Rule of Six may be a no-deal diversion
Last week’s press release from Public Health England drawing attention to “concerns” about the broad increase in the number of Covid cases should have added the necessary rider that this has not been paralleled by a rise in either hospital admissions or the mortality rate – which both gratifyingly remain obstinately low. This is in line with all similar pandemics where over time the effects of the virus tend to become a lot less serious and deadly. So why the need for the new measures announced last Thursday – “The Rule of Six” – with Covid marshals to ensure social distancing in pubs and restaurants? “The rules change constantly, seemingly without a rational set of objectives,” observed former Tory Party treasurer Sir Mick Davis in this paper. “The UK remains trapped in its own universe of fear and inconsistency.”
Perhaps the Government’s reluctance to encourage a speedy return to normality is a deliberate ploy, suggests retired intensive care consultant Ray Sinclair in The Guardian. Perpetuating anxiety and chaos, he alleges, will distract attention from the prospect of a no-deal Brexit, allowing it to slip through “with less coverage and challenge”. Machiavellian – or what?
Meanwhile, Matt Hancock’s promise of much wider availability of testing will certainly further boost the numbers found to be infected – albeit without, for many, having any symptoms. It should, however, allow those incarcerated in care homes to see more of their loved ones. All this requires is that a designated relative be tested which, if negative, will sanction a prolonged visit without the necessity to sit outside wearing a mask. What could be simpler?
Healing pains
The plight of the woman afflicted at monthly intervals by an excruciating pain on the right side of her chest (“I fear I am about to die”) radiating to her back and under the arm has prompted several possible explanations. Based on personal experience, a couple of women attribute it to her mastectomy four years previously with the subsequent fibrotic healing of tissues compressing a nerve in the chest wall. “My first episode occurred when reaching to retrieve my napkin in a restaurant,” writes a woman who had a lumpectomy a decade ago. “I screamed so loudly everyone jumped.” It is also pointed out that a “silent” osteoporotic fracture of a vertebra can cause a similar pain by compressing a nerve as it exits the spinal cord.
A further very different possibility would be colic due to gallstones. “The description of this pain mimics my own precisely,” writes another woman woken regularly at 2am. Since having her gallbladder removed last October she has slept through the night. Alternatively, emeritus Prof David Allison is fairly confident this is “precordial catch syndrome” – a spontaneous excruciating pain in the chest wall that occurs at rest. While its cause is unknown, he notes (reassuringly) it is “entirely benign” and will eventually resolve.
Miraculous cure
Finally, my thanks to a reader for passing on the near miraculous cure for his 20-year history of irritable bowel syndrome of the diarrhoea predominant type, associated with urgency (“a sudden and pressing need to go to the loo”) and only modestly mitigated by taking industrial quantities of Imodium. This has necessitated certain lifestyle changes such as sitting on the aisle seat on trains and in the cinema and staying in a hotel rather than with relatives and friends. He has along the way acquired an intimate knowledge of the location and quality of the public lavatories in his home town – M&S’S being the most favoured, “always immaculately clean with a vacant seat”.
Then late last year, his family doctor suggested simplifying his blood pressure regime of three different pills: doxazosin, diltiazem and lisinopril, advising he discontinue the diltiazem. A fortnight later he realised he had stopped worrying about where the nearest loo might be. Nine months on, his stock of Imodium remains untouched. And, for good measure, his blood pressure remains well within the normal range.
In line with all pandemics, over time the effects of the virus become a lot less deadly