Portsmouth News

We need more positivity if there’s a second lockdown

- ANNIE LEWIS

With a second lockdown imminent, many people are rightfully thinking how on earth we’re going to get through this again. When round one of coronaviru­s hit the UK like a tonne of bricks in March, the following weeks and months were terrifying but equally highlighte­d the good in humanity.

We all turned out on our doorsteps to clap for the NHS each week. Colourful hand-drawn rainbows appeared in windows up and down the country. National adverts told us we were in it together.

This was a real team effort. Everyone had their part to play, we were told repeatedly.

However we were warned about a second wave. Many were preparing for this to happen, perhaps not so soon. But it doesn’t make the prospect of another lockdown any less dreadful.

In April while the death toll rose, positivity seemed to seep from every platform. Newspapers, such as the one you’re reading, showered their pages with positive stories – ones where individual­s in our community went above and beyond for others.

In came Tom Moore with his £32m fundraiser for NHS charities. The old veteran showed us the good in the world.

Closer to home, artists took over billboards on Goldsmith Avenue, Fratton, to put a smile on people’s faces as they walked past the huge, encouragin­g messages.

Online, Joe Wicks and countless other fitness influencer­s used their platform – be it YouTube, Instagram or Facebook –to host live workouts for everyone to join.

Then there were cookalongs, so you could bake at the same time as thousands of other people. Zoom quizzes were next. Virtual gigs and stand-up comedy shows kept us distracted and entertaine­d.

But here we are again – and where is the rush of positivity and connection we once felt? Did we channel so much into the first wave that we have nothing new and exciting to explore? Is staying connected while we’re apart a thing of the past?

I hope not. Let’s work together again to get through this. We’ve done it once, so we can do it again.

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NHS rainbows in house windows.
Picture: Shuttersto­ck KEEP SMILING NHS rainbows in house windows.
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