Developments in the United Kingdom over the last 48-72 hours indicate how, in a systemic breakdown crisis, worsening of any one aspect of the crisis triggers a further breakdown everywhere else. The out-of-control new strain of the virus in England caused Europe-wide measures to cut all travel with the U.K.; which led to huge lines of thousands of trucks unable to leave England for continental Europe; which caused panic buying and shortages in stores in the U.K.; and all of this nine days before the Brexit break between the U.K. and Europe is scheduled to go into effect.
There is clearly much that is not known about the new virus strain in the U.K., but government officials have already reported some alarming facts. The Guardian reported today that the British government’s Chief Scientific Adviser, Patrick Vallance, said the new variant was first seen in mid-September in London and Kent. By December, it had become the “dominant variant” in London; and by the week ending Dec. 9, it had accounted for 62% of cases in London, 59% of those in eastern England, and 43% in the southeast, Vallance reported.
British Health Secretary Matt Hancock on Dec. 20 warned, “It is going to be very difficult to keep it [the new strain] under control until we have the vaccine rolled out. We know with this new variant you can catch it more easily from a small amount of the virus being present.”
