Things are a-changing...

...but is it really a good thing?

Lockdown is over. Not really, but that is how so many of the population appear to be interpreting the latest relaxing of restrictions due on 4th July. Yet, even though there are businesses that still cannot reopen, even though there are restrictions for the businesses that can, why are so many seeing it as an effective end to the restrictions?

I'd argue it's because of the haphazard way in which the government has communicated throughout this crisis. In addition to the poor handling of those in senior positions being found to have gone against the restrictions. While the government has "moved on" from the Cummings affair, a large portion of the population hasn't forgotten. But let's not forget that Jenrick was also found to have taken the proverbial early on in lockdown, used his parents as a get-out clause and got off very lightly - he played on the sympathies of having parents living far away and the fact they were shielding. Those volunteers who were recruited to help people in such situations in their locality were put to really great use. Such great use that I have no idea how long they were used for - or even if they are still volunteering in their communities to support the vulnerable.

We still can't ignore the stubbornness of the English public in general. I have to specify English here, because restrictions in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have not caused such scenes as we saw recently on the south coast. The pictures reminded me of those front pages when I was a child, showing a large portion of the population taking advantage of a rare heatwave in the UK. Pictures where you questioned whether all the people you saw were actually standing/sitting/lying on actual sand. A situation that never appealed to me - there's something about personal space that I've always appreciated and it's a reason why the beach has never been my first choice of places to go on the few occasions when the weather hots up. In all honesty, I don't deal well with the heat, but I do like to enjoy it as much as possible and get into the outdoors to benefit from it.

So is lockdown over? Not at all. I have to go into school now and our students are maintaining a distance of 2m still. They are secondary age pupils and there will only be one week of lessons left after the reduction to "1m plus" so we're not changing anything until the return in September. Which, if you listen to the waffling of Gavin Williamson and the DfE, is an even bigger indication that the threat of Covid-19 will be disregarded come September 1st. I'm not sure where this virus is going, but it's not going to be in our communities.

There's another thing - lockdown measures, and other measures before it, were introduced to prevent the spread of the disease. More recently, I find myself questioning more and more how the risk of a second spike is so severe if the majority of the population has abided by the restrictions. If we have reduced the spread of the disease so much, and numbers of new cases are coming down, how is it such a danger following lockdown? Surely lockdown should have stamped out the disease over time? I believe the reason it hasn't is because too many of the population were too eager to go to DIY and hardware stores to have something to do. Too many of us didn't think twice about getting what we wanted online, putting pressure on couriers and delivery drivers to get our goods to us. Too many of us wanted to keep things as normal as possible, and were perhaps too stubborn to get creative to occupy ourselves.

Admittedly, I've had things delivered that I needed. I'm talking furniture that allowed me to use a room again and not have boxes and all manner of hoarded regalia scattered all over the place. It was due to be delivered right at the start of lockdown, and initially I cancelled it but after a couple of weeks I realised that for my own sanity I needed to place that order again. I have been very restrictive about non-essential purchases though - such as ordering stuff from Amazon or buying some new shoes online from one shop or another. Going without that hasn't stopped me from functioning normally. One thing I couldn't resist was ordering gifts for birthdays and anniversaries. I did feel that these occasions needed to be marked as normally as possible; for me that was sending a gift because I couldn't visit to spend time with those people instead.

I'm starting to feel less guilty about adding things to my basket now, but I haven't gone as far as checking out just yet. I feel like we need to focus on containing the virus some more, to make it safer for funerals to be attended by those that need to mourn, before we can order things for next day delivery without batting an eyelid. We have so many people that aren't able to say goodbye to loved ones, prolonging the grief process and for some making it that they may never fully have closure. It's bordering on inhumane and our mental health and counselling services in the UK were already over capacity before this crisis. I fear that it's these services that will be overwhelmed in the near future, in much the same way that the NHS was feared to be overwhelmed at times, but the funding and support for these services will not be provided in the same way. There won't be any emergency clinics set up to support those in need of counselling or mental health support. Yet, logistically, these would probably be easier to set up than the Nightingale hospitals that (in many ways thankfully) proved to be a waste of money. I want to see the government pledge support for these branches of the NHS in the same way they proffered "whatever it takes" to the front-line departments needing to deal with Covid patients - A&E departments, intensive care units. But ambulance services were notably left out when there was talk of being overwhelmed. Again, a service that was significantly overwhelmed in the first place.

There are clear patterns to what is happening now and the way in which those services were disregarded for so long before this crisis. We need a significant shift in where funds are directed and what is deemed an essential service to allow us to recover sufficiently. But it can't end with recovery. It must be ongoing, ideally with spare capacity, so that when demand increases due to an event such as Covid, we don't have to go into panic mode immediately. There will be time to plan. There will be time to allow us to be proactive rather than reactive to the evolving situation. We don't need to be in such a position that the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. All it takes is planning and funding, neither of which can be justifiably denied following the farcical approach to Covid.

So, is lockdown over? It really does depend who you ask and who you listen to. It also depends on how you interpret what they say. My interpretation is that common sense is not that common; we need to be reassured far more confidently that there is now a lower risk to be surrounded by strangers because otherwise people will think of themselves and carry on regardless. Which makes the efforts of those of us trying to protect ourselves and anyone with whom we come into contact a total waste of time.

Be kind. Stay safe.