Now is the time to stay safe and help one another..

I've stopped watching TV.  I find the repetitive Coronavirus news just plain scary.  News of the growing figures of those infected and the growing death rates.

There's too much light conversation about this disease.  Radio shows chatting with folk about how they are doing.  Images on TV of Italian folk singing across balconies whilst in lockdown.  I'm expecting loads of folk to sleepwalk into this pandemic.  Eyes wide shut. Ignore it and it might go away. But also thinking of the critical care nurse from York tearfully pleading on social media for people to stop bulk buying and clearing supermarket shelves leaving her with nothing after a hard 48hour shift in an intensive care unit.  The strain on her and other hospital folk must be huge.  I'm heartbroken watching her cry and plead for people to stop doing it whilst she's sat in her car.  I'm crying as I write this.  It's painful to watch.  What about the folks with kids?  It's a nightmare for them.  The tears are with me again but this time for all the wrong reasons.

Myself and Howard, Kathryn's octogenarian / octodontic (cos hes only got eight teeth) dad, have been chatting about Covid19 since the outbreak in China was reported early in January 2020.  What caught both our attentions was the immediate and massive reaction by the Chinese state to lock down the Wuhan region to slow down the spread of the contagion.  We knew then it was going to be a bad one.  Since early doors I've thought the following (here I go with conspiracy theories):

1. Contrary to what has been said about the virus originating from another species (take yer pick its all fake news) and transferring to humans at a fish market in Wuhan the speed of reaction by the Chinese authorities means that they knew about it in advance, simply because it originated from the Centre for Disease Prevention and Control in Wuhan, either accidentally or as an act of biological terrorism.

2. That this is a first-strike by China on the capitalistic western world in response to the huge trade sanctions levied by the USA and other countries on China.  Why in a country of 1.7 billion people has China so quickly got control over the pandemic with less than 100,000 infected unless they were already prepared for it.  I'd be damn sure that global security agencies including the American Military are all over this as a possible cause.

Irrespective of the cause Trump has started to call it the China Virus - not Covid-19 etc.  I'm sure he is clear in his mind where the responsibility lies - with either the Chinese military or private bodies who lost control of an arms grade weapon or because the peoples in certain Chinese territories continue to eat 'bush meat'.  I now better understand the controls over meat production here in the UK and no doubt why as part of the Brexit talks there is so much debate around food standards, for example the chlorinated chicken in the USA.  I expect Trump will look for compensation at the end of this from China.  Another bad set of international events to happen in the future for sure.

All I know is I'm proper worried, no, I'm scared over this.  There has been nothing like this in 100 years.  I know the UK government is scared too as their have taken an unlimited approach to pumping money into the economy and our peoples in order to prevent a complete meltdown of our society.  Today there are minor skirmishes over the shortage of food on supermarket shelves and the continued practice by rather too many folk to bulk buy and stock up is leaving nowt for others.  And some then selling on for a hugely marked up price in sites such as eBay.  This has to be taken control over and stamped out immediately else in the next 1-3 weeks there will be major civil unrest, shop raids, payback on greedy bastards with military on the streets / curfews etc..  I fear it is coming.

Nonetheless there are many others who really care and want to look after each other.  It's the old war mentality.  I don't need so much of this they say.  A bit of make and mend will suffice.  Indignation and concern is shared over what other people are doing but that may change as things get harder.  The common denominator sadly is that people will get more animalistic as control is eroded.  I think it is the reason why the government is taking a steady approach to the phases needed to prevent the spread of the contagion across the UK as a lot of it is about changing the behaviours of our peoples.  But also in parliament finalising bills into Acts to legally fully take control of everything.  If the Government goes in too hard too soon our very liberal society will surely break down, driven and led by the minority of nasty selfish bastards who only see a profit in it which will similarly spread like a behavioural contagion across the world.

But please also consider the impact on the poor people of this world.  India with its massive overcrowding and poor slums.  Folk in Africa who live with AIDS every day and the malnutrition of children.  The lack of good healthcare too means that several million people could die - MILLIONS.  That's what I think.  And there is no information about the virus.  Yes it is cold like (a SARS variant of the Corona Virus) so can spread and infect easily.  It is different to EBOLA.  What if this version is also persistent in the human body as is HIV / AIDS?  There's data on recovered folk on the worldometer web site but it is sparse and is taking weeks for people to recover if at all.  Nonetheless the lack of data has me inventing things.  Either information is not available or it is being suppressed in order to not scare everyone which would result in the meltdown of society.

The British government is on a war footing.  To hell with patents.  Make as many ventilators and as much personal protective equipment as possible.  It's needed.  Order as much as you can.  Surplus will be needed elsewhere in the world - the World will need our help.

God help us all..  Keep safe.