Battle Fatigue
Hi everyone
I have found myself watching and nostalgically really enjoying clips from the 2012 Olympics – Mr. Bean and James Bond with the Queen. How different it is now compared with both then and even when the pandemic started in March. The numbers may be climbing but there are differences in what they mean; the health services are in a different place; the country is in a different mood. It is said there are two certainties in life – death and taxes – but to that you must add change.
Starting with the numbers – at the moment the overall numbers remain lower than before and the rate of increase is slower. Add to that the demographic that many more of the cases are in the younger population and the alarm bells are not ringing as loudly. With so many students getting covid 19 with relative impunity there is an argument to put a ring of steel around the university campuses and let them get on with their lives. Locking down this vivacious group is not a long term option.
Then the health services have learnt a great deal on how to manage the disease. Dexamethasone, a powerful steroid, has reduced mortality for those on ventilators by 30% and is widely and cheaply available. There is greater understanding of the disease process so less people are put on ventilators – more people having oxygen treatment ahead of that. Antiviral medicines are given though two recent trials do not suggest they are very effective. The profession has upped its game on treating this new disease. However the health service is now additionally being asked to do the routine care – tackle the massive waiting lists for treatments and at the same pace as before the pandemic – in effect to work even harder than before given the need for decontamination between patients. As Professor Wright from Bradford recently wrote ‘We are no longer heroes…….. we are seeing a kind of battle fatigue.’
And this battle fatigue is being seen everywhere. People are hunkering down for the winter with a sense of grimness. My sense is that people are tired – of the ever changing regulations, the queueing at the shops, the inability to touch friends and family. And of the uncertainty - of no end in sight, of uncertain employment, or when or where to take a holiday. For some there is the additional and profound tiredness resulting from having been unable to grieve for loved ones. The result is many are ignoring advice, many are upset at those ignoring advice.
All this leads to the sense of unity being cracked. We are seeing the rise of community leadership such as in Manchester and a breakdown of one rule fits all. This new sense of localism is however different from that seen in the early phase of the pandemic – when there was an uplifting generosity and coming together against a common enemy. Now angry tired communities fuelled by loss of trust are rising up for themselves and against the national government. This time community building is divisive. Perhaps we are seeing the beginnings of real localism – not just in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland but within England itself. People and communities are saying enough of national policy especially national policy about which there are real doubts. Local leaders reflect that, and national leaders will pay for that at least for now. However when local leaders fail to meet local expectations, then where will individuals turn? We live in an individualised, entitled society expecting the security and comfort that a first world country can give us while at the same time demanding our right to follow our personal paths independently. This paradox and its consequences is being exposed. People want their cake and to eat it. The next few months may be the most difficult phase of the pandemic.
On the upside, a vaccine may not be that far away – some talk of the early new year and that would be a life saver on so many levels.
With love
Derek