Yesterday in PMQs, Keir Starmer was wrong. Boris Johnson challenged him when it came to PMQs about obtaining vaccines, and how, if the UK had followed the lead of Keir Starmer when it came to Brexit (a view I share with the leader of the opposition), that the UK would not have been able to vaccinate as many people as it has. Keir Starmer said that Boris Johnson was in the wrong, but this was a situation where Boris actually spoke the whole truth.
I worked at the Colchester Vaccination centre today. I was meant to work in the afternoon, but got called in early due to sickness of someone else. Considering that I got home after midnight the night before, I was not too pleased. But the service needs to be provided so that we can hope to make a dent in the plague.
It is scary working in the NHS on the frontline, and vaccinating patients meant that I saw loads of people, a number in a day that I have not seen since the flu clinic last year. I know that these vaccinations are not going to be effective in all, but I also know that this will save lives. Saying that, I told all those I saw to observe the hands face space rule. The only way to find out if the vaccination that someone has got is effective or not is to catch COVID and I strongly recommend that people do the best they can to avoid contracting this terrible plague.
And on this topic, I reported by first YouTube video. I am a firm advocate of free speech, but I found my limit with a person spreading fake news on the internet. I know that there are those who are sceptical about vaccinations, but people spreading, what is in essence either lies or delusions is unacceptable. Due to this, I have made my first report of a post, in this case, a You Tube video.
This video is littered with half truths. The first half truth relates to how COVID was geographically located at 03:10. COVID was geographically located within Spain and Italy, the worst affected areas having much higher rates than other areas of those two countries, this relating to a Champions League game involving Spain and Italy. At 05:40 she discusses how mismanagement of patients was the reason for deaths. This ignores how many people died of COVID in the community who were not admitted, an example being how a COVID-19 outbreak killed many in a nursing home which I am involved in caring for. She talks about how a quiet year with deaths would result in a spike later, but this ignores how influenza killed so many in the winter of 2017/18. At 09:20 she talks about how many die of other causes and just happen to have COVID, describing an example at 09:55 of a patient with heart failure who died after contracting COVID. She is right that this patient may have died soon anyway, but COVID places additional strains on the heart due to the hypoxia it causes. The odds are (I have to say this as I am basing this on my experience with other patients) that COVID was the big shove that pushed them off the cliff edge and resulted in their death. In the UK, such a death would be recorded as 1a- heart failure 1b - ischaemic heart disease 2 - COVID19. She later talks about financial incentives to doctors to record COVID cases. There is no such incentive in the UK and in the US, this is not an incentive, but rather compensation due to the increased costs that caring for someone with COVID brings. At 10:40, she features a doctor talking about the uncertainty with COVID diagnosis. This was a major issue at the beginning of the pandemic when testing was not available but COVID also presents with certain features not normally seen on a chest x-ray making a diagnosis of COVID more likely, an example being patchy bilateral pneumonia and on CT scan, also has a characteristic appearance. In the first lockdown, I treated a fit runner who came down with sudden onset fever and shortness of breath. They did their best to remain at home, but when they got to hospital, it was too late for the PCR tests to pick up COVID. The x-ray and CT findings however confirmed the features of COVID. So on testing they were negative, but based on other investigations and the presentation of this, they had it. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck and is seen amongst loads of other ducks, the odds are that it is a duck. It just happens that she is selling a book, which I suspect is spreading half truths.
This woman tells the real truth about COVID-19. I disagree with some of the things she is saying (notably about government support considering that there has been a recent change in government in the USA which means it must be given a chance to bring about change). The change about what happened is from 0:55 and at 1:15 she explains why so many celebrities have not died, but so many others have. An issue described so well last year on the BBC.
Locally, our GP surgery is working really hard to vaccinate people. Healthcare workers are working extra hours, in hospital to treat people with this and in the community to continue treating people with other issues as well as preventing illness by vaccinations. So when people like Jimmy Kimmel calls for people to be vaccinated 24/7, he forgets that we need trained people to vaccinate the population of the world and those trained people like me are busy doing our job.
Tonight was another quiz night. This one was with the friends who had invited us to the one on Friday. We actually had done this quiz last week as well, it being run by the local rugby club. We stayed in the background, not being part of the club and discussed the answers with Lindsay and Nick using WhatsApp. Both children came in and out of this and helped us with the answers. They were not as involved as they had been on Friday night, but it was still a good family get together and a relaxing end to the weekend.
We spent the day chilling. We watched WandaVision. Rather, my wife and I watched it, my son came down and we watched the episode with him and then my daughter came down and saw the end. He has found it frustrating that he has to wait a week for the next episode, but then this was an issue he has faced with The Mandalorian, one of the few TV shows he has not been able to binge watch the box set with.
We had a debate as to what we should watch afterwards, he wanting to watch Age of Ultron, and I wanted to watch the Marvel films in order. We compromised and watched Agent Carter instead. Sadly, my son went upstairs to get something and forgot to come down. But the rest of us watched it and I have to say loved it. It does portray the sexism that many women faced at the time, but ignores the racism that was present at the time as well. It is interesting that a telephone exchange has such a large office within it as I think that it would be odd to anyone watching the exchange to see so many people leaving and entering it when the offices open and shut.
It is also fun to watch a series where anyone English is not automatically evil.
Busy day today at work, but we had agreed to do a quiz with some friends for the local children's hospice so I had to get home quickly.
The quiz was fun though with our Conservative MP running it, the children had some interesting names for teams, one being The 100,000, the other being 100,000 and more. There were suggestions that I should have worn my Labour Party T-shirt as well. With many people involved, watching some not get to terms with how to mute themselves was frustrating, but the kids made comments about Conservative voters which was unfair as I am sure this is an issue with voters of all parties.
All in all, it was a great day, one where the entire family came together, and while it may not have been as ideal as the kids would have wanted, it was fun for all.
It has been some time since my last post, but before I move onto the family this is the film that we have watched since then.
I have to say that it was a disappointing film with lots of continuity errors and plot holes. As a fun film where you literally need to switch your brain off (most of the time) it is almost an okay film. I would have to argue that it is not worth watching in the first place. I had issues with how the two main characters fell for each other with no real chemistry present between the two, but also with the vanishing woman in the passenger seat of the red car at the start. Not only that, there were issues with a high body count and no police presence let alone how everything was explained at the end of it all.
The kids have been schooling at home. With my wife and I being key workers, we could send both in, but with the severity of the COVID pandemic being what it is, we have felt that doing so is too risky. A friend of ours has sent the two children they have in as the definition of what a key worker is in this lockdown is different to what it was in the last one. We see that with how the streets are busier than they were in the first lockdown and my wife and I have been incredulous to find which shops have managed to open compared to others.
The downside of this is that there have been arguments and on a Tuesday, which is the long day for my wife and I, that is when most of the arguments have taken place. My wife often is in her space suit so the children normally let me know by text what is going on. One argument developed while I was in a meeting. Luckily it was not that important a one which allowed me to try to intervene in this.
But things have been good in the last few days. The only downside is that Leia now favours my wife over me. I realised this on Monday when my wife and I came downstairs to let her out of her crate in the morning to find that she trotted past me to shower my wife with love! Am there was I thinking that I was the alpha!
First thing. My New years resolution included a desire to close my exercise ring on my Apple Watch every day. That failed yesterday thanks to a glitch on my phone. What was more annoying, is that I was one minute off closing it, but it would not register a walk in the garden that I took with Leia for that reason!
On the topic of Leia, my daughter has taught her how to sit with a hand gesture. The hand gesture being giving her the middle finger. It is strange to see my daughter giving her the middle finger and then Leia sitting, looking at her with complete love in her eyes. But that is proof that she is my daughter. And this tale has made many at my work laugh!
