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I bow to no one in my admiration for England’s Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty. With the erratic hand of Boris Johnson at the wheel, Whitty’s has been a voice of calm, of realism and of honesty. At the press conferences he has attended with Johnson and Chief Scientific Officer Sir Patrick Vallance, he has always been the star attraction. But even Whitty is capable of talking bollocks and that’s what he tweeted today: pure bollocks.
We learned today from the Department of Health and Social Care that the COVID-19 alert level has been moved from Level 5 to Level 4. In technical terms, this means things are still quite shit, but not quite as shit as they were before. Hospital staff are flat out but only collapsing of exhaustion and not dying of it. I think that’s a fair summation. Anyway, that’s where Whitty loses it. Here’s what he said:
“This change is a result of the remarkable efforts of the public to bring case numbers down. Deaths and infections are still very high and the NHS remains under significant pressure. If we continue to follow the guidance, cases will continue to fall.”
Now, no one can deny the facts that when people are following the guidance; infection numbers, and then hospitalisation and deaths, have started to come down. But where I take issue with the country’s top medic is because of this: our efforts are only as a result of the government closing everything down.
Most of us, to some extent or other, have followed the rules, although since the former prime minister in all but name Dominic Cummings had a holiday at his second home in Durham, I have personally interpreted the rules to suit my own life and of course protect those I love, as well as those I don’t frankly even like. I know of countless examples where people have driven a coach and horses through the rules, yet still virtue signal about the wrongs of others.
I know of people who frequently go into the homes of others. I know of those who have gone on day trips, and fitness jaunts, out of their local areas and indeed brag about them on social networks. I know that without the current guidance the country would be in an endless infection and death spiral.
The only reason people are not in pubs, theatres, football matches and all the rest of it is because they’re closed by way of government instruction and quite right too. But if they were open and the guidance was voluntary, what do you think would happen? I would wager that the streets of Bristol, like every other street in the land, would be rammed, as would the pubs and everywhere else. In other words, Whitty thanks us for not doing what we’re not able to do anyway.
Visit a supermarket – any supermarket – and you will find a complete absence of social distancing. Seven out of 10 people are still not isolating when told to do so because they will not be paid if they do. And go along any street and folk are mixing indoors and out. And how many people are only going out no more than once a day and even then only when it’s essential? I can’t say I am.
I mean, Chris Whitty is right about pretty well right on everything. But there’s no need to praise us for not doing things we can’t do, but probably would if we could.
Keep up the great work, Professor. Despite that the worst effort of that dishevelled twat who stands between you and Sir Patrick at the press conferences, you’ve made COVID less worse than it could have been. I’m guessing that if you were actually in charge of it things would be a lot better. I’ll let you off about this tosh about the “remarkable efforts of the public” because you need us on your side. But please don’t repeat it.
