As Omicron Spreads, I’m Keeping My Head Down

I’m pretty sure that wherever you are, you’re responding the same as we all are to the ravages of the latest Bond villain, that dastardly omicron variant of the coronavirus!

OK, pipe down, Kiwis. The whole world knows the extreme lengths you’ve gone to avoid a massive COVID-19 outbreak. If only London was on an island as well!

Here in England, omicron has gone gangbusters. Who ya gonna call? After watching that film, I’m not sure the young “Afterlife” bunch are quite up to it.

Christmas Day for us was paired down from 10 people to our core family of four. Another group of about 10 extended family members did gather, however, and about half of them got COVID-19 despite being vaccinated. One of our nieces even spent a lonely Christmas with just the virus for company. We sent a food basket to cheer her up. She had a bad headache, but felt a lot worse previously with a case of the flu.

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My own immune system has recovered somewhat from the ravages wrought upon it by the disease-modifying therapies Lemtrada (alemtuzumab) and Ocrevus (ocrelizumab).

However, I am in the group that now qualifies for new COVID-19 therapies here in the U.K. if I am ever hospitalized due to the disease. So, what am I worried about?

Well, none of us want to get COVID-19. My eldest son, George, has just spent the past month working the front of house during our madcap panto season. It’s not a small venue, either. The New Wimbledon Theatre, where he works, is about 10 miles from London’s West End theater district, although with a capacity of 1,600 seats, it is far bigger than many of those. Somehow, with enforced mask-wearing and by being careful, he has managed to avoid getting COVID-19.

It’s possible that being aware of the need to protect their dear old dad (OK, maybe not so dear) has encouraged those in my core family unit to be extra careful out there. My wife, Jane, who has asthma, also is not keen on contracting the dreaded thang, either.

After a few months of relatively joyous freedom, it feels like we’re now reverting back to 2020. And it seems I’m not alone in that feeling. Hey-ho.

Having written that, we did take a calculated risk on Tuesday, when eight members of our family ate a ginormous meal of takeout Thai food and washed it down with lashings of prosecco. Every one of us took a COVID-19 lateral flow test that morning, even me. All obviously were negative. It was great fun.

Happy New Year!

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