England team sing Sweet Caroline after Dennark win
No matter what happens tonight, there is pride in the fact that hard work & perseverance has produced success. It provides hope.
The UK has one of the worst death tolls in the world with millions infected with long-covid. The football has been a welcome distraction from the misery inflicted on businesses & lives.
The outlook for tonight's match is positive.
In contrast, the outlook for the country is bleak with 50,000 new infections a day to be reached soon while laws keeping us safe against the virus will be abolished. Recent data indicates daily new infections in excess of 35,000. Hospitals are starting to struggle.
See - NHS hospitals forced to cancel operations again by unfolding third wave
Gareth Southgate and his team have had a long term strategy & outlook. They have kept their eye on the prize.
The UK government in contrast have continued with a short-term mindset - arguing we must return to pre-pandemic normal this summer as next year is too late. This includes no more social distancing or compulsory masks & in some instances an end to quarantining.
The Economy
Economically this spells disaster. Growth requires a healthy workforce & people spending money. The more people infected presents a cost we pay to keep the healthcare system going, sick leave by employers & inevitably longer lockdowns because it becomes our only option. This sort of disruption discourages investment. Businesses like certainty.
If I had millions to spend, would I put it into a country that continues a reckless course of action?
The Stats
Certainly vaccines have afforded the UK some advantages. However, full vaccinations offers 90% protection against serious illness and 70% protection against covid-19. One in ten people could become hospitalised or die. Three in ten can still get sick, pass it on to others and end up with long covid.
30 million are fully vaccinated. This equates to 1 million and 3 million respectively of the vaccinated population.
It is still unclear how long antibodies take to develop to offer this 90% protection and how long it will last.
30 million remain 30% or less protected against the delta variant. This variant is 99% of the cases in the UK.
The Solution
The keys to unlocking this horror story & ending it is in:
1. Science & medicine - a cure or solution will be found. There is too much at stake & too many people are desperate to return to the business of making money.
We will develop more understanding of antibodies, relying more on quantitative antibody levels & testing to ensure we can operate safely, consistently & with more certainty.
We will develop more detection & treatment for mild & serious covid illness, including long-covid. Break-throughs continue - Long Covid: Early findings bring hope for diagnostic tests
The gamble of relying only on vaccines without any of the safeguards of legal requirements for masks, social distancing, testing and quarantining equates to taking off all of your defence and having only forwards. We will lose. It will be a long winter of no more football, pubs or freedoms again.
In the meantime, caution is needed. We want businesses to flourish. Support them to better adapt to this new pandemic world. Maintain safeguards where possible. More testing for covid & antibodies is needed. Prevent variants from developing by keeping infection levels low - variants are like being one man sent of with a red card and 10 men are left on the field.
Sadly we learn the hard lessons after repeated failure. Reality sucks. We are dealing with a virus that we have learnt alot about but there is still some distance to go. We all want this horrible situation to be resolved, but pretending we can return to a pre-pandemic prematurely will only add to our problems & reverse the gains we achieved.
Southgate got it right. Build a strong & competent team. Work together. It's about reaching the final and winning. Then it's about the World Cup. Mistakes might be made along the way. Some mistakes might be repeated, but it's about being the best that we can be.
For more, read Inspirational England help heal national sporting psyche before historic final
You may also be interested in Gareth Southgates open letter which he wrote at the beginning of the tournament - Dear England,
Someone on twitter suggested Southgate for PM. He has instilled more faith and confidence in our country with his decisions and actions, far more than many others who are leading us to disaster on other fronts.
Enjoy tonight's match & stay safe.
Go England!
Here are some other posts you might find interesting:
2. Lockdown 2.0 - diary of a Londoner
3. Lockdown 3.0 - diary of a Londoner
4. Simple slow cooked osso bucco
5. Why I don't crave pizza and burgers?
6. Eating holidays - Turin and Genoa
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