Feest Isolation Days –14 May 2021
Thank you all – a thousand times thank you! I have been nourished and fulfilled over the past year and then some by knowing that we were connecting. The pandemic is not over but unlocking is occurring, and life is slowly but surely returning to something that feels more normal than it has for fourteen months.
Deciding to write to you all in order to reach out and keep in touch was an important and valued part of these past months. You enabled me to share what was going on with us, as well as offer some light-hearted moments that I’m told brought a smile to many faces.
When I began, I had no idea that I would be at it for so long! I doubt that you knew my daily, then weekly, musings would become a part of your Isolation Days either! Thanks for keeping up the reading. We were able to reach out to people all over the world and for that I am truly grateful. This blog was always a joint venture with Terry. He did all the back room work and for that I am truly grateful. Before you read more from me, here are his doctorly comments on where we are now with Covid.
Hello from the Editor.
We are no longer isolated! Life is not yet normal as we used to know it, that will take a long time, and perhaps it never will be – BUT – we can see friends, eat together, stay overnight within the UK. We no longer feel isolated, hence the end of “Feest Isolation Days”.
To my amazement, our government has finally made some good decisions. Perhaps they learned from our earlier awful experience and finally properly listened to the scientists. More likely they just gave up the struggle and let the scientists rule! We now have by far the lowest current covid rates and covid death rates compared with Europe and most other large, developed countries outside Australasia.
There seem to be two main reasons.
First, we instituted a further serious lockdown at the beginning of January, well before the rest of Europe, and the graphs show this had an immense effect on our infection rates. Other European countries have been slower to react this time, and have often started stuttering, patchy lockdowns. Then the easing up is also taking place in a very different and controlled way compared with the past. Very slowly, with 5-week intervals to observe the effects before going further: if only we had acted like this before rather than the shambolic easing of restrictions in the past.
In addition, most people seem to be taking their own responsibility seriously, making their own decisions, not taking what they perceive as risks just because they are allowed to.
So many of us still socially distance more than legally required to, avoid unnecessarily going into indoor spaces with people we do not know, continue good hand hygiene, only socialise with those we know are also careful – and vaccinated!
Second, we have the highest vaccination rate per 100,000 population of any large country in the world, although the USA under Biden is catching up.
The government decisions on this were superb. We invested in vaccine research, which not only speeded up development, but gave us immediate access to vaccines when they became available. We purchased vaccines early. Then there was the decision to concentrate on first vaccines and delay the second if necessary, a decision which has been vindicated by the results and subsequent research, and which has now been followed by many other countries. The careful planning of the roll-out to those most at risk and the vulnerable has reduced deaths at a rapid rate. It is not clear who the people were who were really responsible for these decisions, but I suspect Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance and many other scientists had strong hands in this – and perhaps some of the others like Kate Bingham who were appointed to head up various parts of this programme and quietly got on with it while politicians huffed and puffed! It has now been clearly demonstrated that vaccination not only reduces severe illness and death, but lowers infection rates, and also lowers transmissibility in the vaccinated who develop mild infections.
There have been other better performances recently. After a stuttering start, we have one of the highest rates of testing in Europe, and track and trace is much improved. There is evidence being published in Nature that, coupled with the NHS App, this has saved thousands of lives. This could be even more effective as infection rates drop. The ability in the UK to sequence viruses and identify variants has also protected us. As a result of this followed by surge testing and, where appropriate, travel restrictions, the potentially worrying Bristol Variant seems to have died out, the South African and Brazil variants seem to have been contained. The Indian variant is spreading in some areas, but luckily although more infectious than the original virus, it seems reasonably susceptible to the vaccines: surge vaccination is being deployed in highly affected areas.
So, there are grounds for cautious optimism. Infection rates are low at present. Seventy percent of our population now have antibodies to Covid, and with vaccination that will rise. This should keep infection rates low in the future. Some restrictions are in place to prevent the influx of new variants.
There are plans to give booster vaccinations to all adults in the autumn, if needs be with vaccines modified for new variants. There will be ups and downs, but there is reason to believe that with reasonable care we will not experience another massive wave of the virus infection, and when there are increases, the hospitalisation and death rates should be much, much lower.
Life is not normal. We are still cautious, but especially with vaccination, not anxious. We are in a protected bubble at present, somewhat dependent on what happens in the rest of the world – our Kiwi friends will understand that. The virus is rampant in so many places. The world needs vaccine production to be massively increased, let’s hope there can be agreement to stop the patents on vaccines and thus facilitate massive production. Until we are all safe, no-one can fully relax. One effect of this is that foreign travel is still severely limited. Sadly, we suspect we will not be able to visit New Zealand and see all our friends there this year, but there is always hope.
Meanwhile life is looking much brighter, I have had a professional haircut,
and we are going on holiday on Exmoor nest week and are planning visits to other parts of our very beautiful country, although we will not be going to Glastonbury!
If we cannot overwinter in New Zealand there is much British seaside and countryside to hunker down in for the odd week or two. Even better, we can see the family and friends, and give hugs! Isolation is over!
– So Goodbye from the editor.
I hope that whatever you learned from the lockdown experience manages to enrich your life going into the future. There will be positive changes that we will take forward and I am sure that will be true for you as well.
We are delighted to tell you that from the 17th of May, we are allowed to invite people into our home again. There have been a few tiny sneak previews of this with girlfriends. The doors were open, we were wrapped in blankets and became, for a short time, the Grannies that we are! When you are heading to Bristol and fancy a cuppa in the garden, a bed in the spare room and a meal together in the dining room, let us know! There is nothing more special to us than our family and friends and we can’t wait to see you all and give you a great big LEGAL HUG!
Drop me an email any time.
If we head into any lockdowns again (and we hope against hope that doesn’t happen!!) I will return to this method of keeping in touch. In the meantime, get out there and live your lives and ENJOY!
Finally, many of you suggested that I should make a book of this blog. We did! Pixxie Books has done a fantastic job for us and these two volumes of books are now on the shelf! When we (or our grandkids) look back on this part of our lives in the future, there will be a record of what it was like here at Chez Feest.
Saying goodbye isn’t easy….saying welcome and hello is much easier….come visit. The hugs will be longggggg…
I have rounded up a few cartoons that made me smile…hope they do you as well!
How could I not let Randy Rainbow finish off? He’s a hoot and always makes me smile!
Enjoy!
THE END
With love,
Kathy xxx
And
THE BEGINNING!
