The Mrs has left the radio on and I find myself listening to, the unimaginably bad, Women’s Hour on BBC Radio 4. Even the Mrs admits it is utter piffle and has now demanded that it be switched it off lest it make me even more angry with its utterly fake news. The show is all over a story today that the ONS has suggested that 1.3 million Brits have long covid. This, it concludes, is a great reason to go and have the booster jab although there is no evidence at all that it will stop anyone catching long covid from the very mild Omicron variant since it has been around for only a few weeks. The ONS survey has a key takeaway which the BBC loves as it allows it to indulge in praising the usual victims. Which professions suffer the highest rates of long covid?
You might have thought that it would be those who suffer the highest rates of covid such as bus drivers or security guards. Au contraire. It is some of those suffering far lower than average rates of catching the disease, those working in social services, healthcare and yes, of course, teaching who are massively over-represented among those claiming long covid. Maybe bedwetting, while WFH, causes long covid?
Those who have watched my seminal lecture at Bath Spa a few years ago in the BC (Before Covid) era will remember the data on sickness rates in the private sector vs the public sector. Folks like teachers and University Lecturers seem to have been more sick pre-covid and now massively more likely to develop long covid after having covid than those in other professions. No doubt it is the complete job security, fat pensions, way above average salaries and those massively long holidays that cause the stress inducing all this illness.
Or maybe they are just greedy and lazy bastards whose workshy antics make them incapable of gaining employment in the productive part of the economy.