Christmas shin digs are brewing fears across the land that we may have a whole lot more than leftovers, on Christmas day. Families gathering at Christmas for four days could unleash a third wave in January, so is it worth it?
Oh dear, Christmas may be cancelled. How bah hum bug, covid is not the joke you want in the cracker. Santa aint coming this year, or he is-but with a mask on. Its predictable really, when was gathering together at Christmas a good idea-when there’s some weird virus doing the rounds.
There are even children going into hospital at present-albeit few of them, but with serious complications. One West Lothian boy in Scotland fell ill after having contracted covid 19 and no longer showing positive signs of the virus. He was rushed to hospital and put into a coma-with doctors later discovering the Kawasaki disease that is being linked to covid. He came very close to dying.
West Lothian, Scotland have been in tier 4 up until recently. And yet, they are still doing very little about schools, and John Swinney keeps on insisting it is safe for children and teachers to be at school. This is in spite of the very many breakouts that have happened in one council alone. There have been 8 primary schools in West Lothian who have had cases of the virus, and this was a month ago.
The Scottish government insist there have been no outbreaks within schools, but how would they know, when they don’t test anyone? Children-in the most part, may not experience many symptoms, but they catch it just as easily and they spread it.
Do they close the school down? No they do not. Do they isolate the class if one member is affected? No they do not.
How To Deal With The Lack Of Contingency?
The only logical thing to do, when allowing three households to get together over the Christmas break-is to close all schools for two weeks prior. The Depute First Minister and Education Secretary did say that the belief is-schools are a more controlled environment, in comparison to the mixing that would inevitably happen if they were at home. It’s a fair point, kids-especially older children, will mix regardless.
Yet, I think many families would ensure self-isolation over a two week period-if that was recommended; to allow for families to gather at Christmas. Most people would respect this message and follow it.
The alternative is: kids lumped together in a class, 30 of them-with not enough space to allow for 2m and a shared breathing space. The older ones will be socialising anyway after school.
To Mingle Or Not To Mingle?
The reality is; people will be gathering at Christmas, and there is likely to be a huge surge in the new year. It is especially frightening because there is a new strain of the virus. This has been found in the South and South East of England, and must be largely due to the huge spike one school in Greenwich has seen. They are closing the school, despite the government’s protest to keep it open.
Although, I have also heard professor’s professing the simplicity of altering the vaccine; when the virus does mutate.
I myself will be going to my Aunts this Christmas. We have decided to go ahead, and I will enjoy it. It is a risk, undoubtedly, but we have all decided to take it. It is unfortunate the government have not made the decision easier. I am surrounded by people at work and I could easily have it-none of us are being tested. The biggest failure in this whole thing is the lack of testing. It is embarrassing really, for this could have been managed effectively if that had been in place.
I hear of random testing at people’s workplaces, but why aren’t they doing this in schools, as a mandatory precaution? Please stop waiting for the data to come in.
Now I’m thinking of self-isolating for a whole week before I meet the rels-hope you don’t mind a lack of Chrissie pressie haha.
The government however, is not too far away with their change of plans. Whilst I don’t think they’ll cancel Christmas, they sound like they’re going to tighten restrictions.
There have been so many people who have lost their lives in this pandemic. As much as I feel it has become the never-ending story, it has upturned everyone’s lives and enticed so many questions within our society. For example, what is important and our deepest morality. Children can even risk assess a room now-crazy, isn’t it! They know how to curtail a virus and the implications of actions taken.
At Christmas, we must all appreciate what we do have, and give ourselves the reprieve-even if for a short time.
