2020 Vision at the Holidays

If you live in the UK and have been using government-issued rules to guide your behavior, you may be confused today. The government still says up to three households can mix for 5 days around Christmas. At the same time, a bevy of organizations with scientific, medical or public health expertise are screaming not to loosen up. Under pressure, the government now says its rules for Christmas are still in place but everyone should treat them as a maximum allowance.

What should you do?

Listen to the groups of people with expertise, not the government.

Government guidelines mix politics and the interests of big business with science. In the pandemic, usually politics and big business push the interests of the wealthy who want people to carry on putting money in their pockets by working and buying. Your interest in staying alive and healthy takes a back seat.

To put your future and the future of people you love first, it’s best if you listen to expertise instead. That means cancel travel plans, don’t attend a gathering, don’t meet with other people (especially without masks indoors)… don’t offer the virus any leeway.

The same goes for people in most other countries, with only a few exceptions such as New Zealand where SARS-CoV-2 has been eliminated.

If ever there has been a year for 2020 vision, this is it, and those who understand the virus best are speaking in unison. Stick with just your household. Wear a mask whenever you go out. Avoid being indoors where non-household people are. Any visits with people beyond your household need to be in the open air (a tent isn’t outdoors) at enough of a distance for your conversation to have to be audible to the neighborhood.

Denying that virus access to you and your loved ones is the single best gift you can give this holiday season.

Whatever your holiday is in this season of the year, may it be peaceful, safe and in good health.