Today is supposed to mark a big day in England. A day that signifies the end of all legal, social and economic restrictions surrounding the Coronavirus. This is the last step in the Government's plan to ease the country out of lockdown, taking us back to a "normal" way of life. Initially planned for 21st June, the decision was made to delay it by 4 weeks because of the rise in cases and hospitalisations.
The irony of this however, is, yesterday afternoon Boris Johnson announced on his Instagram page that he had been "pinged" by the NHS covid app to say he had been in contact with someone who has tested positive with the virus and as a result, he now has to self isolate for 10 days. He's not the only one either. There has been a surge in the number of people around the country also getting these alerts and I personally know a few people - friends and family - who have received this notification, or have tested positive themselves, despite having both vaccinations.
As of 17.50 today, the Government website has recorded today's daily figure of positive covid results is 39,950 in the last 24 hours, with 46,024 new cases per day in the last week. There are 4,094 people currently in hospital with the virus, 19 deaths recorded in the last 28 days and a total of 322,170 recorded in the last 7 days.
It's clear to see we are very much not out of the woods yet. While we have seen nightclubs and bars celebrating this freedom by throwing midnight parties, and emails and updates coming in from businesses and organisations confirming what this means for them, and how they will be moving things back to a "normal" way of operating, there is still very much a responsibility to behold to prevent us going backwards.
Last week, for example, I started feeling really run down and ended up with a terrible sore throat and cold which saw me spend two days at home lying on the sofa feeling sorry for myself. Of course, I took a lateral flow test at home, in fact, I ended up doing one most days because I wanted to make sure I was ok and not be a risk to anyone around me. Thankfully they were all negative, but I won't lie, I've been feeling incredibly paranoid about it ever since.
I even did another test this morning after going to my cousin's wedding on Saturday, and while it was very much organised within the realms of what you can and can't do, I was aware that this was the first big event I had been to since we first went into lockdown. Again, it was negative, but I'm already planning to do another tomorrow before I go back to work. Too much? Perhaps, but you just don't know right now.
So while we should all be embracing our new freedom, it still feels like we are all very much entrapped, and to be honest, I genuinely do not feel like this is the end of the Coronavirus and I'm not quite ready to dance on tables and shout about our freedom when it seems like there is still too much going around.
For now, if anyone wants me, I will be erring on the side of caution and not rushing into too much of a good thing because right now, I still feel like this Coronavirus is still bad!
