Vexed Vax

December 17, 2021, 10:10 am , by Richard Lutz

Richard Lutz hunkers down

Newsflash. Hot off the press.

The wires are humming. The net is abuzz: more football matches have been cancelled. It seems the virus has taken hold down in the locker rooms. The fans mourn the loss of their weekly dose of the glory of a win and the agony of defeat.

The roll call of shut stadiums comes as figures emerge that about one in three football players have not taken the Covid vaccines. Yes, say some, everyone has the right to avoid a jab (for whatever reason). But the knock-on in this case is fans losing out on a match and team owners losing cash. And jobs, jobs, jobs on the line because 30% of the athletes think it’s a good idea to possibly put others at risk.

But in more crucial arenas than smashing the ball into the net, people working in close contact professions may also infect others because they choose not to be double jabbed and boosted.

So the pandemic has evolved, it seems, Into individual moral crises. It happened to me. I was walking into the city centre and felt dizzy, broke into a cold sweat and become increasingly weak. I looked for a bus but soldiered on. But from time to time I had to stop.

What if I had the virus despite taking all injections possible? As Christmas approaches and family and vital dates are arranged, taking a Lateral Flow Test was my moral duty. Test negative and all ok. Test positive and everything obviously goes down the tubes… travel, dinners, hotels, the whole shebang. But the test had to be done.

In other words, the virus creates choices, some easy, some ridden with difficulties and others creating more problems. I am sure hundreds of thousands face similar choices each day. It’s not easy.

But what muddies the encroaching crisis is the confusion over rules. Take Wales, for instance. It will shut nightclubs soon. But not pubs.

When questioned, a senior politician was himself vague, uncertain, confused. He seemed to say nightclubbers get physically closer to each other than in a bar.

Now, that’s a monumental overreaching generality if ever I heard one. And this muddle, this lack of clear thinking is only making things more dangerous. For instance,, when nightclubs shut in Cardiff, what will be the alternative? Go home and sit in a dark room? No….you go over to the pub and create an even busier environment. The knock-on is tremendous and makes the rules ridiculous. Inept. Stupid.

And even increases risk as we head for the pristine sunny uplands of 2022.