Time to end clap for carers and think of the long term, says creator
The woman who started the Clap For Our Carers campaign says it is time to stop.
The Clap For Our Carers, or #Clapforourcarers, the campaign began ten weeks ago and has become a national show of solidarity with those on the frontline of coronavirus.
Thousands of Scots have joined millions across the UK every Thursday night at 8pm to show their appreciation for NHS staff, carers, shop assistants and all other key workers during the crisis.
Some have got inventive over the weeks. In Edinburgh a bagpiper played Scotland the Brave to a crowd of cheering residents while Leith’s Banana Flats held a mass singalong of Sunshine on Leith to give their thanks to dedicated healthcare workers.
But now Annemarie Plas, the woman from the Netherlands who started the campaign, has said she is stopping this week as she wants it to end “at its peak”.
Ms Plas said: “The reason why I thought it was good to end the series is because the positive impact that it has had right now, to maintain that, I thought it was important to stop when we still have that now.
“I had already noticed that people were using it in a different way to the intention it was created for.”
Despite its success, many feel Clap For Our Carers has served its purpose and efforts should now be focused on securing a national living wage for care workers and ensuring all staff have the correct PPE.
Ms Plas said: “I still believe in what we have been doing here. But I thought, if you want to do something in the long term with it, then I think it’s good to say we stop here.
“Although this is the last clap in the series, we are hugely excited about how we can build on Clap For Our Carers and the future that the campaign holds.”
The campaign, whch has been emulated in several European countries, was originally started in the UK as a one-off idea to support NHS staff on 26 March – three days after the UK went into lockdown.
However, it’s popularity saw it expanded to cover all key workers and it has continued to be held every Thursday since then at 8pm.
The shows of appreciation have got more extravagant, with messages projected on to buildings, airport runways taken over and displays from the public and emergency services on Westminster bridge drawing criticism over social distancing.
It has not been without its critics however – with some saying it was an empty display while medical staff were “overlooked and underpaid”.