• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Chandler's Ford Today

  • Home
  • About
    • About Chandler’s Ford
    • Chandler’s Ford War Memorial Research
  • Blog
    • Blogging Tips
  • Event
    • Upcoming Events
  • Community
    • Groups
    • Churches
    • Schools
    • GP Surgeries
    • Leisure
    • Library
    • Charities
    • Eastleigh Basics Bank
    • Community Food Larder at Chandler’s Ford Methodist Church
  • Contact
    • Subscribe
  • Site Policies
You are here: Home / History / Pandemics and Epidemics – I have been locked-down for 100 days

Pandemics and Epidemics – I have been locked-down for 100 days

June 15, 2020 By Mike Sedgwick 2 Comments

By the time you read this, I will have been locked-down for 100 days, from March 9th in fact.

This is not the first epidemic or pandemic I have experienced. The first, in 1961, amounted to nothing very much but, without prompt action, it could have been even more serious than the present one.

I returned home to my student flat late one night to find the door locked and bolted. I rang and banged and shouted and eventually my flat-mate, Taffy, appeared on the balcony.

‘You can’t come in, mate.’

‘Stop messing around, Taffy and let me in.’

‘Can’t, it’s smallpox.’

‘There’s no smallpox here. Let me in.’

Lockdown for 100 days
Lockdown for 100 days

‘But there is in South Wales and in Bradford. We are possible contacts because we spent the weekend in South Wales. We are in quarantine for 10 days and must have no contact with anyone. Public Health sends someone around with food which they leave at the door.’

‘We? What do you mean, we?’

‘Me and Hazel.’ Hazel was his new girlfriend.

‘You mean you are both holed up in there for 10 days with nothing to do? You won’t be bored then. Have you two er…?’

‘No.’

‘Well, you had better get on with it, Taffy, you could both be dead next week.’ They ‘got on with it’ for the next 55 years until one of them died.

Details of romantic red bedding

We students were put to work after attending lectures on smallpox. A retired doctor from the Indian Medical Service, the only person who had dealt with the disease told us about it and showed his horrendous photographs. The death rate of smallpox was about 30%.

We had our vaccination status checked, and some were re-vaccinated. Then we were taught how to vaccinate and sent out around Bristol to do vaccination clinics. A year earlier, we had been taught about epidemics. The principles are to act quickly, not today, not after lunch, but now. Isolate the index case or cases, quarantine their contacts and check for any other cases. Then use the diagnostic tests available and do not mind false positives, it is far better than missing one.

Vaccine background with syringes

Smallpox vaccine was available for us and with that, and prompt action, especially in South Wales and Bradford, the total deaths amounted to only 40.

This time, with COVID-19, I am in the shielded group. I remain at home waiting for the lessons I learned the 1950s to be put into action. Now, one-third of a year has passed since the World Health Organisation (WHO) warning of a pandemic, and we are told we will have a ‘world-beating’ track and trace system next month. It would be nice to have had one that worked back in March.

Coronavirus - SARS

The nature of this new virus, called SARS-CoV-2, is known. It is one of a large family of Coronaviruses and causes a disease known as COVID-19. The clinical description of COVID-19 was detailed in the world medical literature by January 31st by Chinese doctors. The World Health Organisation warned of its ability to spread, the death rate was 1% but 15% in the elderly.

The WHO issued a warning on January 4th of a possible pandemic. On January 30th, immediately after Dr Tedros, director-general of WHO, had visited President Xi Jinping of China, a PHEIC notice (Public Health Emergency of International Concern) was issued. On the next day, we enacted Brexit but did nothing about the PHEIC.

Young male doctor in mask

Herd immunity was proposed as the strategy to deal with it. But with a death rate of 1%, one does not even need GCSE maths to work out that the UK, with a population of 67 million, could expect over half a million deaths.

What was my profession of medicine doing? Why did they not act? Not long previously, they had run a simulated pandemic exercise. What they learned from this about supplies of PPE, bed availability and ventilators was ignored.

China knew what to do, so did Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, New Zealand, Germany. Italy warned us, the advice from the WHO on January 30th was sound but ignored. There was a vacuum where we needed leadership. I suppose that we should be thankful that we are not like the USA where COVID-19 was put down as a touch of ‘flu, something you could put right with a little disinfectant. After the PHEIC the US cut the funding of the WHO.

Medical face mask

 

What should I, and people like me, do now? People are fed-up with lockdown and are making their own decisions to abandon it and social distancing. Can I rely on government advice? They have been less than truthful with us, deceitful might be more accurate.

By March 23rd, the day of lockdown, there were about 1500 confirmed cases per day and 200 daily deaths in the UK. That was the reason for lockdown. Lockdown limited deaths to about 1000 per day and new cases to 4000 at maximum in April. Now the figures have declined. Will there be a second wave? Almost certainly. Are we planning for one?

 Coronavirus - COVID-19 - Hand sanitizer gel - coronavirus - covid-19

Today, June 14th, there are about 1500 new cases and 200 deaths, the same as on March 23rd. And the virus has not changed. We have no vaccine and no specific treatment. The decline in cases and deaths seems to be flattening out around this level. Is this a good enough reason to suspend lockdown, to reduce social distancing? WHO does not think so.

I’m going to follow the science and stay in lockdown and maybe live a little longer.

The rates of COVID-19 per 100,000 population are: Eastleigh, 204; Southampton, 239; Winchester, 296. The highest rate is in Barrow in Furness, 843; and the lowest is Torridge, 53. Barrow is nearly twice as high as the next highest; there may be some anomaly there.

A stage 1 trial of a vaccine from Imperial College should start today with 120 subjects.

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google
  • Email

Related posts:

Christmas Then and Now growing up in Chandler's Ford Martin NapierGrowing up in Chandler’s Ford: 1950s – 1960s: Witnessing My First Powerboat Race (Part 11) growing up in Chandler's Ford Martin NapierGrowing up in Chandler’s Ford: 1950s – 1960s: the Joy of Powerboat Race and Cycling (Part 12) Celebrate the 80th Anniversary of the Spitfire Chandler’s Ford from the 1980s – Part 2
Tags: Chandler’s Ford community, community, Covid-19, Eastleigh, medicine, science, storytelling

About Mike Sedgwick

Retired, almost. Lived in Chandler's Ford for 20 years. Like sitting in the garden with a beer on sunny days. Also reading, writing and flying a glider. Interested in promoting science.

I work hard as a Grandfather and have a part time job in Kandy, Sri Lanka for the winter months. Married to a beautiful woman and between us we have two beautiful daughters and 3 handsome sons.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. David Lamb says

    June 16, 2020 at 10:26 am

    I recall a smallpox escape in 1978. I took a post at the University of Birmingham with the intention of continuing work I had started at Manchester on human organ transplantation. I was situated in a building, formerly described as the Department for Infectious Diseases. It had a notorious past involving an escape of small pox virus which led to a couple of deaths including the tragic suicide of the director. Apart from a media ballyoo the problem was dealt with and smallpox virus was removed to Atlanta in the US where it remains today under armed guard.

    I covered the story in one of the blogs I contribute to.

    I cannot believe neither the politicians nor the scientists regarding the China Virus who appear to be tightly connected to each other and certainly not the WHO, led by a politician with no medical qualifications, which is too close to China’s Communist regime.

    From the media during the past few days the problem is all about British racism and scientific experts condemning the the government’s refusal to publish details about this aspect. Nothing like a crisis to develop a political agenda.

    As for me, I will adopt a version of Pascal’s wager and remain in some form of lockdown.

    Reply
  2. Mike Sedgwick says

    June 17, 2020 at 12:02 pm

    Good news since this was written. Dexamethasone is now known to save a few lives in COVID.
    I, too, remember the tragic lady who was the last ever case of smallpox. Tragic that she died of it.
    I don’t know about Dr Tedros being too close to China. He has been cut off from USA funding. He has scientific qualifications in infectious diseases but not a medical degree. Nottingham educated, I believe, though he is Ethiopian.
    China’s repressive regime is ideally suited to impose total lockdown and quarantine at short notice.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Search

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to Chandler's Ford Today blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Archives

Top Posts & Pages

Wellie’s Gardening Tips for July 2025

Categories

Tags

am writing arts and crafts books Chandler's Ford Chandler's Ford Today Chandler’s Ford community charity Christianity Christmas church community creative writing culture Eastleigh Eastleigh Borough Council education entertainment event family fundraising gardening gardening tips good neighbours Hiltingbury Hiltingbury Road history hobby how-to Joan Adamson Joan Adelaide Goater local businesses local interest memory Methodist Church music nature news reading review social storytelling theatre travel Winchester Road writing

Recent Comments

  • David Powling on Chandler’s Ford School Days: 1970s – 1980s by Betty Brooking
  • Ray Fishman on Supporting Marie Curie – Great Local Contributions
  • Linda pickering on Pine Road Cemetery (part 1)
  • Catherine Baynham on Charles Baynham in Chandler’s Ford
  • C. Klingler on Gladly, the Cross-eyed Bear and Other Mondegreens
  • Robbie Sprague on VE Day – Thursday 8th May 1945

Regular Writers and Contributors

Janet Williams Allison Symes Mike Sedgwick Rick Goater Doug Clews chippy minton Martin Napier Roger White Andy Vining Gopi Chandroth Nicola Slade Wellie Roger Clark Ray Fishman Hazel Bateman SO53 News

Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal by Joan Adelaide Goater

Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal by Joan Adelaide Goater

Growing up in Chandler’s Ford: 1950s – 1960s by Martin Napier

Growing up in Chandler’s Ford: 1950s – 1960s by Martin Napier

My Memories of the War Years in Chandler’s Ford 1939 – 1945 by Doug Clews

My Memories of the War Years in Chandler’s Ford 1939 – 1945 by Doug Clews

Chandler’s Ford War Memorial Research by Margaret Doores

Chandler’s Ford War Memorial Research by Margaret Doores

History of Hiltonbury Farmhouse by Andy Vining

History of Hiltonbury Farmhouse by Andy Vining

My Family History in Chandler’s Ford and Hursley by Roger White

My Family History in Chandler’s Ford and Hursley by Roger White

Do You Remember The Hutments? By Nick John

Do You Remember The Hutments? By Nick John

Memory of Peter Green by Wendy Green

Memory of Peter Green by Wendy Green

History of Vickers Armstrongs (Supermarine) Hursley Park by Dave Key

History of Vickers Armstrongs (Supermarine) Hursley Park by Dave Key

Reviews of local performances and places

Reviews of local performances and places

Copyright © 2025 Chandler's Ford Today. WordPress. Log in

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.