ll likely see a thousand plus Covid corpses a day on a regular basis. I will not be shocked if we have days where deaths pass two thousand. It’s not going to be pretty. I think anti-maskers, anti-vaxxers and lockdown sceptics trying to visibly promote their brand of nonsense may find themselves increasingly ridiculed and unpopular.
But there is a path out of this horror. The path may have some twists and turns ahead. But I like to visualise a bright, sunny, happy place at the end of this path. Holidays. Eating out. Theatre. I would hope that come mid April, the current lockdown will have significantly reduced the number of infections in society. I would hope that we would be able to keep a lid on infection rates through the summer, as we did last year.
But we will have an advantage in 2021 over 2020. We will, come April, have 20 million vulnerable people vaccinated against the virus. We will also likely have between 15 to 20 million people with a reasonable degree of immunity through infection. We will be able to open everything up. And the vaccination process will roll on, so that come the cooling temperatures of autumn, pretty much every adult has had the opportunity of receiving a dose of the good stuff.
So in short, hang tight. Cavalry is coming. All will be well. Just try to stay safe for just another couple of months. Nearly there. So freaking close to the promised land. Don’t do anything silly. <phone rings> Joe Bloggs has just tested positive. You’ve shared an office with him, haven’t you…</phonehangsup>. Bugger. It appears that I have moved into ‘crossed fingers’ mode for the next week or two.
The Mexile 
This piece reminds me of the book “On the Beach” by Nevil Shute. Hopefully you will be ok, are you off for the next few weeks to keep an eye on your neighbours through slightly opened blinds?
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I haven’t been ordered into self isolation yet. But it’s likely.
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I’ve deleted most of that reply. It’s not that I said anything bad about the fella. But it doesn’t seem quite right to say anything at all. He tested positive for the virus yesterday. And he passed away today.
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Wow, that’s terrible. It’s always sad when someone passes, and it sounds like it happened rather quickly.
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The schedule for vaccinations in Ohio has come out, and if (granted, a big if) they are able to maintain that schedule I will receive my first shot the week of February 8th!
Of course in the U.S. the phrase “it’s darkest just before the dawn” has a double significance. I am holding my breath until January 20th that no further atrocities will occur here.
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February will beat any date I get. But there’s hope that the UK may see every adult vaccinated before August. Let’s hope so.
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Just as the sun was lifting cresting with its message of optimism and illuminating the destruction of the vanquished dark lord SARS-CoV-2 , the members of the fellowship heard an ominous sound behind them. Even though its voice had not been heard in Middle Earth for centuries, its shrill wail called to long-buried DNA. It was Myxomatosis. A pox from the Great Rabbit sent to punish Hobbits for their love of lapine stew. Nothing good would come from the next episode of — Watership Gettin’ Down. [eerie music]
Coming to a neighborhood theater near you soon.
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Watership Down could only have been written by an English author. Surely other countries pick happier, less bloodthirsty stories for kids? Or at least stick to stories about extraordinarily long penis’. Looking at Denmark here…
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Sorry for that extraneous “lifting” in the first sentence. But I am a writer, not an editor. Jaja.
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Being a half full kind of guy: the methods used to make most of the new vaccines came out of cancer research that was ongoing, a new can of worms has been opened in our fishing for ways to treat cancer and viruses . Our year long space race to find a vaccine, vast gobs of money, millions of “test ” subjects, just might be a major advance in developing treatments for many blood type illnesses.
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The biggest leaps forward always happen in wartime. So perhaps it is right to describe this as a war against a virus.
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