Covid-19

The global pandemic in 2020.

Covid: not nearly “over” yet

The Tory government has said that it will probably scrap the vax mandate for health workers due to come into force from 2 April. A mandate to be vaccinated to protect others (partially, of course: no vaccine is 100%) has some logic; but this mandate has always had many arguments of practical advisability against it. For the Tories to try to enforce it from 2 April while they have hinted at dropping even self-isolation rules from 24 March could hardly be workable. The harm from health workers being redeployed unsuitably or losing their jobs, and the NHS becoming even more understaffed, would be...

Omicron: brake rush back to workplaces

Probably as a “populist” ploy to save Boris Johnson’s job, or failing that to make things easier for his successor, the government has announced the end from 27 January of all mask mandates, of all requirements to show NHS Covid passes, and of work-from-home guidance. Civil service bosses are pushing for return to offices. How far and fast that will go, and whether other bosses will do likewise, remains to be seen. Work-from-home has many downsides, not least for union organisation; but unions can and should resist hasty return-to-work, at least until new risk assessments and safety...

Omicron and the anti-vax swirl

David Kurten, leader of the right-wing Heritage Party, on 22 January anti-vax demonstration Several thousands joined an anti-vax protest in London on 22 January. Another protest, in Washington DC on 23 January, was also thousands. Streets were blocked in Bolivia on 21 January. 70,000 marched across Germany on 18 January. France has had regular weekend anti-vax protests for many months, often totalling 100,000 marchers across the country. Many hundreds marched in Manchester on 22 January and stormed the Arndale shopping centre. Steve Chapman reports from Sheffield on 22 January: “Around 250...

Look again at Section 44 (John Moloney's column)

With the withdrawal of Covid restrictions in England, there is increasing rhetoric about an employers’ drive to get workers back into offices. It’s not entirely clear as yet how that will play out across the civil service and whether departments will be setting quotas for the number of workers they want back. We’re meeting the Cabinet Office on Tuesday 25 January to discuss this. The Daily Mail is already promoting a narrative that union opposition to workers being forced back into offices is somehow sabotaging the country’s recovery. It’s clear that the Prime Minister is looking, using those...

Out with Johnson! Out with Johnson’s policies!

Boris Johnson’s bubble has burst. Most people accept that the government has had to issue instructions over Covid: self-isolate, test, reduce social contact in various ways, all the rest. All governments have done fairly similar, in one way or another, and varying with different geographical conditions. Most people even accept that the governments, dealing with a new virus, will be bound to make mis-steps. Even those, like us on Solidarity , who are political opponents of all the existing governments, recognise that on Covid it is better that we all follow even flawed rules, to give us all...

Covid: “the moon is not a hamster”

As the Harvard University scientist Bill Hanage tweeted in early January: “Omicron is not endemic [settled into being a worrisome but manageable background factor] right now in much the same way that the moon is not a hamster”.

On 12 January Chicago teachers returned to in-person work, after a...

Covid: “the moon is not a hamster”

As the Harvard University scientist Bill Hanage tweeted in early January: “Omicron is not endemic [settled into being a worrisome but manageable background factor] right now in much the same way that the moon is not a hamster”. On 12 January Chicago teachers returned to in-person work, after a week in which they had insisted on a temporary online model in response to an Omicron surge, but the city had barred them from logging in. With the USA’s vax rate lower than Europe’s, Covid death rates in Illinois in mid-January 2022 are comparable to the early 2020 peak and to all but the very worst of...

Opposing the two Bills (John Moloney's column)

On Saturday 15 January, I spoke at the “Kill the Bill” demonstration in London. The demo protested both the Policing Bill and the Nationalities and Borders Bill. We need an ongoing movement against both pieces of legislation, which represent a slide towards authoritarianism. The government’s war on migrants has direct industrial implications for our union (PCS) members who work in the Border Force. The government wants our members to drag migrant boats back towards France. Given that these boats are frequently overcrowded and unseaworthy, such a policy greatly increases the danger to the...

“Live with” Covid, but safely

Seven weeks after the Omicron variant was identified in South Africa, and a month after it started spreading fast in the UK, case counts in the UK are tentatively dropping. Evidence from South Africa itself and other countries is hopeful. Without waiting to see if the drop is a solid trend, or admitting that even in the best case deaths and the stress on underfunded hospitals will continue to rise for a few weeks, the Tory right has raised an outcry for dropping curbs and just “living with” Covid. Solidarity has pointed out since mid-2020 that Covid is not going to “end” or “go away”...

A month of Omicron

A month on from the Omicron variant of Delta being identified by scientists in South Africa, more is known about it but much remains, and is likely to remain, unclear. Immunity from vaccination or previous infection works less well against Omicron. Probably, however, it makes eventual infection milder. More or less certainly, Omicron can transmit faster than Delta. We don't know whether that is just because of immunity-evasion, or it would spread faster anyway in a population new to Covid. Probably, it produces somewhat milder symptoms. We don't know how much this result is down to Omicron...

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