There was an interesting viewpoint, by Stephen Bush (political editor of the New Statesman) in Fridays i newspaper(19th June). He points out, that the overemphasis on the prospects of a vaccine is taking attention away from developments in palliative treatments that may make the disease less acute. He points out that the development of new vaccines is beset with false dawns and blind alleys, whereas other treatments have been successful, for example with HIV-AIDS, which is no longer a death sentence. A promising avenue, is being led from the University of Oxford, he says, where they are trialling existing medicines for their effectiveness. However, as Stephen points out, the return to some kind of normality, we depend, to a large extent, on the level of risk that each of us is willing to take. A measure of this could be the statistics for excess deaths in the UK. What level would be acceptable to us; 20%, 15%, Zero? I, for one, wouldn't be happy to put this decision in Boris Johnson's lap, but one thing is for sure and that is that we'll all have to make this decision for ourselves in the long run. It's a difficult one; I got an email from the Roundhouse, with a questionnaire asking about what would make me go back to attending concerts there. In my case, because I only go to 2 or three gigs per year, I can probably go without for a while. What about going to a restaurant or a drink at the pub? It was pointed out by one of my Daughters, that having realised how much less they spend by having a drink at home, compared to going to the pub, that their future habits might change in any case. We takes risks every day, driving in our car, crossing the road etc, without thinking much about it, but now, with COVID, this should probably be at the forefront of our minds.
