THE GREEN DIARY : Thursday, 11 June 2020

IT’S NOT CREATING A RESULT THAT DOESN’T EXIST

Brexit & Coixit

As many of our Friends know, we have recently had the test for Antibodies which was organised by The Medical Laboratory of London. We had the “finger pricking” ones that arrived in little boxes through the post; no mainline syringes.

There was much pricking of fingers and blood letting in the kitchen. In my case it simply refused to come out and I thought of other more dramatic instruments available, like the bread knife, that could perhaps facilitate my bloody need! In the end I thought my pathetic droplets would not be enough while Tony provided and overflow.

However we needn’t have fussed. Very efficiently the results were with us within twenty-four hours: both POSITIVE. 

Our immediate feelings were ones of relief; at least we’d not been accused of March Man ‘flu or shamming even; we had proof that at the very least we had actually had the disease and hopes that perhaps some kind of immunization against this virus.

Since then the radio and TV have been full of debate about the tests. Are they any use? Are they any good? Is the Private route reliable and not just a scam – they cost £99 each – and are the reservations of the statisticians tramping on our roses?

Medical friends have said that the finger pricking method is not as good as the venous ones; that its true the statistics are wobbly on this; but that the Laboratory we used is the same one the NHS uses; that the chances of samples taken from two people at the same address on the same day, both having had clear Covid symptoms, are safe to accept and that the test is not creating a result that doesn’t exist. Rather it could mistakenly not show up a result but not mistake the fact that we have had this virus.

So after all the debate, we are glad that we have gone through with it and that there is a chance some immunity will be gained.

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So here we are on a drear June day contemplating the heating thermostat and looking back on several weeks of nice weather when we have been able to sit out, walk and enjoy the bucolic delights of Mistley and, even, the delights further afield in Suffolk where we discovered a new walk we’d never heard of, near Flatford – Constable Country. I’ll put a picture or two up to cheer you all at this time of appalling uncertainty, poor governance and a world that seems to be going gradually mad. It is hard to ignore the Americans and impossible to miss the knock-on affects on our own racial complexities and historical nuances. Our biggest fear in this little household is the state of our government and our leaders. Are they fit for purpose? Isn’t it time that the Political Patricians realise that they do not have a monopoly on power and that they don’t necessarily have any good ideas on what next to do to salvage us from the mess they are largely at fault for making in the first place!

Brexit & Covixit!