Coronavirus - two years on

 On Thursday, 24 March, it will be two years since the United Kingdom was placed under lockdown on account of the coronavirus pandemic. I vividly remember the sunsplashed but empty streets of Stornoway, a total absence of visitors and no cruiseliners - whereas in previous years, up to 40 liners would call through the summer. Having to wait in a queue outside Tesco for up to 45 minutes on one occasion, and having to take an hour to go through the store. I recall shuffling through Tesco, 7 feet apart from the previous and the next customer, having to write up the shopping list in exact sequence - because if I forgot to pick up the mayonnaise in aisle 4, and did not think about it until aisle 6, I'd have to ask a member of staff to please go and pick it up for me. Having to wait at aisle 12 to be called to a checkout. Hardly any shops open, public transport severely limited - but hardly any cases here in the Western Isles. The horror stories from the mainland, with up to 1500 deaths each day, and heartrending accounts of people dying by the dozen in carehomes - like the one in Portree, 50 miles south of Stornoway in Skye - without any loved ones to hold their hand in their final moments.

The year 2021 brought hope in the shape of vaccinations, and the restrictions gradually eased. Visitors started to return to the isles, mostly in motorhomes (much to the aggravation of many locals), but no cruiseliners. The deathtoll continued to rise, and currently stands at 150,000 across the UK. Although the numbers of deaths or severe cases of Covid have gone down substantially, thanks to the vaccinations, here in the isles, we have been hitting high numbers in recent days, up to 155 on one day last week. The demographics have shifted to children, with many new cases among primary school age pupils. 

The war in Ukraine, with a potential for becoming a world-war conflagration, has eclipsed coronavirus from the headlines. The pandemic has not gone away, and a new round of vaccinations is starting across the country. In Scotland, we are still required to wear facemasks in an indoor, public setting. 

I started 2020 with trepidation. This, the third decade of the 21st century, is fulfilling that promise of being a period of concern, and I'll go so far as to say - we ain't seen nothing yet.