We gave Covid 19 the keys to our house 178 days ago, how are things going?
February 28, 2021
We gave Covid 19 the keys to our house 192 days ago, how are things going?
March 13, 2021
It is 08.00 am on Friday 5 March 2021, one hundred and eighty-five days from the start of the 2020 – 2021 school year.
At long last! Hooray for the vaccines!
Like practically everyone, mum and dad, two solid pro-vaccination citizens, were highly sceptical in the beginning of the vaccine story, for a lot of obvious reasons, including: the crazy warp speed pace of development (how many key tasks were cancelled? How many mistakes have been made, are not known, and are waiting to be found post marketing? etc, etc) ; the big pharma hype; the dreadfully poor communications; the treating of the citizenry like children; the gifts they gave to the anti-vaccers; the excessively rapid emergency approvals to get the vaccines out there, working; the way the ‘men-in-charge’ continually ducked out of the real crunch lockdown decisions, desperately pushing the vaccines to go live and save their tattered reputations. A lot to live through and digest indeed! Dad eventually got over his vaccine indigestion and decided to proceed, landing up in the elderly at risk group, so in the first cohort of citizens. There were two reasons for the change of heart – firstly, the ‘men-in-charge’ , through their inability to make the tough decisions, had made sure by default that vaccination was the only game in town, and secondly, there was enough evidence coming out of the clinical trials to demonstrate, at least initially, sufficient efficacy and safety.
And now, with particular reference to the Pfizer BioNtech vaccine, the latest follow up studies confirm that the vaccinated cohort have been protected, as expressed by very low hospitalisation rates and very low new Covid 19 infection rates. So, yes, at long last – Hooray for the vaccines!
Ugh! We keep trying, and keep failing, to contain our Covid brain fog
What are we doing wrong? Or is it just an impossible task to break out of the Covid open prison we have been in for over a year now? The deadly feeling arising out of having to live, breathe and survive in an environment entirely made up of the boring old sameness (the fear of catching Covid 19, PLUS the drag of the daily incessant grind to keep ourselves safe PLUS the sense of life standing still going nowhere PLUS the feeling that time is simply evaporating while we achieve absolutely NOTHING, etc., etc.,) has loosened a few of the essential nuts and bolts in our brains, dumbing down our problem solving, short term memory, number crunching, time / diary management, etc and generating the weird sensation that our brains are gently floating around freely inside our skulls.
Early on, we agreed to introduce an uplifting variety of new, relaxing type activities to counteract all this – some nice daily music, learning to play the keyboard that is sitting doing nothing in the corner of the lounge, learning French, becoming excellent home cooks; reading great books; etc. We have done very well as home cooks, we have done moderately well in learning French in total isolation, we have done badly in everything else – no daily music, the keyboard remains idle despite the starter learning books sitting on top of it, the books remain unread. Why, why, Oh WHY is it all so difficult?
Meanwhile, the ‘men-in-charge’ continue to make no real decisions
In France, the Covid 19 procedures continue to be debated ad nauseam, but there is never any white smoke appearing to demonstrate serious decisions. The general curfew continues, some hotpots have some piecemeal sticking plasters applied. None of these additional rules are policed in any way that we can see. Meanwhile, the pandemic carries on delivering its mission at unacceptable levels. Another take on the citizen’s rights to liberty, egality and fraternity – equal access to the virus.
By John Saunders
World Health Communication Associates (WHCA) & INSPIRIT Creatives UG NGO,
MediaWise and MediaFocusUK
Strengthening connections
while keeping distance
News You Can Use
We are all vulnerable to this virus. This is a unique time for our communities all over the world as we work to combat this massive global threat. This blog aims to collect and share your stories and reflections that can help others to cope, thrive and build resilience…
Our communities are at different stages of response in different parts of the world. We can learn a lot from each other. Building on World Health Organization and other evidence-based guidance, this blog will gather and disseminate stories that inform, inspire and hopefully strengthen social connectiveness while we all practice physical distancing.
We invite you to contribute. At present we are looking for stories in the following areas:
May the force be with all of us.
Sabrina, Mike, Steve, Tuuli and Franklin for the Connecting Communities team
BLOG: https://www.inspiritcreatives.com/coronavirus-connecting-communities
Email: cccov19@gmail.com
See: https://www.whcaonline.org | https://www.inspiritcreatives.com/humanity
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12385075/ | Twitter: @connecting_comm
News: https://cccovid19.org/corona_virus/
| Disclaimer – We try to include stories that respect World Health Organisation COVID19 guidance. Links take you to full published stories. Our Connecting Communities team screens and selects stories but can not guarantee accuracy of reporting and mentions of any products does not indicate endorsement. |
While we grieve for the tremendous loss of lives in so many countries, we can see and feel that the need to connect communities and share learning grows everyday. Please attach your comments and stories to this blog or send them to cccov19@gmail.com or attach them to this blog. We welcome stories in all languages and from all countries. Here are some first examples of stories and links. Send us yours and make this blog useful.