THE POSITIVE PROFESSOR

SOCIAL media’s voice of calm Karol Sikora has been signed up by the Daily Express. Readers can now enjoy his soothing advice in these troubled times that has won him hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter. If you need reassuring everything’s going to be all right read Professor Positivity.

EVERY day when I check the Government’s Covid-19 stats page online, it’s a huge relief when there is green across the board.

Seven day averages for cases, hospitalisations, use of ventilators and deaths still falling at encouraging rates.

I have always found it frustrating how some are so keen to push the bad news but refuse to acknowledge the better.

Numbers are almost down to September levels and with well over 20 million vaccinated, we should be cautiously optimistic they will stay there and fall further.

The whole point of the vaccination programme was to break the connection between infections and severe illness and death.

Relentless

As we ease out of lockdown, the main figure to track now will be admissions and the total number of patients with Covid-related illness in our hospitals.

Before there has been a relentless translation from cases to hospital activity, but the vaccine should stop that.

Will the Government speed up its unlocking programme? I doubt it.

I completely understand their desire for caution, but there are parts which I think could be accelerated – namely outside activity. It’s good for the mind, body and soul.

Even the mandarins said it’s very difficult to see how outdoor gatherings could lead to spikes. I agree. There is a risk for indoor gatherings that may be a consequence of outdoor activity, but there are ways to mitigate that.

What a shame that zoos can’t open for another month for example. Why not close off the indoor areas or severely restrict the number of people allowed in?

As the weather improves beaches and parks are going to get a lot busier. Spreading people out across various settings would be a good thing!

All in all though, we’ve very much on the right track and we should let people know how far the numbers have fallen.