This week seems to be heralding almost a new phase so far as covid-19 is concerned. We are now looking forward to the autumn and winter and how this is all going to pan out.

We hear the Health Secretary; we hear the Prime Minister; we hear the experts, doctors like Professor Van-Tam, Professor Chris Whitty and others and nothing is really certain about where this pandemic is going at all.

What is very clear to see is that as views diverge, they gradually get more extreme in order to combat the extreme views on the opposite side. We do really seem to be getting at odds with each other as to where this going. Some want to see every restriction of every sort dropped whilst others are advocating how we may need to keep covid passports and even lockdown still on the table.

The Prime Minister in setting out his autumn plans has basically told us that nothing is going to change save that the government will have a plan B which they hope not to implement and this would include the reintroduction of measures as may be thought applicable. But the PM and his advisers were clear that the pandemic is still very widespread and there is a clear need for boosters for the over 50s and this will be starting next week. That says it all really – three vaccinations in a year is clearly indicative of a serious problem which is not going away.

The weekly numbers have eased slightly, showing a drop to 230783 new cases which represents a decrease over the previous seven days of 14.3%. The same is not true of deaths and new patients which are up 1.6% and 5% respectively.

Is the outlook positive or gloomy? Depending on your point of view it could be either!

But isn’t the whole point that as the government wants the economy to flourish we as citizens need to do our bit to ensure that we keep ourselves safe within the confines of our own lives.

But as it is a new outlook for the forthcoming season, let us try and be positive and to herald this we feature an attractive sunrise photo today.

Adrian Leopard 14-09-21

Photo Dawid Zawila