Always look on the bright side of life, eh? That’s what Eric Idle sang to us in the Life of Brian. Things can only get better added D:Ream, whose number featured Professor Brian Cox who, sadly, did not perform on the tune. In my heart, I know that things will get better and they should make me look on the bright side of life. It’s hard at times but today I saw something that even I could not ignore. The headline on Sky News read: ‘The number of people suffering from the flu in England has plunged by more than 95% to levels not seen for 130 years.’
Get this stat, also from Sky: ‘Out of 3.9 million patients at 385 GP practices in England monitored by the RCGP, only 35 had the flu last week.’ And this one from from the Sunday Times: ‘In the second week of January, the flu positivity rate – a standard measurement of flu in the community – was 0%. Not one of the 1,894 samples tested positive.’ In a normal January, our hospitals are stuffed with flu patients. Given they are currently stuffed with COVID-19 patients, which is of course sad in itself, I suppose we should feel some kind of relief about that.
The experts – and whatever Michael Gove tells you to the contrary, they are still worth listening to – have concluded that this is down to the lockdown measures. We are observing social distancing, we are wearing our masks, we (well, not me) are working from home, we are not meeting up with people and as Wetherspoons is closed, men are not leaving the gents having not washed their hands and then spreading penis germs everywhere.
It occurred to me some weeks ago that I have not had a cold for a very long time. Usually by February, I have been struck down at least once with Man Flu but this time it hasn’t happened. In fact, I’ve not picked up any bugs at all and the only conditions I am suffering from are either self-afflicted or as a result of old age.
Now I’m not enjoying the lockdown one bit and I am sure you aren’t either. I’d prefer a much harder and potentially shorter lockdown, but we are where we are and one thing all this data confirms is that lockdowns work.
This rare bout of optimism is only tempered by Boris Johnson’s usual over-optimism. Johnson’s relentless faux good cheer has let us down at every stage so far. Last march, we would be over the worst of COVID, in the summer his government bribed us with our own money to pack pubs and clubs, resulting in another upswing of cases, after which he said Christmas would be normal. If Johnson says we will be able to go on holiday from this summer onwards, just be clear whether he actually means summer this year and not next year.
I’ve spent today wallowing in a pool of self-pity, or is it mired in depression? I get so confused when my mood is through the floor. However, the promise of Spring and, just maybe, a summer or perhaps autumn holiday sustains me. I’m not quite looking on the bright side of life and I’m not yet convinced that things can only get better. But I know good news when I see it.
