Sitting, staring into eternity as everything closes down, forbidden to walk amongst humanity for another’s fear of my being infected or infecting another. Only the immune cannot be infected and cannot infect others. They are still under the same restrictions though.
We do not know how far the infection has spread across the nation. The high fatality rate bears no resemblance to that observed Germany – it is not that the Germans are any sort of master race (let that sort of idea get a hold and you never know where it will end), it just reflects that only the most serious cases have been diagnosed here, and we do not like to make a fuss.
How many then have passed through the disease? We do not know. There is no reason for them to be restricted: they can walk abroad in safety to themselves and others. There is no provision for this freedom in the rules though.
The authorities might issue certificates to those who are immune, to licence them to have the freedom that is our wont. Certificates though are easily forged. Let them come out somehow, for the sake of us all, and provide some custom for the shops and pubs. Someone has to be the forerunner of normality, to rescue the dying economy.
It could be most of us by now – have we thought of that? Until there are tests available, we are walking blind.
There are tests. The priority has been to distribute tests to see which coughs are COVID-19 and which are just coughs, antigen tests to find the active disease amongst those already ill. The test for immunity is an antibody test. That is a lesser priority for the medical profession, but for the survival of the economy and of society they will be vital.
Who will pay for antibody tests? Well, it may be those suffering most from the close-down, and they are running out of money.
Get us the numbers though, and release the individuals who have no reason to be imprisoned, and begin to reopen the joys of society.
