Sad to hear there are two new COVID-19 cases in New Zealand. After all the good work carried out by their brilliant PM Jacinda Ardern in ridding the country of this awful virus, it’s back again. And guess who brought it back to New Zealand? Why of course, it’s us Brits, the sick man of Europe and, it appears, along with the US, Brazil and Russia, one of the sickest on earth.
Two British women were given special dispensation to visit a dying relative, flew to New Zealand, were tested for COVID-19 and – guess what? – they had it. No blame to the women, who are now in mourning following the subsequent death of the relative, but it brings to light, yet again and if we didn’t know already, the terrible mess the government has made of handling the pandemic. (For the record, this is not a party political point. If, God forbid, Jeremy Corbyn had won last December’s general election I somehow doubt a talent pool including Richard Burgon, Dianne Abbott and Corbyn himself would have done any better. Conceivably, Corbyn would have made an even bigger mess. Certainly, the media would not have been forgiving as they have been with Johnson.)
I wonder how countries, particularly in Europe, feel about reopening to us Brits, who live in a country where 200 people are dying every single day and there are circa 40,000 new COVID-19 infections every week. Countries like Greece, derided and sneered at by some, have done exceptionally well, particularly in the islands where infections have been minimal. Imagine you live or work in one of the resorts on the islands, which are popular with boozy Brits who like a karaoke, some of whom could be, almost certainly would be, among the significant minority who have all but ignored the social distancing rules from the very start. Just a couple of infected Brits could spread the virus throughout a town in an evening. For Greece, also insert Spain, Italy – just about every other country in Europe who have done much better than we have. In the unlikely event I became a senior official in any EU27 government, I would want British visitors like I want a hole in the head.
In most European countries, the virus is in retreat. In the UK, it appears it’s also in retreat but only very slowly. The idea that somehow every single aircraft taking holidaymakers to their European destination of choice would be virus free is so unlikely it’s almost impossible. And even before the flight departs, literally thousands of people are crowded in confined spaces at check in, security, the departure lounge, the gate and then on the aircraft itself. All these environments are giant petri dishes. It does not require a great leap of faith that Britain’s most significant export in 2020 could be a deadly virus. But that’s what could well happen.
We’re sweating on autumn breaks to foreign climes, knowing that given the UK hasn’t even dealt effectively with the first wave of COVID-19, the second, more devastating wave, could be here when the first is still doing the rounds.
I don’t know about you, but I am not fooled by the government’s nonsensical spin suggesting that the virus is in retreat and I certainly don’t share Boris Johnson’s extraordinary pride he feels in the UK racking up the highest death toll in Europe. I know a good few people who don’t live in the UK and not one of them looks upon our government’s efforts as being anything other than disastrous. Some of them are not so much looking forward to see visiting Brits this summer, they’re positively dreading it.
Even if we had done well dealing with COVID-19, it would have been possible that we might have exported the odd case of the virus to places like New Zealand, anyway. But the fact that we have done so badly has made it far more likely, almost certain, in fact.
Many countries like Spain and Greece, so heavily dependent on British holidaymakers, need our money. If they don’t get it, many businesses face financial ruin. If they do get it, they may get an unwelcome bonus; the return of COVID-19. It’s a terrible conflict: financial ruin or more deaths. Or, if they get like the UK, both.
