Coronavirus streets in Manchester - LXIV

It is still out there

What we cannot ignore in these somewhat perilous times is that the pandemic is quite present with us. Whilst indeed there are mitigations for dealing with the Coronavirus, in that many have been vaccinated and boosted, the vaccine is not prophylactic per se, it simply helps against debilitating symptoms and severe illness.

That knowledge alone should have us all know that we still need to maintain some precautions with regard to the possibility of infection. The wearing of face coverings and masks is still important as is avoiding enclosed or poorly ventilated places, especially in crowds, then the washing and sanitising of hands.

Be careful of the carefree

The fact that there is no legal requirement to self-isolate again as it is a mere advisory means that we might quite likely encounter people who have the Coronavirus, who are aware that they are infectious, but for whatever reasons, they have not self-isolated. They are out amongst us, careless or carefree, and troublingly so.

There is also no telling where one might go and perchance pick up the infection, we just have to be wary. In my case, I had a neighbourly chat a few days ago and then the day before yesterday, I was informed that they were COVID-19 positive. I was quite concerned for them, wishing them a speedy recovery.

Waiting for half an hour

However, I was informed that our proximity might have made me vulnerable to infection meaning I needed to perform a self-test to be sure that I was not infected and a vector of infection. I got out my Rapid Antigen Test kit and performed the swab into the reagent and 3 drops on the lateral flow device. The Control line showed up and the sample was being processed by the device and 30 minutes later, only the Control line was showing and nothing for the Test line, indicating I was negative.

I registered the test result with the NHS website and performed another test today that read negative too. It is a relief as I am in the vulnerable cohort, and one cannot risk getting infected regardless of the number of times one has been vaccinated and boosted. I should be on for my 4th shot in May.

The truth is, we cannot be indifferent, we do have to live with this virus milling around us whilst exercising all the necessary caution and safety procedures, this should all become second nature and hopefully, there is still something happening in the pharmaceutical world that does more to avoid infection totally through eradication rather than just reducing the effects of the virus.