Billy-no-mates on the right (with a green arrow of approval) has social distancing down and definitely gets to stay at the party
In this blog post I try to make sense of our new reality. Stay with me now…
Gyrus Nonsensicus
As a doctor whose role in the pandemic has centered around making sense of government guidelines and in essence, translating these into more user-friendly versions, I often find myself wondering ‘what if I had a £1 for every time I said/wrote the word Covid?’ I mean, the word didn’t even exist before this year, but if I could will this reality into existence, I’d be minted!
Of course, this is an utterly useless waste of brainpower, but such musings can be located to the same part of the brain that generates those endless ‘would you rather?’ chats, that tend to occur at the early hours of the morning, after an excellent night out (she says, as if she’s had one of those recently - LOL). You know, ‘would you rather eat a rat or a horse? Go on, you have to answer otherwise the whole world will explode’ – that kind of chat.
= The Gyrus Nonsensicus: the (imaginary) part of the brain that generates nonsense under the guise of logic.
The Gyrus Nonsensicus would be a really neat way to explain some of the mixed messaging about Covid we’ve had thrown at us in recent months:
Priti Patel knows how to mingle
Home Secretary Priti Patel today said that x2 families of four who stop to say hello to each other on the way to the park would be ‘mingling’ and thus breaking the new Rule of Six – because we need to be ‘conscientious and not putting other people’s health at risk’. Indeed.
Dominic Cummings is still laughing at our expense somewhere
But when senior government aide Dominic Cummings broke lockdown, drove with his family across the country with actual steaming, full-blown Covid for ‘childcare’ and then drove to a castle to test his eyesight (‘yes Miss, the dog really did eat my homework’), our Prime Minister came out and said DC had acted 'responsibly, legally and with integrity'.
Erm, ok.
The Cummings Effect
The Lancet published an article about ‘The Cummings Effect’ in August 2020. It described a clear decrease in public confidence in the government’s ability to handle the pandemic directly after the Cummings story broke. This is important because this affects trust – and when we don’t trust what we’re being told, it affects our willingness to follow rules and guidelines. The article noted that although there had already been a gradual decrease in public adherence to guidelines before DC’s cross country travels, the difference in this decline between England and Wales and Scotland grew in the 3 weeks following (May 22–June 11, 2020).
The Rule of Six
So it is with little surprise that current, new restrictions have received a somewhat lukewarm response. The spread of Coronavirus is increasing, now we cannot meet in gatherings of more than 6 people both indoors and outdoors, with various exceptions, caveats and permutations across the devolved nations: click here for the full, exhausting list of details https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51506729
We can’t afford to ignore the advice, even if it’s confusing
But as tiring as this all is, unfortunately we cannot afford to ignore this. If only there were a clear framework we could use to manage risk in our daily lives? That way, whatever level of restrictions we’re on, we could just implement these tools day-to-day, stay safe, stay sane and keep some semblance of normality.
Well here’s one I made earlier! https://bit.ly/LiftingLockdownGPGuide
I’ll be posting on the blog over the coming days with ways to stay healthy, stay safe and stay balanced in our approach over the days ahead. Sign up the newsletter for regular updates.
Reference: Fancourt, Daisy, Andrew Steptoe, and Liam Wright. "The Cummings effect: politics, trust, and behaviours during the COVID-19 pandemic." The Lancet 396.10249 (2020): 464-465.