It’s one of those days in lockdown that I would have been better off staying in bed and letting the day pass me by. Minor irritations became major irritations. I’ve been for plenty of walks.
There have been good moments.
I ran into a fellow Queenslander in Dulwich Park. We met a few months ago. I heard him calling for his dog and heard his Aussie accent so of course had to stop and chat. His wife grew up in a suburb close to where I grew up. So we chatted, and I kicked a ball for Max, his dog.
And I made some new contacts through Twitter and had some interesting chats.
But all in all, it’s been a shit day. I’m really not a fan of these types of days. But I’m getting used to them in lockdown land where it’s hard to distinguish between days and weeks. Some weird temporal distortion going on.
And good news from Australia. No new Covid-19 infections via the community in the last 24 hours.
In the UK, it rumbles on.
The Independent SAGE group, which government seems to be trying to ignore, has slammed the government’s approach to track and trace. Sensibly the Independent SAGE group have recommended that local directors of public health take the lead and that the process should be embedded within NHS and council data. It also sounds like the track and trace system will only work for English speakers…
Excess deaths are now at around 64,000. Most of these will be Covid-19 related, whether they were tested or not; and others caused by wider consequences of the virus such as not accessing or not being able to access treatment when needed.
Another 286 deaths across all healthcare settings, bringing the total to 40,833. The figures tend to be higher around Tuesday and Wednesday due to delays with weekend reporting. There is a downward trend across the UK. While we know the number of tests that have been done, the figures on the number of people tested remain unavailable.
Pubs won’t be opening this month. Retail outlets will be open from Monday.
But some of the other logic I don’t understand. Shops can open. Zoos can’t despite the fact most spaces are outdoors and while there couldn’t be crowds, it would be possible to put in place social distancing…
Here’s to a chill evening and to watching a rubbish film or two.
So that’s it for Day 78. Stay safe, stay well, and stay home!