Lockdown: re-entering a 2D world
“Here we go again,” said
Hamish McRae in The Independent. England is back in lockdown, and this time, unlike in the spring, we must endure it without the “redeeming bonus of brilliant weather”. It’s a truly gloomy prospect, agreed India Knight in The Sunday Times. The first lockdown did at least have some “novelty value”, making the restrictions easier to bear for those of us fortunate enough to escape any serious health effects from the virus. It brought neighbourhoods together, and inspired an army of volunteers to come forward to offer help to the vulnerable. “Remember the pride and fervour with which we banged pots for the NHS?” There was a feeling that we were rising to a challenge that could bring about positive societal changes. How different the mood is today. We’re now weary of being cooped up either with our families or alone. Zoom chats hold less allure. And to add to the gloom, there’s the dispiriting sense that nobody in charge really has a clue how to beat this virus.
We’ve been inundated with graphs, charts and figures throughout the Covid pandemic, said Elizabeth Oldfield on UnHerd. But this mass of data on infection rates and the like has had “a numbing” effect; it has diverted attention from the emotional impact of what we’re living through, and its less obvious health effects. The BBC partially redressed the balance this week with a radio programme –
– based on interviews recorded during the first lockdown. A child talked of wanting the world to turn back into 3D because “2D isn’t as good. You can’t touch anything.” Another interviewee, who had been cut off from his regular trips to an NHS well-being centre, said: “I won’t starve, so to speak, but you can starve in other ways.”
Words
Isolation, In Your
We mustn’t lose sight of this aspect of the crisis, agreed Will Tanner in The Daily Telegraph. The first lockdown took a heavy toll on the public’s mental health. The number of people suffering moderate to severe depression doubled, according to the ONS; in June, the chief statistician warned that the equivalent of 19 million people were reporting high levels of anxiety. This sort of thing can’t be tackled with technocratic, nationwide fixes. What’s required is “pastoral care” of the kind that only charities, community groups and local councils can provide. More government funding would help those bodies carry out that role. “As we approach a long, cold winter, possibly away from our families over Christmas, we need a more decentralised, civic and compassionate approach to get us through to next year.”