Feest Isolation Days – 10 May
After the celebrations, flowing wine, and singing with the family and friends on VE Day, it’s a new day with new things to enjoy. The small things that matter to us hold our attention once more, and we return to our routine. The weather has held so we were able to breakfast in the garden yesterday. Today we’re told the north wind arrives and we will need to reach once more for our winter jumpers. Terry will put the tender plants inside just in case. We remain locked down and await the news that is going to give us the road map for the future.
Today marks one hundred days since the first case of Covid 19 was confirmed in the UK. Without a vaccine yet, and no known cure, the steps out of the pandemic will be incremental. Lockdown will no doubt continue for some time. There will be no sudden end to this coronavirus crisis. The NHS is coping, even though the PPE in some places is sometimes not sufficient. Care homes are the source of many deaths now, and the NHS has turned its attention to helping those facilities. They are not geared up to deal with what has hit them. The NHS will offer its expertise and hopefully help where they can. The real problem is that those in care homes are the most vulnerable to this disease and their underlying medical conditions are why they are where they are in the first place.
Study results have now become available from scientists testing all sorts of behavioural measures in response to the lockdown measures. One of the most worrying findings is that young men between the ages of nineteen and twenty-four are breaking the rules more than anyone else. Eight out of ten people stopped or fined by the police were this age. In a study of two thousand young men in this age group, nearly half said they were feeling significantly more anxious during the lockdown – and this was particularly true if they had a parent who was a key worker. Clearly more needs to be done to help these young men deal with the situation they find themselves in. Their long-term mental health needs ought to be addressed. These are worrying times for everyone, but as a particular group has been identified as needing more support, they must get it. There are many wonderful groups working hard across the land to ensure that they do.
Every news outlet in the country seems intent on pre-empting the Prime Minister’s announcement that will be delivered today, Sunday, at seven o’clock in the evening, setting out the roadmap plans for the easing of lockdown restrictions. The unknown is frightening territory for many, and the coronavirus has brought with it an unknowable future. There have been steps in the right direction, the peak of the curve of disease has been flattened, the social distancing measures have worked; the NHS has not been overwhelmed. Many in society, not just young men, are still struggling and many more are helping them.
As the Queen remarked in her VE Day speech, “our streets are not empty; they are filled with the love and the care that we have for each other. And when I look at our country today, and see what we are willing to do to protect and support one another, I say with pride that we are still a nation that those brave soldiers, sailors and airmen would recognise and admire.”
“Never give up never despair.” The Queen says that is the message of VE day. A message we all need to remember as we go forward with our lives. We are all and will continue to be in this together.
This Springsteen song is all about running away – which doesn’t sound too inspiring, until you appreciate that it’s also about starting all over again with a new outlook. I defy you not to move…..(and it has an amazing sax solo).
With love,
Kathy x