Tag: fifth wave

An easy opportunity to use a gif that was already in my media library

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Yesterday (well, just before midnight on the day before yesterday, if we’re being precise), the government issued an extension of sorts to the temporary amendment that it had previously made last month regarding the wearing of masks in public places.

This made a lot of those people very annoyed, but it was actually a good diversion for them to avoid talking about the USA exceeding 1,000,000 (one million) Covid deaths. And even that is a wild underestimation, according to many sources. Just like the flu, they said. But it’s really not.

Anyway, aside from the sleight of hand, the only other bit of good news for those people was that the press release about the extension seemed to suggest that students would no longer have to wear masks in schools. This didn’t make any sense – especially along the other guidelines that were in the same gazette – but since when has this (or any) government ever made any sense?

Anyway, that was the situation until the early afternoon, when someone at the Department of Health finally woke up and realised that there had been an error, and told the country that actually, students would have to wear masks in their classrooms after all.

Wow. The metaphorical cat was placed right among the allegorical pigeons with that announcement.

And lo, there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth. But it was this hysterical tweet that stood out for me:

Because obviously, I immediately thought of this gif:

And though I have no idea what about the appearance of the individual who came out with those question above, my mind will now always associate them with Helen Lovejoy.

Look, the fact is that anyone can go to their local police station and lay a charge against the Department of Health if they wish. So why leave it for someone else, since you clearly feel so upset? Why wouldn’t you go and do it yourself if you think a crime has been committed? For that to go much further though, that Department needs to have broken some sort of law, which in this case would be… would be… er… “being a bit vague in a late night press release”?

Oh my. Proper Death Row, Throw Away The Key Stuff there.

In the meantime, masks remain for indoor spaces, schools or otherwise, and the numbers – probably affected by two public holidays and a long weekend and Covid fatigue, as mentioned here:

– continue to rise:

Ventilate, vaccinate, mask up, stay safe. And won’t somebody please think of the children?

Thanks.

Lots of things

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First off, it’s our son’s last day at school. Sort of, anyway.
He’s suddenly (yesterday, at least) 16 years old and he starts his exams next week. Thus, his study leave begins when the school bell rings this afternoon and wow… how scary is it that he’s so grown up already?

It’s terrifying.

Of course, the plan is for him to go back to school later this year and study much, much more, but technically, if he wanted to leave school now – he could. I am not ready for this news.

Next up, there’s Covid everywhere. (So we’re trying to keep the boy away from people because of those exams next week.) Every other conversation begins with someone who has got it. So yes, anecdotally, absolutely, because these things do sometimes correlate, but actually, as well.

And while we hope that this BA.4/BA.5-driven fifth wave won’t produce too much mortality, because of vaccinations and prior omicron exposure, there’s plenty of morbidity about, and hospital numbers are beginning to creep up as well.

While every new wave of this virus will be different, depending on what variant is responsible, this does give us a pretty good idea of what “living with Covid” will entail. A new wave every six or so months, with varying – but at the very least, significant – morbidity and mortality. But accurate, comparable data will likely be difficult to come by, with fewer people bothering to test (R300-600 each time) if their symptoms are mild and the restrictions they would face are either unpalatable to them or simply not dependent on the result. Because why would you if you’re an arse or it’s all for nothing?

In other – happier – news, we have a chance to go for a night away later this week to celebrate several (or more) wedded years. The place we’re staying looks stunning, and I began looking for a nearby restaurant for dinner. The local selection is large, and involves chalk and cheese:

Yep, this one is R1695 (£86, $109) (it does look a bit spesh though), but if that seems like too much, literally just across the road:

…you can get a “chip cone” for R35 (£1.70, $2.24).

I think we’ll try and find some middle ground.