‘Let’s get back to normal!’
The following are extracts from a focus group hosted by James Johnson:
Q: WHAT DO YOU THINK OF GOVERNMENT’S CORONAVIRUS RULES?
ALEC, 61, CONSULTANT, LONDON, CONSERVATIVE They are confusing, unenforceable and people won’t take any notice of them. BRIAN, 68, RETIRED, LIVERPOOL, CONSERVATIVE It’s killing more people with cancer. Coronavirus is 40th on the list (of causes of death). People with heart conditions, strokes are all dying. We are saving people with coronavirus but the rest are dying from diseases we can control. AMIRA, (FEMALE) 30, SCHOOL ADMIN OFFICER, LONDON, LABOUR They don’t (match) the statistics. PAUL, 48, PROPERTY DEVELOPER, BIRMINGHAM, CONSERVATIVE They are patronising and unjust. DANIEL, 24, STUDENT, LONDON, CONSERVATIVE Confusing; people in government wouldn’t stick to them.
Q: WILL RULES WORK?
PAUL No. The virus has no limit on time, race, gender. [The authorities] think it will go away at ten o’clock when pubs shut, but it’s just spread among crowds getting wasted in the streets. BRIAN You can suppress it for a while but it’ll always break out again. STEPH, 38, CHARITY WORKER, LIVERPOOL, LABOUR We (already) tried lockdown, we have to get back to normality, how is a second lockdown going to be any different?
Q: WILL YOU FOLLOW NEW RULES?
AMIRA No. I’m very close to my family. I didn’t see them for six months in lockdown, I’m not doing it again. BRIAN We all followed the rules initially because we thought right, we’ve got to get rid of this virus. We’ve gone through all the pain of lockdown, now they want us to face another one. The consensus is they (the public) know it’s not going to work, it’s always going to break down. HOWARD, 23, ENGINEER, LIVERPOOL If you need to see your loved ones, see them. If you’re popping round for the sake of it – don’t.
ANGELA, 59, BIRMINGHAM, LABOUR
I wear a mask when I go out but I shall still see my family because my parents are elderly. I had a few months of not seeing them ... and I’m not doing that again. Everything else I’m going to act normal because mentally I couldn’t go through it again. DANIEL I would break it (lockdown) to see my family – for my mental health. PAUL Not really. If you need to see your loved ones, see them.
Q: WHAT SHOULD MINISTERS DO INSTEAD?
ANGELA Get on with it and be sensible, don’t mix in big crowds. Get back to normal as much as we can. DANIEL There should be a lockdown with very harsh penalties... for a short time. Then we could remove the virus and live how we want to.
Q: WHY HAS TRUST IN THE RULES COLLAPSED?
PAUL If the Queen won’t wear a mask, why should I bother? STEPH Dominic Cummings’ (behaviour) was disgusting, Matt Hancock put his arm round fellow MPs in the Commons. PAUL You have Cummings on a jolly, the woman (MP) who went from Scotland to London and back with the virus and isn’t being prosecuted. It’s a cop out. And they want to fine us! BRIAN The Mail said the average age of a Covid person dying is 82 years, the average life expectancy is 81 years, so who are we protecting? There’s good chance I would survive at 68.
Q: WOULD YOU HAVE A COVID VACCINE?
ANGELA I don’t believe in vaccines, wouldn’t have one. PAUL What happens if they bring one out that hasn’t been trialled, and in five years we’ve all developed side effects? We’ll all sue the Government because we were forced to have it. ALEC I will take it because it will be a worldwide vaccine.