It was the best of time, it was the worst of times ...
As with so many of the greatest challenges, the Coronavirus pandemic has brought out the best in some people and the worst in others.
Examples of the best
Examples of the best
- All the doctors, nurses and other NHS staff (and their counterparts in other countries) who have put huge efforts into caring for the sick.
- Including the 495 doctors and 3986 nurses who signed up to join or rejoin the NHS in the first 24 hours after a request was made to come back and help with the fight against COVID-19 via the COVID-19 temporary register
- All the volunteers who have arranged to look after the elderly and vulnerable people in the community - for example, in my division, the network of fourteen people who have arranged to provide support to the elderly and vulnerable in St Bees Parish
- Businesses who have made a special effort to support those most affected - for example, the Post Office in Mirehouse who are offering a free home delivery to those over 70 or otherwise at high risk
- Businesses who have turned their productive capacity to producing PPE and other equipment which is particularly needed at this time
Examples of the worst
- Those who have created unnecessary shortages by buying much more than they need
- Organisations which continue to operate after they were advised to close, and those who patronise them
- Bigots who post celebratory messages on social media at the news of casualties in countries they don't like - this applies whatever the country concerned, but for example all those, and there were an alarming number of them, who thought it was OK to post that they were pleased by the news of the first COVID-19 related death in Israel are Anti-Semitic scumbags who should be ashamed of themselves.
- The person who was arrested for making fake COVID-19 medical kits and selling them around the world
It is easy to get angry and depressed about those who have responded badly to this crisis. We must all think about how we can do better and not be like that.
But we must also praise and take comfort from the inspirational examples of those who have shown what the best of humanity is capable of.
Comments
Despite his initial response being slow, muddled, contrary and downright cavalier ("I was at a hospital the other night where I think a few there were actually coronavirus patients and I shook hands with everybody, you'll be pleased to know, and I continue to shake hands."), he seems, finally, to be getting his act together.
As always, Johnson had previously set the bar desperately low, and "the best" for Johnson is little more than mediocre, but at least he seems finally to have learned to control the overwhelming urge to act the clown. The dithering about ordering a shutdown put me and many others in harm's way unnecessarily, and as a result we now have one of the highest infection rates in the developed world.
We've seen Johnson can often be his own worst enemy so I do wonder how long he'll manage to keep this up.
In truth, I'm stunned and somewhat bemused by your response, in equal measure.
My initial reaction was that you were implying I was using a world crisis in which lots of people are dying to score a political point.
But then you finish by saying, quite simply, that you agree with me.
And on reflection, I believe that you don't think I'm point scoring, and you do agree with me.
If I'm right, I'm hugely impressed by your willingness to criticise our PM's conduct.
And if I'm wrong, and you do think this is a cheap political dig on my part, then you clearly have an incredibly low opinion of me.
What next, we'll be getting food parcels from Africa.
No, Paul, I absolutely was not accusing you of trying to score a political point, quite the opposite. Sorry if I gave that impression.
Your post came over to me as severely qualified praise of Boris Johnson and what I was trying, evidently insufficiently clearly, to say is that I have refrained from posting lots of praise for Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak, or any other member of the government for doing a great job handling the pandemic because such a comment from me might appear to be an attempt to use the crisis to score political points.
I took your comment about the crisis having brought out the best in Boris Johnson as indicating that he has raised his game as we have gone through this terribly difficult time, and I was agreeing with that.
I thought the scales were falling from your eyes - how wrong I was!
For example, never mind the "40 new hospitals" nonsense (that we both knowis simply untrue, yet you can't bring yourself to admit it), I wonder how long before you accept it was outrageously untrue to claim the NHS "is well equipped and well prepared" to deal with this virus?
What is it about hospitals in the last few winters routinely running at bed occupancy rates of between 100‰ and 105% that stops you getting it?
I'm a Lewisham boy - Lewisham Hospital yesterday put out a plea to the public for donations of SOAP for its nursing staff.
SOAP, Chris!
I have stated, and stand by, the view that his first post on this thread did not strike me as a cheap political dig.
I wish I could say the same about his last two posts, one of which has been deleted for profanity (I have no interest in the "Sex Pistols defence") and the other is immediately above this.
In the present extraordinary situation an awful lot of people have had to change their minds about a great many things as the evidence changes. That includes the government and it includes me.
The worst thing the government could do in present circumstances is stick to their guns when the evidence suggests policies need to change.
If you have something constructive to say about what we should be doing now to address possibly the worst crisis of our lifetime - and by the way, my wife also work for the NHS and I have the most tremendous admiration for what everyone in the NHS is doing in incredibly difficult circumstances - feel free to go ahead.
If the best you can do is a "cheap political dig" the second post above correctly assesses what I'm likely to think of you.`
I have half written the thread on hospital beds, which you may - or may not - find you agree with more than you expect to.
Ironically the really raw nerve you touched was not the political disagreement. It is that I have had arguments with four generations of NHS leaders over thirty years about the fact that they've taken too many beds out, and made assumptions about the level of bed utilisation that are way too optimistic, resulting in levels of actual utilisation which are not sustainable.
This is a sore subject at the best of times and all the more so now, and having people assume that I was on the opposite side of the argument to the one I have actually been on invariably sends me up the wall.
Best wishes to you and your wife too - from the comments made to me by my own wife and my many other friends in the NHS I realise what huge pressure she must be under.