Covid-19 Diaries 9th May 2020

09 May 20

Posted at 2:36

75th Anniversary of VE Day

Yesterday was the 75th anniversary of VE day. The anniversary of the end of WW2 was commemorated in an eery way in the UK. Social distancing and the message " stay at home, protect the NHS, save lives" is still, at least for today, the message. So muted celebrations were conducted in some streets, on peoples drives toasting the neighbours at a safe distance. Families who do not live together cannot meet or visit each other. Comparisons have been made between this situation now and war time. I think the parallels are over egged somewhat. The 'pain and sacrifice' is of course significantly less but for generations who came ofter the war and the immediate post war problems this is undoubtedly the most challenging period of their lives.

For weeks the lockdown has been adhered to by the vast majority but now as we see relaxation in some other countries there are 'cracks appearing in the dam'. The resolve of the British people is wearing thin although many are understandably scared stiff of the risks with relaxation. Tomorrow at 7pm the prime minister will give the nation an update on 'phase two'. Newspapers and media have been speculating for days what will be announced. Recycling centres have announced re-opening next week, there is speculation garden centres will open on Wednesday and further speculation that schools will open in June and that anyone entering the UK by air land or sea will be subject to 14 days quarantine after June 1st. All this speculation has resulted in changes, road traffic although still low has increased, sole traders are opening for business slowly and families if not breaking are certainly bending the rules. So tomorrow's announcements will be interesting. I sense the PM will have to officially endorse much of the speculation and go a bit further. If he doesn't take a leadership position further speculation will grow immediately, speculation that perhaps ignores the scientific and medical advice. We are told a second wave or peak must be avoided at all costs as it would be devastating in terms of death and economic damage but there is no clarity as to the likelihood of or possible contributors to a second wave. There is so much written, so many opinions and so many diverse 'expert' opinions it is possible to reach just about any conclusion you wish to.

My personal take on it all is that the virus spreads uncontrollably in the densest populations and is most damaging in dense populations of the most vulnerable people. So major cities like London and New York, care homes and hospitals all have seen high deaths and rate of infections. A sparsely populated area like Sweden for example has certainly not been unscathed but to date has not seen devastating infections or death rates despite having no lockdown even bars and restaurants remaining open throughout. We are told that a real comparison of how countries have faired is not possible until the world is completely through this pandemic. We wait for Boris to update us tomorrow and then next week venture, hopefully with optimism as opposed to fear, into phase two.

 

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Covid-19 Diaries. Care Homes

22 April 20

Posted at 10:15

Chase FarmChase House

I cannot speak with any authority or professional knowledge about care homes of course but care homes have been a hot news topic in the UK for the last week or ten days so it is worth me recording that fact and in doing so share some personal experience and anecdotes. I mentioned in a previous blog that there is  a care home about half a kilometre up a track next to my house. The building that is now the care home was originally a farmhouse, Chase farm, and in fact my own house was originally a farmworkers cottage attached to the farm. The actual farmhouse was sold separate to the farm many years ago, around 1960 I believe. When I was at school in the mid sixties a friend of mine actually lived in the house although at that time I did not live in Arlesey. Fast forward about twenty years and we had purchased our house from the estate that still owned the farm and another acquaintance owned and lived in the farmhouse, now known as Chase House. I remember quite vividly a party I went to in the house, it must have been the early '80s as the guy who lived there had a CD player, none of us had seen a CD before. I remember people stubbing cigarettes out on the few CDs he possessed just to prove they were indestructible, which of course they weren't. I've no doubt some of us will need the services of care homes one day as a result of such parties!

Chase House Care HomeChase House Care Home

The private house went on to become a care home and over the years the building has been dramatically but tastefully extended to three or four times its original size. It is a privately run care home and I believe it has maintained good ratings in terms of the quality and breadth of care it provides. I know people who have had relatives live there and I know people who work there. I've not really heard anything but praise for the care provided and I have the greatest admiration and respect for those carers who work there.

As I said earlier care homes have been a hot topic in the news recently. News nowadays consists of 90% plus related to the coronavirus pandemic. It is wall to wall, it is dynamic and increasing it seeks to apportion blame. Our government is receiving criticism about the number of deaths in our care homes. Personally I feel the only area we can confidently say the government, although strictly speaking it is the previous government as we recently, just last autumn, had a general election. The previous government(s) were responsible for financial cut backs that were severe, had they not been so severe perhaps we would have been better able to respond to this pandemic. Beyond that this present government were in the process of reversing some of the austerity we have experienced. The pandemic though struck too soon for there to be any effect. I am cautious to blame the government for the desperate situation we see in our care homes for a number of reasons:

  • First of all care home residents are by nature elderly, many have underlying health problems, they live in quite crowded conditions with much communal activity. When visitors were allowed earlier in the pandemic they arrived often from fair distances away. Residents are often not located in a home close to their relatives. These factors alone make the care home environment ideal for the virus to spread. Social distancing is nigh on impossible in the average care home.
  • The private sector accounts for a large number of care homes from big corporations managing multiple homes to smaller privately run homes. These are all businesses and in many cases quite profitable. Yet it feels as though the finger of blame for any lack of preparedness points at the government as opposed to the business owners.

Today the senior medical officer Chris Witty expanded on my first point above. I have not seen figures but I strongly suspect that in years when we have bad flu epidemics and winter vomiting outbreaks, care homes see a disproportionate level of fatalities. In reality care homes see a disproportionate number of fatalities anyway. For many the period spent in a care home leads up to and includes end of life. Of course this does not belittle in any way the horrendous situation we face in our care homes at this time made even worse by the fact that care home residents die alone without their family being able to visit.The role of the family is taken up by the already overstretched and I suspect quite frightened care staff. In reality they have done this before on a smaller scale as some people are in effect abandoned with no relatives when they are in care. Never on this scale though and never under the shadow of Covid-19.

The job and the dedication of our care workers is hopefully being recognised. Gradually they are replacing celebrities and sports star as the real heroes in our society. Despite the criticism being levelled at the way the UK has responded to this pandemic I believe our care home sector has faired well against the odds. I remember reading early in this pandemic of care homes in Spain being abandoned, patients being discovered days later all having been left to die. It is a real credit to our care home staff across all sectors that they not only care for every single resident they do so with love and dignity. 

My mother in law lived in a care home for two years (not Chase House), she suffered from dementia and Lupus and had a stoma. She died in the home in 2018. I am thankful she is not there during this pandemic.

I mentioned in a previous blog about applauding with the staff from Chase House last Thursday evening. Tomorrow I will do so again with some extra vigour.

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Covid-19 Diaries 17th April 2020

17 April 20

Posted at 11:33

Broadway Cinema Letchworth

 

It’s Friday although days are much the same as each other in this pandemic. Thursday’s have changed though. We still put the bins out on Thursday nights but we now value the bin men. Bin men were last valued in the seventies when we were hit with the three day week. Since then they are at best invisible at worst despised for causing minor traffic hold ups or once in a blue moon missing a bin. However we now thank them, leave them notes saying how wonderful they are and include them in our weekly round of applause that happens on Thursday evenings at 8pm.

It started four weeks ago when the country at 8pm came outdoors, hung out of windows and stood on balconies and everyone clapped in appreciation of our NHS workers, nurses and doctors. It was dark that first Thursday and amazing to hear clapping, whooping and saucepans being banged from people all around most of whom we could hear but not see. This has continued every Thursday and is now a thank you to all key workers. On one side of my house is a drive that leads to a care home. It was originally a gothic farmhouse so it lays half a kilometre from the road it has been extended and today is a much larger building. Last night just before 8pm many of the care workers from the home walked past my house to the road, still dressed in their personal protective equipment. They were mainly carers and a couple of nurses, they were all young and mostly female. When 8 o clock came they clapped and cheered their hearts out. They were applauding the many people who were outside their homes applauding the care workers! Saucepans were being banged, people were cheering. Standing the other side of my garden fence to the care workers I felt quite emotional. It is spring now so it was still light the applauders were all in view, the clapping lasts for 5 minutes or so, folk go back into their locked down houses and the care workers returned to care for their guests. I had a tear in my eye, six weeks ago an event like this would have been unimaginable.

Politicians and journalists have been using the word ‘unprecedented’ a lot recently and I guess it does apply to so many of our current experiences. Just about every part of life has changed over recent weeks. We’ve been told lockdown will continue for at least three more weeks. Many are questioning if and when things will return to normal. A friend of mine put his thoughts on returning to normal into words. I thoroughly agree with his sentiment and with his permission I’ve reproduced his words here (courtesy Andrew Ward).

I’ve heard the phrase “when things return to normal” a lot lately.

I suppose it is a notion that many of us are clinging to, but it has got me wondering, what is it that people actually mean by ‘normal’?

Do they mean a return to being slaves of economic growth? A return to the endless, relentless, chasing after the wind? When things get back to normal will the insatiable appetite to build over beautiful countryside return and exploitation of the environment resume? Will vital services be undervalued and starved of resources again? Will communities return to having an attitude of indifference (or worse) to those around and within them?

When things return to ‘normal,’ will there then be no further need to show respect and gratitude for our NHS? Will we still appreciate it’s staff, other emergency and essential service providers, shop staff, refuse collectors and other key workers? Will it mean we’ll no longer be generally more considerate and sensitive of others around us? Or will we return to lighting bonfires just as next door hang their washing out or create gridlock on the high street because it was ‘our right of way’ after all? Will returning to ‘normal’ mean that nobody need bother helping their neighbour(s) anymore - whether elderly, vulnerable or otherwise?

Will it mean we no longer have the time or the inclination to reflect on the brevity of life and the things that really matter both here and now and beyond? Will we no longer cherish our family and friends and generally be content just to ‘be’? Will we give up exercising together for an hour each day and treasuring the natural world just beyond our own doorstep? Will we abandon local shops and suppliers and give up being socially aware, engaged and responsible?

I'm really hoping not, as I don't want that things to return to that 'normal'

 

 

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Covid-19 Diaries 1

16 April 20

Posted at 2:13

 

Closure Effective Midnight 23rd March 2020

We have just entered our fourth week of lockdown in the UK. Lockdown in response to a global pandemic of a coronavirus called Covid-19. Originating from cross contamination in a wet wildlife market in Wuhan China in December 2019 Over the first couple of months of 2020 the virus, about which very little, if anything, was known, spread throughout the world.

We are now living in a world that would have been beyond our wildest dreams, well wildest nightmares, when we returned home from travelling in New Zealand on 21st February 2020. The situation in China had been in the news and travel from China had been restricted whilst we were still in New Zealand. Flying home there were more people than is usual wearing masks at Singapore airport but really beyond that Covid-19 was a distant threat.

On arriving home we busied ourselves trying to adapt to the British winter and focussed our minds on projects and activity to get involved in as we waited for Spring. We socialised with friends, visited restaurants and so on. Gradually the news contained more about the virus in China.

On 14th March Marilyn and I went to the theatre in east London and then to a restaurant in Islington. It was a strange evening. By then the virus had a grip in Northern Italy. We were being told to ‘ wash our hands’ regularly and to try and avoid crowds and being too close to people. London was strange that Saturday evening, there were a few empty seats in the theatre but it had been a sell out. Restaurants and bars were very quiet, Upper Street in Islington did not look or feel like a Saturday night. After that weekend the country began to change dramatically The theatre we had been to closed. The news media, which has been disgraceful throughout this pandemic, sparked panic buying, it was soon impossible to find pasta or toilet rolls in the supermarkets. The next week was a mixture of fear, confusion and disbelief. The news was dominated by the situation in Italy, financial markets panicked, the virus was now spreading in the UK particularly in London. It was inevitable that soon we would follow some other countries and be in lockdown. It was announced on Monday 23rd March and implemented at midnight.

The previous week we had ordered a new chicken house and run for our four hens. The area of our garden where the chickens have lived for the last 15 years or more had become dominated by a massive palm tree (yes in England) it had basically thrived for all that time on chicken shit and now stood around 12 metres tall with its massive fronds providing a large area of shade over a now dilapidated chicken coop and higgledy piggledy fencing and chicken wire. So week one of lockdown, with thankfully dry weather, was spent clearing the area, felling the tree (a bitter sweet moment) and then assembling, with difficulty, the rather modern chicken coop and run. Having completed that task I turned my attention to some sub standard electrical wiring that had been cobbled together to provide power to the garage, located at the bottom of the garden. It had been a temporary quick fix about 25 years ago. Now for the first time I guess I had enough time and patience to sort it all out and get it up to today’s regulations.

So initially and I guess this is true for many, being confined to the house, allowed out just once a day for exercise, starts off as quite therapeutic. I’m definitely not a one for DIY, I usually rush, go off half cocked make a mess and never get the job done. But for a couple of weeks I amazed myself at what I managed to achieve.

That though did not take up the majority of my time. On 16th March a friend in the village started a Facebook page to offer help to people who were isolated by restrictions or the virus itself. Over seventy year olds were subject to a 12 week period of self isolation, anyone who had been in contact with someone who was thought to have the virus had to quarantine. All of a sudden people who were slightly vulnerable due to age, ability or health now became really vulnerable and isolated and not self sufficient.

The ‘Good Neighbour’ page launched on the 16th March had ballooned into a Good Neighbour help group consisting of a sort of steering group of eight individuals working with over 120 volunteers able to offer assistance to every one of the 4000 houses in our village, The group had a website, telephone, email, every house in the village had received a flyer, posters were displayed throughout. Amazingly this was all completed by 20th March and was achieved with just one initial face to face meeting of four people on the 16th. Everything else was and continues to be done using Whatsapp, Facebook, email and the phone. Within another week the 120 plus members of the group had photo IDs which both helped with safeguarding for those receiving help and with explaining to police why we might be out and about, or to supermarkets why we are purchasing volumes of certain items. Needless to say I was and still are one of the steering group and even more bizarre than me doing DIY I now spend a fair amount of time helping the needy.

So now just a month after that theatre trip the pubs, clubs, restaurants and cinemas are all closed, as are schools and many shops. There are hardly any flights in or out of the country. Only essential workers travel, the message is and has been stay at home, protect the NHS and thereby save lives. By and large that direction has been respected. With 12,000 deaths in the UK to date and 132,00 worldwide the impact of Covid-19 is becoming apparent.

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