Covid-19: Walk. Don't run. We do need a health MOT.

The fact that people are being vaccinated and that more than 15 million people living in the United Kingdom have received the first doses of several vaccines used doesn't change the fact that the NHS is still working over-capacity with many thousands of patients that require special treatment to keep those seriously affected by Covid-19 alive.

We should not be overly pessimistic, but we shouldn't be overly optimistic either. I am fully aware of the damage done to the economy and of the negative repercussions of the quarantine measures put in place to prevent the spread of the disease. Other diseases have gone untreated. The number of those suffering from some form of mental illness has skyrocketted. 

The idea of implementing better coordination of different services within the so called Welfare State could be one of the best ideas being considered. NHS, Social Services, the services that care of old and the disabled, and every other branch of the Welfare State need to work together.

For a very long time, we have cared more about the transit of animals, plants and minerals in and out of the country than about the transit of human beings that can carry diseases with them. For many years, animals brought into the country have gone into quarantine to ensure that they were healthy enough to be allowed in. For far too long, any human being coming from abroad could enter the country freely without any health checks to protect public health. What Covid-19 has done is to prove how foolish we have been. A virus coming from China has killed more than 100,000 people in the United Kingdom. Cars have MOT. Why shouldn't human beings have some form of health MOT to prove that they do not constitute a risk for the rest of the population?

Covid-19 didn't exist in the United Kingdom. It was brought in via ports of entry (Airports, Harbours, Railway Stations). There should have been sanitary controls at each port of entry. The sanitary controls established because of Covid-19 should become the norm and be enforced to prevent any future catastrophe.