Evening out

I think the end of socialising might be drawing near, as we edge towards winter storms and Coronavirus bites back.


For those that don't know, in the UK many people such as teachers and pupils have to take twice -weekly lateral flow tests (LFDs) at home for Coronavirus. If an LFD test comes back positive, one is supposed to have a PCR test from a lab before returning to work if the PCR test is negative. The PCR test result is considered the gold standard.

However, between early September and early October this year, just over a month, a private laboratory in Wolverhampton called Immensa made an immense cock-up and sent 43,000 people the WRONG test results and told them they had tested negative when they were in fact positive. Some of these people returned to work, went to gatherings, etc. Others stayed at home because they didn't feel well. Some of those latter group didn't get sick pay because "they weren't ill because the test result was negative".

And now the South-West of England and many other parts of the UK are riddled with the Virus once again (44,000 new cases on Monday) and the new variant, Delta plus, has made an appearance.

Things aren't looking good here. I foresee another half term next week of televised politicians squabbling about the need to move to 'Plan B': a return to mask wearing, social distancing and working from home.