Day 4 and I am no longer feverish or anything very much, except deeply fatigued. I take paracetamol and it gets better. As the dose wears off it gets very much worse. It feels like I have been drained of every gram of adrenaline. And there is a heatwave coming.
As I noted on Twitter this morning, those in the media who parrot the government line that Covid is all over are fools, and liars. It is not.
The same people will also be saying we have to learn to live with extreme heat in the next few days. No we don't. We have to change our behaviour. But apparently nothing, but nothing, must get in the way of excess material consumption by a few. I despair. And I have probably knocked my sats by a couple of per cent saying so.
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https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/uk-news/people-fretting-over-heatwave-snowflakes-24507198
“A Conservative MP has branded people who are taking precautions against the soaring temperatures during the current heatwave as “snowflakes” and “cowards”. John Hayes, previously a minister UK Government’s climate change department, at the claims that fear of the heat is “”indicative” of modern Britain and “the state in which we now live”.
Forecasters predict a record-breaking 40 degrees of heat on Monday and Tuesday, with the Met Office warning that people should stay inside and avoid the sun. But Sir John, a Brexiteer who voted against reintroducing Covid restrictions, told the Telegraph: “This is not a brave new world but a cowardly new world where we live in a country where we are frightened of the heat.
“It is not surprising that in snowflake Britain, the snowflakes are melting. Thankfully, most of us are not snowflakes. The idea that we clamour for hot weather for most of the year and then shut down when it does heat up is indicative of the state in which we now live.””
Yup, get back up the chimneys and down the mines, peasants. Reason being, of course, if poor people stop working, income dries up for the wealthy. Joining a strong union is becoming a matter of life and death now, I hope more people realise that.
It is likely many thousands will die from this heatwave
Conventional wisdom is that heat kills fewer people than cold. We’ll see in the excess deaths data when it comes out in 2-3 weeks time.
Btw, what was wrong with being concerned about large numbers of bathers drawn to the beach due to the heat and then underestimating the currants and drowning at sea?
The tone of your last comment struck me as encouraging irresponsibility even if it was meant to be ironic and so I deleted it
Maybe more people will be killed by cold this year than by heat. However the two are related.
A major reason for deaths from hyperthermia in the UK is the abysmal insulation of our housing stock. Two observations:
1) Good insulation not only helps keep a building warmer in winter but also helps keep it cooler in summer.
2) The state of insulation of the UK housing stock has the consequence that more carbon dioxide than necessary is released into the atmosphere in winter. This contributes to the excess heating in the summer.
Wikipedia : “Hayes suffered a serious head injury in his early 20s, from which he has never fully recovered. He has focused much of his career on raising funds for research into acquired brain injury and support for those who suffer from it.[14][15]”
Looking at his record, it’s unlikely that he’s ever personally experienced life at 40 degrees Celsius. I suspect however that he hauls around a ton of drama about being perceived as weak and not much sense of context – this is completely inappropriate.
Sats?
Oxygen saturation in my bloodstream, which can fall a lot with Covid. My wife is a retired GP. We are monitoring this.
That’s why I said I hope you stay away from the oxygen tanks. Mine went down to 77 when the ambulance workers said I had to go back into hospital last year.
Another good book to read is Michael Rosen’s Many Different Kinds of Love about his time with Covid. Fortunately he had a neighbour who was a GP, who tested his sats levels and told his wife to take him to hospital.
Believe it or not I was reading the book in hospital when I was told I had covid!
I prefer following independentsage.org to government information. They have just done a report on covid in children last Friday.
Writing the Twitter thread this pm really knocked my sats back
I need to be careful….
Get well soon, and agree.
Well, ‘sats’ (stats?) or not, it was still worth saying and I agree if that helps.
Sats is le bel f oxygen saturation in my blood stream
Well, now I know, and in your case, may your SATS be what they should be now and for many years to come.
In essence you are right, Richard, but I fear that we DO ‘have to learn to live with extreme heat’ – as well as cold, floods and droughts – and we must plan for greater extremes.
Repeatedly you have shown that important financial policies are currently based on ignorance of critical realities combined with an unwillingness to be intellectually rigorous.
The same is true of most climate and ecological policies.
In both cases the indoctrination of a large portion of our population is pursued by people motivated by some mixture of – fear of losing employment, greed, laziness, intellectual weakness and a lack of imagination.
‘Net zero 2050’ is a deliberately contrived deception.
First, IMMEDIATE action is vital. 2050 is a distraction.
Second, Prof Kevin Anderson of Manchester University says that, apart from agriculture, the goal must be ‘REAL ZERO’ not ‘net zero’.
Third, Anderson has also pointed out that there is now NO NON-RADICAL SOLUTION. On 14 December 2019, before Covid-19 was news, he wrote on Twitter:
“Given the deep concern @BorisJohnson has expressed over climate change & how his government is going tackle UK emissions, attached are some of the actions he will no doubt be driving forward later next week. I look forward to his scientifically informed & coherent climate agenda.
The scale of action required if the UK is to deliver on its commitments enshrined in the Paris agreement.
All starting January 2020 if not before
1. A moratorium on all new fossil fuel.
2. An immediate phase out of old fossil fuel production to be complete by 2030 – 35 with detailed policies of a just transition for those working in these industries.
3. A rapidly rising frequent flyer levy to immediately slash how often the ‘frequent flyers’ fly.
4. No airport expansion.
5. No expansion of the road network.
6. A rapid move to a car-free cities and towns (including electric vehicles).
7. A minimum initial standard on all new cars with a maximum of 100 grams of CO2 per kilometre, tightening at 8 to 10% each year.
8. A tight emission standard on all power stations (a fleet level for all suppliers of 250 grams of CO2 per kilowatt hour reducing at 8 to 10% each year.
9. A minimum and very stringent efficiency standard for all rented properties and homes.
10. All new houses and buildings to be passive-house standard and include on-site renewables.
11. A fair carbon tax such as ‘fee and dividend’ or personal carbon allowance.
12. Major subsidies for electric bikes (perhaps paid for by the Frequent Flying Levy).
13. Stop all fossil fuel advertising.
14. Devolve responsibilities and powers to regions and cities to help deliver culturally appropriate policies.”
The next day, 15 Dec 2019, he added:
“I suggested max 100gCO2/km from 2020, tightening at 8-10% pa, & no cars in cities. That means ~70gCO2 by 2023 & 30g by 2030. So sets a standard as good/better as EV (Electric Vehicle) without choosing the technology. We need a major rethink of transport, not just swap 1500kg of IC (internal-combustion-engined) car with 2000kg of EV. We must also consider how we significantly improve access to transport by the sizeable proportion of our communities marginalised by the ‘car dependent’ society. These marginalised communities are typically missed in discussions about the wonders of EV substitution.
Despite population growth, 2050 global energy use could be reduced to 1960 levels.”
Will this comment have knocked your stats into the long grass?
No. But it might my sats
Glad to hear you’re getting better, Richard.
My wife and I are just starting to recover from a bout of Covid. She tested positive on Monday, I followed a day later. We both managed to hit 10 of the 12 likely symptoms listed on the NHS website. We only missed breathless and loss of sense of smell/taste. We were probably too lathargic to be breathless and our appetites have disappeared, so we haven’t really eaten much. I can honestly say that I haven’t felt this I’ll since I had full blown flu in the 1980’s – flu was worse!
We’re both gradually getting better, but it looks like it will be a long journey!
We shall probably have to live with Covid, but the present free for all is not going to work. It needs measures to control it’s spread and proper statistics on what is happening. Killing 50,000 of the population each year, ascwe’re doing now, is not going to work.
As for the temperature, unfortunately, because of inaction by governments, we are probably going to have to live with that. Global Warming is now locked in for the next several decades whatever we do.
On ‘The Last Leg’ on Friday, Adam Hills (the Australian comedian) warned that in Australia, they don’t live with 40C temperatures, the population take cover and keep out of the heat. Which is what I found when visiting relatives in NSW.
Get well
I have not fancied a proper meal for four days.
I am recognising this will take time
They used to do Sats tests in schools, the only results were increased blood pressure of pupils, teachers, and parents.
Ha ha
I thought it hadn’t affected my taste until my wife told me to take off the kipper tie & flares
Ha ha
I’m in Chicago and lived here in 1995 when we had our heatwave and high humidity.
739 died in 5 days.
Mostly poor. Mostly minorities.
Eric Klinenberg’s book “Heat Wave” does excellent forensic analysis of how bad it was.