Covid - good news and bad news

The recent good news about Covid is that a vaccine has now been approved and is being given in order of priority, firstly to vulnerable and elderly people and frontline health care workers, and then by age from older to younger. I’m low down on the list and I’m fine with that. I am in good health and am happy for higher priority people to get the vaccine first. As a non scientist I am also a bit worried about getting the vaccine which has been developed and tested so very quickly. I remember all the problems that we had in the 1980s in the computer company I worked for, when we were under huge pressure to rush in newly developed software for new legislation - the notorious Community Charge or “Poll Tax.” The results were not good! 

David has reassured me that the vaccine has been tested properly, and I trust him, so I will get it when my turn comes. I suppose that if people refuse the vaccine then Covid will continue to spread, so I will overcome my worries for the greater good. And hope that I don’t grow fur or turn into a zombie - just joking! 

The bad news is that cases of and deaths from Covid are rising again - and this is before the five day easing of restrictions at Christmas. The governments (British and Scottish) are understandably reluctant to go back on their promise of small Christmas gatherings indoors, because it would be bad for morale and also I think a lot of people would just go ahead with their planned celebrations anyway. But on the other hand, if the number of deaths increases significantly because of the temporary easing of restrictions, this would also be really bad. So there’s a lot of uncertainty just now.

Update - late afternoon. Well I was right about the uncertainty. In Scotland the five day window of easing Covid restrictions has now been reduced to one day - Christmas Day. Then from Boxing Day we will move back into Tier 4 (South Lanarkshire was in Tier 4 at the beginning of the month but we have been in Tier 3 for the last couple of weeks) which means that the cafés, pubs, restaurants and non essential shops will have to close again. Where Jennifer lives, in Buckinghamshire, as well as in London and the south east of England, will be going into Tier 4 immediately, so no mixing of households at Christmas at all. It’s a real shame but what can we do? Keeping people safe has to be the most important thing.