The Danger is not yet over.

Optimists in Europe and North America are suggesting that the Covid 19 Pandemic is close to the end of its three act (lock down) drama. The vaccination programme has been interpreted by these optimists as the equivalent of the cavalry dashing onto the stage, saving the victims, and allowing the curtain to fall to the audiences applause. Pessimists, on the other hand, are anticipating that the current vaccination process is more in the nature of a temporary ‘refreshments’ interval and there are more tragic acts to follow on the national or global stage. In this latter regard an investigation of a recent Covid19 outbreak in the USA, revealed that;

“Almost 1000 people got infected, and the CDC investigation indicated that vaccinated folks were not only getting infected but also passing on COVID to ‘other’ vaccinated folks.” (emphasis added RR.)

If this evidence is replicated elsewhere, the logic is inescapable. Vaccination will not prevent catching Covid again, nor will vaccination fulfil the humanist desire to avoid it being transmitted to those already vaccinated or not vaccinated. In face of the delta variant and others, the only function vaccination will possibly play is to prevent personal critical illness and death. However, even this is not as uplifting as it is being made out. It has also been recently revealed that 90% of those hospitalised by Covid in an Israeli hospital, we’re fully vaccinated. The fact that fully vaccinated people in Israel needed to go to hospital means that those ‘breakthrough’ reinfections were (and can be) serious forms of illness. Moreover, the pandemic was bad enough when the first Covid 19 virus was being socially transmitted. Then, it reached an average of eight people, passed on from one infected individual. This latest delta variant appears to be transmissible to an average of 125 people.

Of course, the Delta version only surged after the social distancing regulations were relaxed and then removed due to increased vaccinations. This confirms the above noted fact that vaccinations have not prevented the spread of the pandemic and this critical illness level ‘spread’ has now accelerated among the younger generation. The jury is still out on the effects of what has been classified as ‘long Covid’. But because this virus is now adapted to get into most organs of the body and kidneys, lungs, heart, liver and brain, (and regardless of spike protein adaptations), it cannot be assumed that even moderate infection loads (suppressed by vaccinations or not) will not have long term health effects. Vaccination is therefore not sufficient to prevent infection and may not prevent long term illness. Only the lucky or the hyper-vigilant can avoid the worst effects of this increasingly mishandled pandemic.

Clearly, the new COVID mutations (including P618R) are not just producing more virus load in infected people (SARS-CoV-2; attains viral loads 1000 times greater than earlier versions). Furthermore, once exhaled and inhaled by those close to infected people, the virus is now better at avoiding the recipients immune system and replicating itself and/or mutating.

Dodging the Delta variant.

The lesson from avoiding the first Covid 19 variant was clear. If you don’t want to trust in luck or in pro-capitalist government advice then avoid close contact with those who have Covid. The greater the exposure to the virus you get, the sicker you will become. So if you are unsure who has Covid (or not) then the safest policy, whether vaccinated or not, is to consistently mask, distance, wash hands in all mixed situations. And to double mask, extra distance, ventilate rooms and wash frequently in any close and crowded situations. In the latter case a number of other preventive measures can be sensibly added to these. In view of the fact that the main entrance point of airborne micro-particles containing viruses are eyes, nose and mouth (in those with no skin damage) then the methods of prevention are obvious: Effective nasal sprays or creams, eye coverings, protective hand coverings and effective masks (doubled) are advisable in crowded, small un-ventilated spaces – if these cannot be avoided altogether.

Those who can only imagine life under capitalism will also advocate further vaccinations such as booster shots of existing vaccines and the development of further more targeted vaccines. Already three and four injections are being advocated by some professional microbiologists, medical experts, vaccine producers and politicians. One wonders how many more ‘jabs’ will they eventually think are enough? What they all have in common is that they have little understanding of the capitalist mode of production in which they live. Every short term thing possible, (such as vaccines) therefore, must be utilised (and people sacrificed) in order to keep the current capitalist method of production and consumption functioning.

However, short term capitalist based solutions will not work. The fact is that the current mode of production is doomed for at the same time as spectacularly creating and then bungling the handling of the pandemic, it’s representatives are also creating existential climate change, ecological destruction, pollution and poverty. These additional symptoms of existential damage and destruction are perhaps somewhere at the back of some professional consciousness, however, as yet these contradictions have not yet worked their way to the front of their minds. Consequently the dots which clearly connect all these symptoms have not yet been joined up in their professional consciousness. Until reality causes a general rethink in the way societies are run then it is up to individuals and communities to keep themselves safe.

Roy Ratcliffe (August 2021)