Outside County Hall for all to see
There's some evidence that we're tiring of lockdown. People are taking more than their allotted one exercise a day, sometimes much more—not that after Monday that will matter, as we have permission to do so. Relations who are not part of a household are stopping by and getting too close and personal. There's much more traffic around. Slowly, steadily, without knowing it, by stealth, we've bent the rules that are designed to keep us safe. We hardly notice it, like climate change or the creep of the years.
And, today, is the 75th anniversary of VE Day.
There are a number of street parties taking place. I can hear two. They're slightly too distant but one seems more riotous than the other. There's more evidence of a handful of others on social media. It seems prudish and even ungracious to suggest that these are against the rules and potentially putting us all at risk.
And before you criticse too much, my own father was wounded in the Second World War and I am rightly proud that he joined up before the draft and of his contribution however minor to defending the freedom I have to say that today's communal events really should be postponed. I get that people want to do it. I also understand that we all miss friends and family... but we've come too far.
Again, we're bending the rules designed to keep us safe. Why is that?
When coronavirus entered our stage, it brought with it the certainty of catastrophe, destruction and deadly devastation worse than any Victorian melodrama. The impact in North Wales has thus far been limited. It results in our mistaken belief of immunity form harm. Better than expected news lulls us falsely into a peaceful calm. We feel untouchable. We witness this in the carelessness of those who leave their homes too often, who ignore distancing requirements and who continually move about. It's believed that the ease of restrictions in Germany and the virus there is once again on the march. The rate of replication or reproduction, the R rate, is already now greater than 1.0.
Do we want this to happen here? We surely do not. Those who died during the two world wars would not have wanted it thus.
Tags:
Coronavirus