Today I want to discuss how we should counter the misleading claim sometimes put around that just being strong, tough, fit or indeed young makes a person less susceptible to catching or surviving Coronavirus. I don’t think it does necessarily at all.
Two days ago, when writing about the Prime Minister’s illness I wrote “I didn’t realise how ill he was until I saw his face on a video at the end of last week. Everyone wants Boris to recover quickly - to his normal robust good health”. It is obviously clear he is not currently in robust good health but laid fairly low. And, if it can happen to the Prime Minister of our country, it can happen to anyone!
So, I am slightly alarmed then that my colleague Dominic Raab, now deputising for Boris Johnson, stated on Monday that “If there is one thing I know about this Prime Minister, he’s a fighter.” In much the same way David Cameron on Tuesday went on TV and said “He is a very tough, very resilient and very fit person, with a tremendous zest for life.” I totally understand their sentiments and hopes but such qualities may not matter in combatting the virus.
Coronavirus may not give a fig for any such qualities and I am a little worried about a possible, albeit unconscious, maybe implicit message. in such words. To me it seems that even the most determined, strongest, fittest and youngest of people may have little chance if the virus is so virulent and its attack so strong it simply destroys immunities in the body’s defences. Victims obviously want to stop the advances of an illness in their bodies and, if they cannot, it may have more to do with just plumb bad luck or the potency of the forces ranged against than anything to do with their characters, strengths, fitness levels or ages.
I have always been uneasy about using some militarily-associated terms when referring to illnesses; words like ‘fighting’, ‘battling’, ‘losing’ seem to me to imply that people suffering from a condition can ‘beat’ it if they determined, fit, strong or even young. That is certainly not the case for many of us. I am told that many Cancer victims resent people using such words which might suggest they could do more to overcome their illness when, in fact, there is very little they can really do without medical intervention from outside their body.
Two very good friends from my Regiment have died of horrid illnesses over the last few years. They were real leaders and strong in character. They weren’t old. In their time they were great sportsmen. They were certainly always far fitter than me. They were strong and tough officers too. Yet they succumbed to serious deadly diseases well before their time. The illnesses they developed simply did not care about their age, strength, fitness level or determination. The infections just took hold and killed them inexorably and slowly ignoring all that. It was terribly sad and appalling for their wives and families as well as friends like me.
Obviously, I want my old friend Boris Johnson to bounce back to health. That goes without saying and I pray it happens - and as quickly as possible. But surely there is a lesson from Boris’ illness for all of us. It is this; Coronavirus can hit you whether young or old, ill or not, strong or feeble, or indeed rich or poor.
As yet we do not really know much about COVID -19. But it is now clear that it can strike every single one of us. None of us is immune including the young. If we are lucky enough for it just to brush over us, which apparently it may have done to some people, we may nonetheless carry the infection, pass it on and kill others.
Any of us could carry a Coronavirus biological bomb within our lungs which can be put into the air very easily without us even knowing. It is thus extremely selfish to assume otherwise. So, we should all do what the UK’s Chief Medical Officer and Chief Scientific Officer advise so frequently and succinctly. Their instructions are clear; everyone, regardless of their age, should minimise contact with other people and stay at home unless they have no choice.