PAUL ROUTLEDGE
We’re no home-shirkers
NECESSITY really is the mother of invention. We have research teams all over the world joining forces to find a vaccine against coronavirus.
We have unimaginable collaborations between organisations like Mercedes Formula 1 and University College Hospital, London, bioengineers and doctors.
Combining widely different skill sets which would never ordinarily speak to each other is unprecedented. The
I am 85 and have idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, arthritis and an irregular heartbeat. I live alone and suffer from catarrh, so I cough and sneeze all the time. How will I know if I have the virus?
George Sargeson
You really are vulnerable. You must do everything in your power to prevent catching coronavirus and so must the people around you. You should self-quarantine – you
Write, with a daytime number, to features@ mirror.co.uk or to Features Desk, Daily Mirror, One Canada Square, London, E14 5AP. Mark it Dr Miriam/ coronavirus.
WORKING from home, or shirking at home? That used to be the joke.
Not any more. Millions are having to get used to doing the job under their own roof.
I’ve been doing it for 16 years, producing zillions of words, some of which have actually been read.
Once this cataclysm is over, I suspect a big percentage of those exiled from the office will never want to go back.
That would save a fortune in commuting, and lessen workplace stress.
My office in this 18th century house is a tiny converted bedroom, lined with book shelves. The team has modified a device called a continuous positive airway pressure mask, which can be used in place of ventilators, relieving huge pressure on the NHS.
They already have 10 in clinical trial at University College Hospital and the collaborators can turn out 1,000 devices a week.
In another similar collaboration, Airbus is working with Rolls Royce to produce ventilators. should not go out and you should not see anyone, including friends and family.
You will know if and when you catch the virus, because you’ll have a very high temperature, a cough that’s difficult to control, aches and pains in your body and you’ll feel fatigued.
Your most important goal is to stay free of the virus. Stay in touch with family and friends using phone, FaceTime and Skype. previous owner, an evangelical minister, used this desk to write his sermons.
So it’s right I do my ranting from here. I could change my name to Rantledge.
A bank is giving free ergonomic chairs to its home workers, to save them from back problems. Too late for me, I’ve already been diagnosed with arthritis of the spine and cervical spondylosis (b ***** d neck).
The fingers are no better, after 50 years of pounding typewriters and tapping keyboards. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. As long as I escape the marauding virus, I’ll scribble on.