Fixtures

Quote: KaeruJim "The virus which causes COVID is a coronavirus type based on RNA, like flu viruses, and therefore mutates readily because of its structure as far as I know.

You have two problems of letting the lid off too early. One is that although we may have built improved resistance to infection in the most vulnerable, the sheer scale of infections in the rest of the population could mean that your end result numbers of hospitalisations and deaths still overwhelm healthcare services.

Secondly, letting the virus run amongst the "healthy" encourages mutation, and it's not impossible that a mutation may prove more deadly than what we see now (various significant mutations have already occurred with this coronavirus).

We need to bear in mind that there is a LAG between the numbers and statistics which are reported, and where the virus is at in the real world. By the time you see a huge spike of cases coming through it's already too late because you could lock down again and still have to wait weeks before the measures turn your oil tanker.

Having said that, I don't personally believe we can afford to wait until everyone in the country has had their 2x jabs before we open up again. If you haven't yet had COVID, you're flipping likely to after lockdown ends - but there comes a point where we have to take our chances in my view. We're not going to get to 100% vaccination anyway (and the vaccine itself is never 100% effective as has been mentioned), so we have to make a judgement.

Lockdown is not a victimless or harmless policy. People don't like it but the truth is that a human life does have a monetary value as far as the collective and the state is concerned - we cannot protect everybody from this virus 100% before the gates re-open.

Be prepared for more rolling roadblocks this year, but if common sense prevails we might have more normality for the Summer. Crowds at games? Not sure. I can see social distancing policies being in place for some time yet - maybe with significantly reduced capacity but it's so hard to predict what Govt will do. My guess would be late Summer, hope I'm wrong.'"

Interesting. The last paragraph is most pertinent. Following the Government's logic has proved hugely difficult even if, like me, you accept that no response to the pandemic can be even remotely close to perfect.

The battle will always be between politics, which by nature seeks the most optimistic scenario and the Science, which again by its nature seeks the most pedantry approach.

The problem with Boris is far too often he talks like a scientist but acts more like a politician. He is extreme in this duplicity even by the standards of a politician, which to be fair is what he actually is.