When I grew up in England, I was fifteen at the time, a movie called “Carry On Sergeant” came out and this sparked a British Carry On franchise that comprised thirty-one comedy motion pictures spanning form 1958 to 1978, plus a one off in 1992.

One was called “Carry on Regardless” and this perhaps should be revised (or re-titled “Carry On Virus”) seeing what is happening today with COVID-19 rampaging around the world.

Despite nearly 200,000 deaths worldwide and nearly 2.8 MILLION coronavirus cases confirmed, there are many people ignoring all the safety/distancing rules and are carrying on as normal, regardless……

And those members of the public that flout the traffic rules are having a field day…….

Yesterday, as I left home at the unearthly hour (for me. anyway) of 6:30am to go to Foster’s Supermarket (I am in the L-Z category and of ancient years so I have the privilege of avoiding the long wait in line to get admission) I was nearly killed by two motor cars.

I have to venture out on to The Linford Pierson Highway from a side turning. There is a slight bend in the Highway so it can be a “hit and miss” affair in the best of times to proceed after this bend.

Because of the lesser road traffic this Highway is now used as a Racing Track. There was one speck in the distance in the right hand lane going down the slight hill. It was only at the last second, and almost right onto where I was going to venture out, another speck in the left hand lane shot past me. The two specks were actually two cars racing each other.

I can only conclude they were both in a hurry to see if they could outrun the virus that was snapping at their car wheels.

Why? Why do persons take these risks?

If they were just harming themselves I could shrug it off and say “they have only themselves to blame”

Unfortunately that is not the case. They are a danger and a liability to all of us..

There is, unfortunately, a natural tendency for humanity to flout the rules, no matter what the price.To hell with the consequences!

Eleanor Cummins, writing in VOX, said:

“In recent weeks, people swarmed beaches around the world, from Florida to Bondi Beach in Australia. “If I get corona, I get corona,” one spring breaker told Reuters. “At the end of the day, I’m not gonna let it stop me from partying.” (He later apologized, calling his comment “insensitive.”)

Washington, DC, Metro officials practically begged riders not to visit the city’s iconic cherry blossoms, which they did anyway, in droves. Brits took to crowded pubs to chant “f*** coronavirus!” And one woman went viral when she tweeted about her defiant trip to a crowded Red Robin restaurant. “It was delicious,” she tweeted, “and I took my sweet time eating my meal. Because this is America. And I’ll do what I want.”’

It has been a long held piece of advice that we must “carry on regardless” even in a crisis.

But the old rules no longer apply. Planetary problems such as a pandemic or climate change are different, said Amy Fairchild, a public health ethicist and the dean of Ohio State University’s College of Public Health. “In this moment in time, ‘carry on’ could be a formula for disaster.”

I counter her use of the word “COULD” . Substitute the word “WILL”.

Please do NOT “carry on……. regardless”.