© Leanne Boulton, All Rights Reserved

Street photography from Glasgow, Scotland.

Previously unpublished shot from September 2020. Caught in mid stride his shape reminds me of Manic Miner or Jet Set Willy but... that's showing some of my age. Enjoy!

Tags:   Leanne Boulton people streetphoto Scotland urban street candid street photography candid street photography street life social landscape old man walk walking stride alleyway alley timing face mood feeling atmosphere Covid-19 coronavirus virus pandemic disease protection health mask facemask tone detail depth of field natural light outdoors city scene human life living humanity society culture lifestyle Canon Canon 5D Mk III 70mm EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM black white black&white b&w mono black and white monochrome Glasgow UK

© All Rights Reserved

© Leanne Boulton, All Rights Reserved

Street photography from Glasgow, Scotland.

This was captured in August 2020 before I had a single Covid-19 vaccine dose but, because of other simple public health measures, it was 'relatively' safe for me to continue to shoot street occasionally. Current rates are falling but are still at 1 in 40 infected in Scotland and any vaccine immunity now is almost entirely gone.

The government tells us it is all over. They "got Covid done"! We can get back to our lives! These are all narratives pushed by far right millionaire driven think-tanks. They want the workers in their offices and do not care, at the moment, of the human cost. The ERG, HART and similar have been pushing against scientific advice from SAGE and IndieSAGE from the start and the Government have been eager to take their advice above all else. Here are some important figures to remember:

England only - COVID hospital admissions in the first 60 days of summer for:

2022: 78,029
2021: 34,740
2020: 6,566

England only - COVID deaths* in the first 7 weeks of summer for:

2022: 6,344
2021: 2,202
2020: 1,144

*deaths where Covid-19 is mentioned as a contributory factor on the death certificate

Up to 14th Aug 2022 for the whole UK:

1 in 69 people have been admitted to hospital with Covid
1 in 331 has died of Covid (as a cause)
1 in 37 is suffering from Long Covid
1 in 3 people have been officially registered as a case at least once
an estimated 110,000 people have left the workforce due to Long Covid

These numbers are unsustainable!

Covid-19 is not a simple case like a cold or flu even though many are only affected like this during the initial acute infection phase. Covid-19 is more akin to an airborne AIDS because it ravages the bodies immune system and makes you more susceptible to a multitude of further infections. Degradation of immunity is long lasting and may even be permanent.
Covid-19 is more akin to a thrombotic vasculitis and causes widespread blood vessel damage resulting in increased risks of strokes, heart attacks and pulmonary embolism. Damage to all organs can occur from microclots. Recent studies have found that almost all infected children have shown permanent blood vessel damage.

Be on the right side of history and protect yourself from Covid-19 by wearing a well fitting N95/N99 mask (FFP2/FFP3) in indoor spaces. Insist on adequate ventilation and filtration of indoor air. Keep your distance outdoors. These are not restrictions, they are protections.

Stay safe my Flickr friends. Stay safe.

50,000 Covid deaths, countless lost hours of work, Long Covid and a collapsing health system. That is what "Living with Covid" looks like.

Tags:   Leanne Boulton people streetphoto Covid-19 urban street candid portrait portraiture street photography candid street photography candid portrait street portrait street life woman female face eyes expression mood feeling atmosphere mobile phone mask face mask surgical mask coronavirus virus pandemic disease protection health Buchanan Street tone detail depth of field bokeh natural light outdoors city scene human life living humanity society culture lifestyle Canon Canon 5D Mk III 70mm EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM black white black&white b&w mono black and white monochrome Glasgow Scotland UK

© All Rights Reserved

© Leanne Boulton, All Rights Reserved

Street photography from Glasgow, Scotland.

Captured in August 2020 when Covid infection levels were very much lower than the current ONS estimated 1 in 20 in the UK.

Between England and Scotland we currently have 1,000 Covid deaths per week. (*Covid-19 mentioned on the death certificate means that it is a contributory factor in the death).
That's 52,000 per year, ongoing!

Covid-19 hospitalisations for ENGLAND only, where treatment for the disease is required whether admitted for it or if it was hospital acquired for first 6 weeks of summer:

2020: 5,558
2021: 21,737
2022: 62,381

In the UK:
1 in 70 people have been admitted to hospital with Covid
1 in 332 has died of Covid as a cause
1 in 37 had or is suffering Long Covid
1 in 3.2 people have been officially registered as a case at least once

An estimated 80,000 people have left the work force due to Long Covid

Stay safe my Flickr friends and I wish you all a fantastic weekend of photography - wherever you are.

Tags:   Leanne Boulton streetphoto urban street candid portrait portraiture street photography candid street photography candid portrait street portrait street life man male face expression mood feeling eyes grey work hometime shirt tie mask facemask surgical mask pandemic virus Covid-19 coronavirus infectious disease tone detail depth of field bokeh natural light outdoors city scene human life living humanity society culture lifestyle people Canon Canon 5D Mk III 70mm EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM colour Glasgow Scotland UK

© All Rights Reserved

© Leanne Boulton, All Rights Reserved

Street photography from Glasgow, Scotland.

We are NOT "post-pandemic" or "post-Covid" and I am sick of hearing this from main stream media, politicians and prominent businesses.

First, we cannot unilaterally declare that a pandemic is over due to the very nature of a pandemic.

Second, just looking at the month of JUNE to date, we have 10X the number of directly attributed Covid hospitalisations for 2022 than we did for the same period in 2021 or 2020.

Hospitalisations are rising 30-40% week on week at the moment. Why? We're facing a wave of Omicron BA.5 which is even more infectious than previous Omicron variants but, worryingly, doctors are reporting that it is infecting lower down into lung tissue as we saw with the Alpha wave. Secondary pneumonia is now a major issue again and hospitalisations are rising across ALL age groups. Omicron evades vaccine immunity and there is NO natural immunity to Omicron. People are being re-infected with Omicron with repeated infections reported as being worse and worse.

Ignoring the acute risks of Covid, of which there are many, there are now multiple wide ranging and conclusive studies by institutions such as Harvard that are showing that every single Covid infection, no matter how 'mild', is causing permanent internal damage.

Damage to the brain similar to that in Parkinson's Disease.
Damage to the pancreas causing onset of Diabetes.
Damage to lung tissue.
Damage to the gastrointestinal tract.
Damage to cardiovascular endothelium and clotting factors resulting in a 3X increased risk in heart attacks, strokes and pulmonary emboli for at least 6 months post-acute infection.
More importantly, it is causing degradation of your immunity. SARS2 causes reduction in your immunity and damage to T-cells similar to that of HIV, leaving you wide open to opportunistic infections that you would be unable to fight.
SARS2 infection prematurely ages you! Telomeres are the end protections of our chromosomes that you can think of as being similar to the end plastic pieces of a shoelace. These gradually degrade over our lifetimes as part of the ageing process. It is a known quantity and studies have shown that even mild infections of Covid are causing damage to the telomeres of our chromosomes equivalent to 10 years of biological ageing.

Early in the Covid story some people openly called it 'airborne AIDS' because some of the genetic code of the virus is identical to HIV. It may have been tongue-in-cheek at the time but Covid is causing this kind of damage.
Ask yourself why we have rising infectious diseases such as viral hepatitis in children, monkeypox and polio to name a few. We have a massive population with post-Covid immune deficiency.
Even the Bank of England has reported that we are facing a collapse of economy with increasing rates of 'long Covid' affecting the workforce.

All of this information is easy to find in peer reviewed medial journals at revered institutions such as Harvard or in The Lancet. SARS2, as it's predecessor SARS, is a multi-system disease spread by microscopic airborne aerosols.

Keep yourself safe because your government does not care about you.

Protection is not rocket science. Mask in poorly ventilated places and when indoors with an FFP2/3 well fitting mask. Open windows for ventilation and demand that workplaces and public facilities install suitable HEPA filtration. Washing your hands helps against many diseases but it will not stop you from catching Covid.

Tags:   Leanne Boulton people streetphoto Scotland urban street candid portrait portraiture street photography candid street photography candid portrait street portrait street life woman female girl face eyes expression mood feeling wavy hair flowing breeze mask facemask surgical mask virus pandemic Covid-19 SARS-Cov-2 coronavirus infectious disease omicron documentary tone detail natural light outdoors city scene human life living humanity society culture lifestyle Canon Canon 5D Mk III 70mm EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM black white black&white b&w mono black and white monochrome Glasgow UK

© All Rights Reserved

© Leanne Boulton, All Rights Reserved

Street photography from Glasgow, Scotland.

Previously unpublished shot from February 7th 2020. By this time in the year most people would have been aware of the pandemic making it's way to the UK. I had seen it coming from mid January and was trying to capture as many shots as I could while I could - I knew that it would not be safe for long.

The pandemic is far from over. Hospitalisations are rising rapidly, with a lead start in Scotland sadly, and worryingly the rises are being seen in older people and those who are vulnerable. It's almost as if vaccine immunity is waning - who could have foreseen that! (/sarcasm)

We are averaging between 130-250 deaths per day where Covid is mentioned on the death certificate (this means that it is the cause or a contributory factor). This is far in excess of that you would expect with season flu. Consider that the best guess from latest ZOE study figures is that 1 in 18 are infected in Scotland just now and 10-30% will suffer long Covid. The long lasting morbidity burden is starting to dawn on Governments and people around the world who had not given it a thought previously. Covid is NOT a respiratory disease. It spreads through aerosols entering into the respiratory tract and mucous membranes but it directly affects the cardiovascular endothelium, platelet action and neurotransmission. It is a deeply nasty virus. This is a virus of blood clots - in your brain, heart, lungs and other internal organs. Risking infection just is not worth it.

Stay safe my Flickr friends. FFP2 or FFP3 masks in enclosed spaces, ventilate, isolate if infected and, lastly, wash you hands often.

Tags:   Leanne Boulton people streetphoto Scotland urban street candid portrait portraiture street photography candid street photography candid portrait street portrait street life old man male face eyes expression mood emotion feeling coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic virus disease worry concern fear tone texture detail depth of field bokeh natural light outdoors isolation city scene human life living humanity society culture lifestyle Canon Canon 5D Mk III 70mm EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM black white black&white b&w mono black and white monochrome Glasgow UK

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