Images of the past four months – schools, shops and workplaces closed. Transport limited to a great extent. Train journeys, plane journeys, foreign travel all restricted or banned altogether. Car journeys discouraged except where essential for work. Masks mandatory on public transport, now in shops too. Public gatherings restricted or banned altogether… an end to cultural and sporting events, churches and their equivalent all closed. Family members living in separate households kept apart. Most of the 46,299 victims to date denied contact with their loved ones as they lay dying in hospital or old peoples’ home … and 46,299 is an awful lot of people – imagine a whole football stadium full. Nearly everybody will know of at least one person who has had Coronavirus and, at worst, has died from it. We in the SOF Network have lost at least one of our number to this scourge, perhaps more?
So, we’ve all been in it together, pulling our weight – clapping on Thursday nights, for the first few weeks at least, for the embattled NHS – the Blitz Spirit – or have we? Most of the country has taken warnings, advice and instruction quite seriously, but against this we have seen the flaunting of rules by seemingly irresponsible minorities – like the hordes of young people, mostly without masks or any serious social distancing, seen drinking in Soho recently, following re-opening of bars across the country. Demands continue from selfish sun-seekers that they be allowed their customary foreign holiday despite the risks these may bring, both in terms of illness they might take abroad or return with, harming the rest of us.
Despite some pieces of decisive leadership, the past few months have not passed without much confusion. Official advice has sometimes wavered, sometimes changed altogether from one day to the next, even between one politician and another, as have the personal examples set by our leaders and their advisers. Wear face masks, don’t wear face masks, do wear face masks, and so on. Expert advice has been alternately cited in defence of Government clampdowns, or dismissed when recommending more draconian measures perhaps, likely to be too unpopular.
Precautions on a large scale can prove to be a mixed blessing it is true. Those earning a living from tourist areas, desperate to restore their livelihoods, understandably want us to start visiting again, en masse. When the crowds do descend however, the locals are horrified at the numbers and the risk this brings of a new surge in the infection. So, damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Similarly, shops are re-opening, taking back staff where possible, only to find that the customers are not returning in sufficient numbers to make trading viable and it is suggested that many of these same staff members may be made redundant … talk is of numbers in the millions! Added to the effect of reduced ‘footfall’ are the conversion of many (either through necessary ‘self shielding’ or growing personal preference) away from physical shopping trips to searches and purchases online … another nail in the coffin of the high street undoubtedly, speeded on by Covid.
Government placebos such as furloughing of employees, extending school meals across the summer, interim grants to businesses and the arts all mask the likely longer-term effect of the virus… Only the strongest enterprises will bounce back fully if at all. The most recent ‘perk’, of up to £10 off each meal out, aimed at reinvigorating the economy, will only tempt those rich enough to dine out in the first place.
Perhaps we should have acted more responsibly sooner in the crisis, echoing the more stringent measures taken across Europe. Though I doubt any community could have matched the stoicism exhibited by the inhabitants of the Derbyshire village of Eyam. When faced by the Bubonic Plague back in 1665 they isolated themselves entirely from the outside world for 14 months, to protect neighbouring villages. It is said that of the original population of 350 as many as 260 died during that particular lockdown.
John Pearson is editor of Portholes and former chair of SOF trustees.