Read on Twitter
I’ve been reading the papers this morning and the précis, I’m afraid to say, is: we really are f***ed. Option A herd immunity for the whole word, which would involve 10s of millions of deaths. Option B permanent lockdown, global depression, mass breakdown etc. Thread here: 1
Our leaders aren’t up to this. No one is up to this. It involves impossible choices, all with utterly horrendous costs. Ultimately, I think we’ll all have to play a game of giant Russian roulette, risking death and killing each other, if we want any kind of semi-normal life. 2
Unless, of course, a vaccine is found that works. That’s probably two years away at best, and no effective vaccine has been found for any other coronavirus, in spite of gargantuan efforts. 3
The alternative is mass surveillance, testing, tracing etc through tech, which is a price most democracies would find very hard to stomach. Also means all borders have to be shut or policed and quarantined. 4
It will mean that we are always fighting clusters of Covid-19, but trying to contain them (in a way we in the UK haven’t so far even tried to do) as our best hope of normal life. 5
It seems to me at this point that that’s our best option. It comes at a very high price, but all the options come at a very high price. All involve a radical transformation of global societies in ways we would all have considered utterly unacceptable a few weeks ago. 6
But I keep hearing about conferences etc rescheduled for a few months away and I want to say: are you f***king crazy? I do wonder if big swathes of the country are in total denial. This is our new reality and it’s not disappearing any time soon. 7
I would give pretty much anything (but perhaps not yet my life) to be wrong in this grim assessment. Will be looking out, every moment, for signs of hope. But I can’t yet see any, except hopes for a vaccine or treatment, which certainly aren’t guaranteed. 8
All signs of real hope on the back of a post-card here, or in a reply to this tweet. But only real ones, please. We’ve had enough false hope from our PM and hope deferred, as the Bible says, “makes the heart grow sick”. Oh, and happy Saturday everyone. May you glimpse the sun.
