Its Not Safe Now, Surely?

Some stray thoughts about RISK.
You cannot eliminate risk, but you can minimize it and understand what the risk is:

Eg. How does 'average Jo' eliminate the risk of being killed in a car accident? Totally staying away from cars is pretty impossible for avg Jo. If everyone abandoned cars to be safe, the civilisation would collapse. So, rather than hiding from cars, if everyone learnt about the dangers over time and worked out how to make car use safer, and avg Jo understands the risk, it would mean less suffering & more well being for avg Jo, and his family, friends, community.. and his civilisation. And this is what we do. We have an almost unconscious 'baseline reckoning' of risk with cars and other things which doesn't usually paralyse us with fear. Its 'a kind of normal'.

In this regard, there is plenty to be hopeful about right now. The Danes, Czecks (src), and Austria (src) have reported no Covid 2nd wave after easing their lockdowns. The risk is not eliminated, but it is more hopeful every moment that passes. More is being understood over time. Drugs (src) and antibody treatments (src) are being discovered and improving every day. In England, Covid hospital fatalities are down to about 100 today and tumbling by about 25 per day (based on NHS England data). In London hospitals they're falling from about 25 today and from the coming weekend it will likely be about 1 or 2 every few days (based on NHS England data) ...by comparison, London vehicle fatalities normally are also about 1 or 2 every few days (src: Department for Transport). That's something to think about, isn't it? In a couple of days time, cars are likely to be a higher risk for Londoners than Covid. If you're under 60 in the capital, this is the case for you right now.

The TV news want you to stay glued to their channel and watch their corporate sponsored ads. Its the same with the newspapers. The politicians have more control over us than ever with their emergency powers. Despite their best, well meaning interests, it is their own interests that they are incentivised to serve, which means it serves them best if we're still scared.
 

But there is hope.

My suggestion is to understand risk. Conquer fear. Because worry achieves nothing. It is ever more certain that better days are ahead. There is more hope now than when you started reading this article.