I’m still cowering from Covid – despite the good news about train stations being ‘virus free’

Giving up the football and cowering in a breezy Scarborough is not my ideal ‘summer of fun’, but as I have no intention of learning to live with Covid, it’ll have to do, writes Sean O’Grady

‘I have tested positive for cowering, and there we are’ (Getty Images)

A fortnight on from so-called “Freedom Day” – such a silly name for it – and, in the memorable phrase of Sajid Javid, I’m still (mostly) cowering.

Network Rail say that their stations are sort-of Covid secure (no traces of the virus at four big stations or on trains running between the stations) but I’m not convinced. It only takes only one of the many Covid-infected people still in circulation to have a good old mask-free sneeze all over me, and I’m a goner – or at least at serous risk of being left with debilitating long Covid. So, no thanks, I’ll take the car, as usual.

So I feel almost as frit of Covid as I ever did, even though I’m double jabbed, take frequent lateral flow tests (to protect others), always wear a mask out and about, maintain social distance and use the hand sanitisers whenever I see them. I’ve given up disinfecting my groceries and no longer wear gloves, but that’s as far as my personal protocol as have been relaxed.

I’m still cowering, and I’m proud of it, though it hurts. I also know I’m a proper, real cowerer (if that’s a word) because of what you might call my “revealed preferences” – that is to say, the actual choices I make, as opposed to whatever ideas I’ve got in my head. So, this week I am being tempted.

I can still get along to the King Power stadium to watch Leicester City play Villarreal in a friendly match, and so far, yes, I’m cowering, still too frightened to purchase one of the very reasonably-priced tickets, including in the prestigious Keith Weller stand.

I feel terrible about this, for all the obvious reasons, and especially because I’ll be unable to see Leicester’s brilliant new signing Patson Daka, who I think we’ll all be hearing much more about in the coming years. But I can’t go because I’m conscious of the risks of contracting Covid in an environment where no “vaccine passports” or negative test is required for entry, and because I don’t want to give my possible infection unknowingly to others.

Therefore I have tested positive for cowering, and there we are. On the other hand, I am going to spend a few days away at the seaside (Scarborough, as it happens), and I’ll test myself for Covid before setting out. When I get to this jewel of a resort I’ll also ensure that I spend as much time as possible in the open air, because – of course – no vaccine passport or negative test is required by the hotel.

How much better life would be for all of us if we could choose between Covid-secure environments accessed with a vaccination passport and/or a negative Covid test, or those where we take more of a risk. They do this on cruise ships now, after all, and there’s talk of it in nightclubs and the like.

I suspect such “Covid-secure” places will slowly evolve out of consumer demand from us cowering types who’d be prepared to pay a premium for that added reassurance. For now, giving up the football and cowering in a breezy Scarborough is maybe not my ideal idea of a summer of fun, but as I have no intention of learning to live with Covid, it’ll have to do.