The Fortnight That Changed the UK

The covid-19 timeline reshaping the nation

A month ago, the parks, bars and restaurants were full as the normal British rain poured down. Now, the streets are empty and millions of people sit in their homes as coronavirus takes a grip of the UK.

So, how did we get here? We knew what was happening in China and we were hearing rumblings about how badly Italy was being affected, but nothing much changed. We could still go to bars and restaurants, attend football matches and supermarkets were fully stocked. Apart from being told to wash our hands more, we didn’t hear much.

The first real signs of widespread coverage and public engagement occurred on March 11 when WHO declared covid-19 a pandemic. The Prime Minister — who now has the virus — came out with a very sombre message, warning us that many lives would be lost. Then panic set in. A lot of people chose to stay in over that weekend and those that could work from home did so.

Some businesses took immediate action to reduce their staff, needing to cut costs as they predicted a miserable outlook for the near future. Others, understandably, wanted to prolong their operations. Sectors employing huge numbers of people tried to continue as normal while taking the necessary precautions.

In fact, the flights for my planned Easter holiday — to Northern Italy of all places — weren’t cancelled until March 16. The same evening, Boris Johnson announced that all non-essential travel should be stopped and urged people, and their employers, to introduce home-working at scale.

The next day, the government announced it would provide daily briefings to update the country on the progress and answer questions from the press surrounding future actions. The Chancellor also laid out an unprecedented financial plan, providing £300 billion in support and guaranteeing workers up to 80% of their salary to ease the worries of job cuts. Unfortunately, a lot of people had already been let go, creating uncertainty about their future.

Sweeping changes came into play during the rest of the week. Universities and schools were closed and exams were cancelled, and gyms and restaurants were told to shut until further notice. Then, on March 20, they closed the pubs. If you want to reinforce the severity of a situation in the UK, that’s the way to make your point.

A week ago today, March 23, an official lockdown was introduced. Only those who absolutely can’t work from home, and key workers, are to be outside. Those wanting to exercise once a day or need to go to the supermarket are allowed but must keep their distance from anyone that doesn’t live in the same house.

Even so, the numbers are still climbing. On March 14th, there were around 2,000 confirmed cases on covid-19 in the UK. At the time of writing, government data shows there are 19,522 confirmed cases and 1,228 deaths. It’s expected that the worst is yet to come. On Saturday, Stephen Powis — National Medical Director of the NHS — said that keeping deaths under 20,000 will be a good result for us.

Where we go from here remains in question. One week into lockdown and we’re still seeing videos of packed tubes in rush hour. The combination of the inability to work from home and a heavily reduced transport service makes keeping a safe distance impossible.

Supposedly, the lockdown is to last three weeks and will be reviewed towards the end of that time. But, even the most optimistic of us would agree that it will probably last a lot longer. The Deputy Chief Medical Director — Dr Jenny Harries — said last night that measures could last up to six months. This doesn’t necessarily mean a national lockdown, but social distancing rules might stick around for the foreseeable future.

The virus has caused a number of, what I believe to be, lasting changes. Firstly, the government will always face challenges on funding in the future. On issues that require huge investment — like increased funding for the NHS, homelessness and climate change — we’re often told that ‘we can’t afford it’. That’s a difficult excuse to fall back on now, given we mobilised £300 billion in a few days. Of course, these are exceptional circumstances and we can’t just magic money out of thin air but this situation has proven that if a government wants to do something, it will find a way.

Second, it’s taught people to be kinder and more appreciative. Whether that’s with family and friends, or for our amazing key workers, we’ve become more intentional with our communication and expressed a level of gratitude that we haven’t seen for a long time. From helping vulnerable people by picking up shopping or medicine to supporting struggling local businesses and clapping our health workers, we’ve learned quickly not to take things for granted again.

Lastly, and most importantly, the country has come together. The vast majority of the country are indoors and doing their part so that those outdoors can continue with critical work. Last week, the NHS called for 250,000 volunteers. In 24 hours they received applications from 405,000 people, that figure now sits at over 750,000.

Although the situation is tough, it’s bringing the best out of people. For the best part of four years, we’ve faced considerable division on Brexit but now those worries appear a distant memory. It’s proven that when times are difficult, we can do better united than against each other.