The longer the panic over COVID-19 continues, the more I am becoming convinced that it's seriously overdone.
Yes, some people are at risk but, frankly, no more so than some being at risk in a bad influenza year. The difference is that, now, we are being subjected to restrictions which are beginning to border on the ridiculous, so much so that many people are now more frightened than they have ever been. Such fright is, quite simply, unjustified.
The latest frightener is that the government is about to tell us all that we must wear face masks in every shop, this despite there being no such restriction, for pretty obvious reasons in pubs, cafes, restaurants and many other places where communal activities remain allowed. What on Earth is Boris thinking of ? Has his own brush with the virus so addled his brain that he has lost all semblance of logic when it comes to tackling it ?
I am a strong supporter of Boris and his government but on this matter they are risking alienating a vast proportion of the electorate, including me. Again, the vast majority of the population are at very little risk from this virus and yet we are about to be subjected to almost draconian measures. People die from all manner of infections; ailments, accidents, poor life styles and simple bad luck all of the time; COVID-19 may be a new threat but it is not unique, nor is it peculiarly deadly. In fact, the overall mortality is not high at all.
It seems that I cannot even visit a local public house without having to be able to produce photographic evidence of my identity, which is unbelievable; this is the type of control exercised by the Communist Party of China and to which our own government claims it is utterly opposed. I have had no problem with the lockdown and have behaved sensibly and with appropriate community spirit when visiting local stores, no more than once a week, I might add, but the suggestion of even more stringent controls now that the virus is in retreat simply defies belief.
When nasty bugs rear their ugly heads people die, that is life. The previous panics over SARS and MERS were shockingly overdone, and the way in which AIDS was presented was a disgrace; anyone who knew anything of the details of that particular epidemic also knew that besides homosexual men, intravenous drug users and men who habitually frequented prostitutes in certain foreign countries, very few were at any real risk. Nonetheless, it was presented as being a life threatening risk to almost the entire adult human population.
In truth, it was a case of politicians doing everything in their power to avoid placing the 'blame' on any group in particular; with COVID-19, it is now all about trying to avoid stating the obvious - those who are reasonably fit and healthy to start with have very little risk while the unhealthy, fat, diabetic and very old are at risk, as they are with almost every other disease. Yes, and various 'ethnic minorities', but I'm fairly sure that there's a 'quid pro quo' of which we never hear; there are upsides and downsides to every ethnicity and genetic inheritance.
It's high time that Boris Johnson and his government started being far more realistic and constructive. Shops, pubs and hairdressers are allowed to open but with such insane restrictions that many will still not bother with them - I know I won't even though I love a trip to the pub and desperately need a haircut. Enforcing the wearing of masks, which is now suggested, will do nothing to encourage either me or many millions of others to bother to venture beyond our front doors.
The chance of me catching this virus are remote. The risk if I do catch it, and I'm 67, far from obese and reasonably healthy, is still very small. The risk for the vast majority of the population is much less. I expect the Prime Minister, whom I voted for, to be above petty factionalism and to do the right things for the country, not look for the lowest common denominator in all things.
Either he does that or he and his party have lost my vote, probably forever, and I've never voted for any other party at a general election in my life, which is since 1970. If push comes to shove, I will.
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