All,

A couple of people have asked whether we plan to change policies around WFH, etc, in light of the current mild flare up in Covid (and Covid anxiety) being experienced in the US and Europe. There are some alarming stories on the news, senior politicians jumping on both sides of the bandwagon, etc.

My personal approach since the Omicron data started to come out in December 2021 has been to do a real-time “replace” of the word “Covid” with the phrase “Common Cold” any time someone mentions it.

The rationale for the find and replace being first that in the hard data, deaths, hospitalisations, etc, Omicron strains were way milder that a typical flu, more in line with the cold. Second, a proportion, circa 1/3 of common cold viruses were already coronavirus strains, and third, given that Omicron/CV became “endemic” there was going to be seasonal flare ups every year for the rest of our lives, just like the common cold which has always been around. Finally, everyone has base natural immunity from Covid as with the common cold because most everyone has been exposed whether they realise it or not. It’s not a novel virus any more, just like other common cold variants.

It makes sense to call it for what it is: an endemic strain merged in with the rest of the common cold strains.

This simple linguistic find and replace had profound impacts on my anxiety levels. The word “Covid” is associated with the biggest drawn out community stress event of our lifetime. It summons deep seated trauma for a lot of people, a lot of it warranted, stress, bereavement, loved ones experiencing horrible deaths in isolation. It is what is called a “trigger” word for a lot of us. Natural that it causes a spike in anxiety.

On the other hand, the term “common cold” conjures up images of a sniffle, maybe with a headache, sore throat, runny nose, and in extreme cases a temperature. Reach for the vitamin C and a hot whiskey. Happens every year so don’t be surprised if you get it. No big deal.

So, to reframe the common questions implementing the find and replace…

– are we going to shut down the offices if there is a surge in the “Common Cold” in the autumn?
– are we doing to stop travel because of a surge in the “Common Cold” in the autumn?
– should everyone be doing a test for the “Common Cold” at the first sign of a sniffle?
– isolating, masks, lockdowns, mandates?.. For the Common Cold..?

You see what I’m saying.

Two things, first, as with all these MEMOs to reiterate that this is not health advice, I’m not a doctor, please do your own research, these opinions are purely my own and intended to be helpful. Second, as you know my view is that the best weapon or asset every person has in navigating the information era is their own brain and independent critical thinking skills. Don’t take what I say as truth, or anyone else for that matter.

Before drafting this MEMO I did check the raw data to ensure the latest variant hasn’t mutated into something nastier or cascaded around the world. Even the WHO data doesn’t suggest it is anything more than benign, there are a handful of cases in the US and Europe, no indication of illness any worse than the Omicron variants that have been floating about for the last 21 months. Common Cold.

I’ll let you know if something pops up in the data that necessities a rethink.

If you are suffering material residual Covid anxiety it is worth remembering that you can access counselling services through the company and/or the standard private health insurance.

Hope this helps.

Danny