Living with Covid

So sad to learn that four people died as a result of Storm Eunice. How many more deaths might there have been had not most of us stayed at home for most of the day, as instructed by that most hated groups of people, experts? Four lives cut short just like that. Our thoughts should be with their families and friends, as should our thoughts of another 158 people whose deaths were announced yesterday, having died of Covid-19.

As life gradually lurches back to some sort of normality, it’s easy to forget that Covid is still with us and still killing people. Even with the recent fall in numbers, over 1000 people died from the virus last week (yes, I know a number of people went into hospital with something else but then caught and died from Covid) and nearly 9000 are in hospital.

What’s interesting – or is it disturbing? – is that the ‘We will have to learn to live with Covid’ argument has been won. It’s certainly won with me. I don’t think I could have coped with another month, another year, another chunk of my life being put on hold.  But we still need to think of those for whom it will not be possible to live with Covid because if they catch it they are likely to become severely ill and even die.

I consider myself lucky. I managed to avoid catching the virus until late January 2022. I didn’t get severely ill but for all that, my breathing is still not quite right and I still have periods of extreme tiredness. And the reason I am so lucky is because the wonders of science which produced safe and effective vaccines. I can’t say I ever got desperately anxious about the possibility of getting very ill with Covid, but at the front, never mind the back, of my mind was the feeling that if I did catch it, pre vaccines, things might not end well.

For those who are immunosuppressed it is a different matter. Even vaccines might not be enough. And age itself is a major issue. When we say we will have to learn to live with Covid – and we will – we need to think of everyone. The problem is how. And here is how we do it.

Sorry. Were you expecting a clever solution? No, because there isn’t one. The reality, the honest truth, is that the only way vulnerable people can be protected will be to keep them isolated forever. That is never going to happen in a million years, is it?

If you are vulnerable you will be playing Russian Roulette with your lives. You know that you can’t stay at home forever but you also know that if you catch Covid the consequences could be terminal.

That’s what learning to live with the virus means. Let’s not sugar coat it. There are no other options. We have learned to live with, and even accept, 1000 deaths a week, potentially 52000 deaths a year. And in that number will be people we know and love. I honestly don’t think there has been sufficient public debate about the new normal. But with the government now pretending Covid is over, do you honestly think there will be?