This is not the end

#WelcomeBackPubs is trending in the UK and I’m just gonna say good luck to y’all. This is what’s happenening in the US after we started reopening. Neither the US or the UK gov’ts care about lives anymore, just the economy. Hope the pubs are worth it. #SuperSpreaderSaturday pic.twitter.com/K3qefRzK8Q

— 𝚜 𝚑 𝚊 𝚗 𝚒 (@shanilevyr) July 4, 2020

Last night, at around midnight, a handful of bars and pubs around the country thrust open their doors. Tonight, a much bigger number of licensed venues will be welcoming punters with new social distancing measures enforced. But I won't be there.

You know me. Party boy. Bar crawl organiser. Hounder of zed-list celebs and celeb gossip. I would be the first to be prowling Spinningfields for stories, necking obscure cocktails, smartphone in hand, right?

No thanks. The UK has seen 44 thousand deaths to COVID-19, the highest in Europe. Saudi Arabia, Iran, Portugal and Israel have all seen a second, in some cases more deadly, surge after lockdown restrictions were lifted. 

The UK entered lockdown on 23^rd March. The day before alone, in the UK, 1035 people died from COVID-19. The day we locked down, there were 669 deaths. More recently, on 2^nd July, there were 829 fatalities. So, there are still more deaths per day than there were at the time that we went in to lockdown, which many agree was too late- largely due to that bumbling prick in number 10, who told us to 'take it on the chin,' and then nearly died from it himself.

What a dickhead.

We are on track for another, more deadly surge of the virus, and I want nothing of it. Gyms, weirdly, are not yet open. Hence the home workouts- I'm usually following other people's Instagram Lives- will have to continue in place of the gym. And this reading project I started in late March will be reviewed when the gyms open. 

Whenever that will be.