EMILY ANDRE

OUR COLUMNIST REFLECTS ON LIFE AFTER LOCKDOWN AND HER PERSONAL EXPERIENCE OF THE CORONAVIRUS

The government has confirmed that from this weekend, the two-metre rule will be dropped in favour of a one-metre plus approach. This means pubs, restaurants, hotels and hairdressers can open in England and two households can meet indoors and stay overnight as long as social distancing is practised. The onemetre plus rule means that in places like shops you’ll have to use measures to reduce virus transmission such as masks. The first thing I want to do is go out for dinner – we’ve really missed our date nights. We would also love to go to our home in Cyprus but, at the time of writing this, the borders still aren’t open to travellers from the UK.

As long as it’s done safely and gradually, to me, easing the lockdown is needed to get the country back on track. The impact of lockdown has been massive, not only on the economy and each individual’s finances, but people’s mental and physical health, too. The scientists are suggesting there is a good chance of a second spike, but it’s just a case of when and how we manage it. Staying in lockdown long term isn’t a feasible solution. Having said that, the pictures of people crowding the beaches are worrying. It’s important that as lockdown is easing we continue to stick to social distancing rules. The government has received a lot of criticism, but I don’t think we’ll ever know, if the rules had been different, whether the outcome would have been any different. We just have to have faith and see how things go.

The news also means my brother Tom can soon open the clinic that he co-owns in Bristol called Azthetics, where they do nonsurgical cosmetic treatments. He never got to open properly, so we can’t wait to go down there to support him as it’s been a tough time for businesses. I’m really proud of him because as soon as lockdown happened he went back to working for the NHS and he’ll continue to do so until the clinic opens.