Lockdown 2.0
Happy Sunday folks, where ever you are. I do hope things are looking up for you and this global pandemic hasn't caused you too much harm. I say "too much" because whether you know so or not, it has done you at least some harm. That is true for all of us that share this one planet that we've got.
It's not looking too good for where I live. At the point of writing this, things do seem to be getting better. Schools are open for the very young, and those needing to graduate. Restaurants, barbers' shops, pubs and bars are all open normally now. There is even indoor sitting. People that still have jobs are back to work for the most part. Obviously many that could work from home never did stop. Neither did essential workers such as medical staff and food delivery people.
It's summer now, and the days are warm to hot. The weather is scorching in the Mediterranean. Heat, and direct sunlight, are devastating to viruses. That has been shown over and over again. Once you know how coronaviruses are structured, it's obvious why. I'd like to believe that the lower numbers we're seeing now in England are partly due to the weather, however something else appears to be going on.
Looking at the United States, the state of Florida, a hot part of the world at this time of the year, is pretty much the epicentre of the virus right now in mid summer. How can that be? I know the leaders in that state have been particularly irresponsible with tackling the virus, but still, the numbers shouldn't be that bad.
Also, looking at Spain, there seems to have been a bit of an outbreak in the past few days. It's very hot and sunny in Spain right now. Clearly there's something about this virus that we don't yet understand.
Some have have floated theories that the virus is fully airborne. Might the aerosols be protecting the virus from the effect of heat and sunlight? Perhaps it is helping to keep the physical integrity of the organism while it floats happily into the nostrils of unsuspecting individuals. Perhaps it's able to linger that much longer on surfaces, waiting to be touched and carried into someone's airways. More time will tell.
What is alarming is that we are more than likely heading for another lockdown this autumn. Why? Well, because like any seasonal virus, it's seasonal. Normally, Australia, Chile, New Zealand and South Africa would be serving as petri dishes for the winter viruses to harbour and mutate, in preparation to do the same up here when winter arrives. This time, the virus hasn't even bothered to leave the North. Thanks to the United States, we already possibly have a northern mutated virus which is going to complicate things come Autumn / Winter.
I predict we are going to get a cocktail of different mutant viruses. There will be a Covid-20 strain of sorts, a remnant Covid-19 and what I will preemptively term Covid-USA. It's going to be a tricky winter folks.
Fun and games: There is an evolutionary pressure for viruses to mutate in a way that they become less deadly, but more infections. If a virus is too deadly, and not infections enough, it will kill off it's host before having a chance to jump into another one. In the United States, they are seeing more infections but fewer deaths for now. This has lead certain authorities to presume propose the posibility of the virus having mutated. I haven't seen any scientific evidence to the fact. It may exist, but I haven't seen anything.
Hoard or nah?
I didn't actually get a chance to hoard toilet paper like many people did but I did run out to get as many as I could find after they were already rare to find. I found some at the local small corner shop ran by an elderly couple. They were stashed away behind some kitchen tools on a top shelf, so I think they evaded the eye level of most people. Actually, I should drop by the shop at some point to enquire after them, to see if they pulled through the plague ok or not. They are both over 60, probably even 70, so they were in the danger bracket of vulnerable people from the pandemic point of view.
I remember feeling quite lucky that I scored some toilet paper, even though it was just a pack of four. They weren't overpriced either, probably because the store owners didn't know it was there - God knows, they would have taken them off the shelf for their own use. I even made a video celebrating the find, and some people on the streets made jokes about mugging me or buying them for thousands. One guy even offered me his Mercedes car for them, in jest I assume. I should have pursued that offer further honestly :).
The thing is, though, I'm only just finishing the roll today! After the madness died down a bit, toilet paper eventually became available. The stores were eventually able to restock from their warehouses, and sanity (and sanitation) was restored. Also, since so many people had a stash of toilet paper at home, there wasn't actually that much demand for them in the end.
So, with the inevitable #lockdown2 this Autumn, the question is will you be hoarding toilet paper after having learnt that there is no real reason to do so? Also, what will you be hoarding this time? I hope enough people have learnt that hoarding bread is a silly idea, since they all go off at the same time. Instead, one should buy some flour and learn to bake bread. Better still, one should avoid eating bread altogether, but that's a different story for another day.
Finally, since the supermarkets will also have learnt a lot from the first lockdown, they will no doubt do a much better job this time. At least one would hope. There really isn't any reason for the mad rush is there?
Peace & Love,
Adé