Today marks the 100th birthday of Captain Tom Moore, an army veteran who raised a remarkable £31million for the NHS by doing laps of his front garden. Stories like this occasionally go viral, but because of the current coronavirus situation, and the fact Captain Tom was nearing his 100th birthday, this particular viral moment became that little bit more special.
Today, Captain Tom received a birthday card from the Queen, was made an honorary Colonel by the British Army, given an England cricket cap and enjoyed a fly over of a Spitfire and a Hurricane, all of which is raising the spirits of a nation depressed by the lockdown. The whole spectacle was rather fantastic.
What makes this even more special, is the fact Captain Tom lives just down the road. I say, "down the road", he lives in Marston Moretaine, a village just outside my home town of Bedford, but only a couple of weeks ago did I realise I coached his grandson, Benjie, at Bedford Cricket Club and also know his daughter, Hannah.
It makes me proud of our little town that something so big is happening so close to home. It just makes me smile during what is becoming a very difficult time.
Thursday 30 April 2020
Monday 27 April 2020
Deep Into Quarantine
We are now into week six of lockdown in the UK, and I have to admit, it's starting to get to me slightly. The weekend just gone was supposed to be the first week of the new cricket season, my 15th for Bedford CC, but it has been postponed because of the current coronavirus crisis.
I don't want to get my hopes up of any cricket at all this season.
Living in a flat without a balcony leaves me feeling jealous of people with gardens and a bit of company, for my life has become all work and no play at the moment. I am still required to attend work at the hospital of course, which does at least mean I see people, but with no sport (in real life or on the TV) and no pubs open, my social life, along with everyone else's has come to an abrupt halt with no real sign of when it will resume.
We've been warned not to expect things to ever get back to normal - which is as confusing as it is daunting - but reading up on the "exit strategy", the authorities have five tests for which they use to ascertain whether it is safe to open up society again.
1) The strain on the NHS. The strain on our health service has not been as catastrophic as we first thought - indeed, a whole Nightingale specialist hospital sits empty in a Birmingham suburb as I type, so the lockdown and social distancing measures have obviously worked.
Whether we have reached the peak of cases yet is hard to measure, but I have just read that the daily death toll is the lowest since March, which is a sobering yet positive piece of news amongst all the darkness.
2) Which brings us on to the second test, a "sustained and consistent fall in the daily death rate". It is too early to call this a "sustained" fall, for weekend figures are always distorted but there are potential signs that we are coming down from the peak.
Or the peak is a couple of weeks away. The truth is, no one knows.
3) The rate of infection needs to decrease to "manageable levels" before life gets back to normal, a mechanism no one can ever measure effectively because not everyone in the world is tested. While the official figures stand at over 200,000 cases, the real number could be millions.
Again, no one knows.
4) Bringing us neatly on to the fourth test, ensuring supply of tests and demand for personal protective equipment (PPE) is met for future demand. The availability of PPE has been a major talking point throughout this crisis; we haven't been getting all the PPE we need in a clinical environment, let alone the public getting what they need.
And Number 5 - whether all of the above would risk a second peak in cases causing more deaths, illness and, from what I can tell, the Government's priority - "economic disaster". Only until all of these are met will we see a semblance of normal life returning, and as April draws to a close, I can't see it happening any time soon.
So what do you do? With nothing to do apart from work - and many more with even less - you could be forgiven for thinking that everyone should be becoming a master of a craft, or working on being their perfect self - indeed, many think they HAVE to be doing this to be considered a "lockdown success", but this is far from true.
(Abraham) Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs begins with the most basic human necessity, survival. This involves breathing, food, water (and sex - although, this is to be debated.) You cannot physically work your way up the hierarchy until the current needs are met.
Which is when we come to safety. "Security of body, of employment, of resources of health or property." At this most unique of times, nobody is guaranteed of these, therefore we cannot work our way up the hierarchy.
Even family and friendly relationships cannot be truly met under lockdown, and we are miles away from the events that people are expecting of others with "nothing else to do." Creativity, spontaneity, problem solving all play second, third or fourth fiddle to the safety and security of our being.
In short, it's okay to be a sloth at the moment. It's what the world is asking of you. To keep safe, keep healthy and find your way to the other side.
Good luck.
I don't want to get my hopes up of any cricket at all this season.
Living in a flat without a balcony leaves me feeling jealous of people with gardens and a bit of company, for my life has become all work and no play at the moment. I am still required to attend work at the hospital of course, which does at least mean I see people, but with no sport (in real life or on the TV) and no pubs open, my social life, along with everyone else's has come to an abrupt halt with no real sign of when it will resume.
We've been warned not to expect things to ever get back to normal - which is as confusing as it is daunting - but reading up on the "exit strategy", the authorities have five tests for which they use to ascertain whether it is safe to open up society again.
1) The strain on the NHS. The strain on our health service has not been as catastrophic as we first thought - indeed, a whole Nightingale specialist hospital sits empty in a Birmingham suburb as I type, so the lockdown and social distancing measures have obviously worked.
Whether we have reached the peak of cases yet is hard to measure, but I have just read that the daily death toll is the lowest since March, which is a sobering yet positive piece of news amongst all the darkness.
2) Which brings us on to the second test, a "sustained and consistent fall in the daily death rate". It is too early to call this a "sustained" fall, for weekend figures are always distorted but there are potential signs that we are coming down from the peak.
Or the peak is a couple of weeks away. The truth is, no one knows.
3) The rate of infection needs to decrease to "manageable levels" before life gets back to normal, a mechanism no one can ever measure effectively because not everyone in the world is tested. While the official figures stand at over 200,000 cases, the real number could be millions.
Again, no one knows.
4) Bringing us neatly on to the fourth test, ensuring supply of tests and demand for personal protective equipment (PPE) is met for future demand. The availability of PPE has been a major talking point throughout this crisis; we haven't been getting all the PPE we need in a clinical environment, let alone the public getting what they need.
And Number 5 - whether all of the above would risk a second peak in cases causing more deaths, illness and, from what I can tell, the Government's priority - "economic disaster". Only until all of these are met will we see a semblance of normal life returning, and as April draws to a close, I can't see it happening any time soon.
So what do you do? With nothing to do apart from work - and many more with even less - you could be forgiven for thinking that everyone should be becoming a master of a craft, or working on being their perfect self - indeed, many think they HAVE to be doing this to be considered a "lockdown success", but this is far from true.
 |
| Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs |
(Abraham) Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs begins with the most basic human necessity, survival. This involves breathing, food, water (and sex - although, this is to be debated.) You cannot physically work your way up the hierarchy until the current needs are met.
Which is when we come to safety. "Security of body, of employment, of resources of health or property." At this most unique of times, nobody is guaranteed of these, therefore we cannot work our way up the hierarchy.
Even family and friendly relationships cannot be truly met under lockdown, and we are miles away from the events that people are expecting of others with "nothing else to do." Creativity, spontaneity, problem solving all play second, third or fourth fiddle to the safety and security of our being.
In short, it's okay to be a sloth at the moment. It's what the world is asking of you. To keep safe, keep healthy and find your way to the other side.
Good luck.
Monday 6 April 2020
Has It Hit Home Yet?
We're into our third week of lockdown.
The numbers of deaths are now well into the thousands; the number of cases well into the tens of thousands and no doubt, thousands more untested cases across the land. If you weren't taking it seriously before, you better be now.
I truly experienced the reality of it all for the first time today. As a mere administrator at the hospital, my time is often limited to desks and computers on a specific ward, but given the staffing shortage, my services are required in the centralised administration hub this week. This involves visiting a number of wards and areas to update neglected systems, left to gather dust by other sick administrators.
Today was ICU. Intensive Care. I'd been up there a few times in my time with the NHS, but today was quite simply eerie. Intensive care at my hospital has 8 beds, increased to 12 because of this crisis, in a circular pattern with the nurses station in the middle. I was only there for 30 minutes, but I felt trapped in a circle of coronavirus, the sounds of gravely ill patients struggling to breathe surrounding me. It was quite simply awful.
This evening we have learnt our Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has been admitted to intensive care with this virus. All of a sudden, it's becoming apparent how serious this is. After a weekend of people flouting the rules to sunbathe in the spring sunshine, a feeling of frustration has turned to a feeling of anger. How can people be so careless?
Today, I literally listened to the sounds of people's lungs failing. It's a sound I'm struggling to get out of my head.
I'm no fan of Boris Johnson, but knowing he's in a similar condition to those I saw today puts a bit of perspective into it. Hearing about what Covid-19 physically does to your body means I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.
The worst cases of this coronavirus can cause respiratory failure; what is called a Pneumonitis. The inflammation of the lungs can cause membranes to break apart, allowing water to leak into the lungs.
It feels like drowning. Really, really slowly.
Has it hit home yet?
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