Something I’ve tried to bear in mind when tracking any situation that’s in a constant state of change is that, on the whole, its better to watch trends than moment-to-moment volatility. It’s similar to hitting the point of diminishing returns on a rolling news channel when something major happens, the point where there’s no actual news, just talking heads chattering over endlessly-repeating footage in the absence of information.
It’s something I’ve tried to keep in focus about the current virus scare, especially given my tendency to mild hypochondria. It doesn’t do much good to keep my eye on constantly updated opinion, even if it is coming from people who appear to know what they’re talking about rather than, say, politicians. There’s a lot to be said for something I’ve heard said a couple of times today: there’s a good chance that you’ll get it and, if you’re very unlucky, you’ll snuff it. Yes, that’s fatalistic, but I think it also embodies a truth.
I’m at the lower end of the age group that might be vulnerable to complications. If we assume, as I think we must, that there’s community spread within Edinburgh (given its transport connections), then there must be a decent chance that I’ll get it, even if the uptake curve is flattened. As I’m in reasonable health I’m not especially concerned for myself, although I am paying heightened attention to basic hygiene like everyone else. But, still in a fatalistic vein, when out for a walk earlier I found myself thinking about that old trope of what you would do if you knew the end was near. The conclusion I came to is that I would do nothing different: I like my life just how it is.
The thing that I’m thinking about more is that it’s reasonably foreseeable that that this will happen again, and again, as diseases new and old emerge and mutate. The immediate lesson from the spread of Covid-19 is that our interconnected world has no real defence againt it.
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