Throughout the last two years, regulations and rules have changed frequently, suffocating the News with nothing but Covid updates and changes to rules including: new restrictions, U-turns and an immense amount of press conferences from the Prime Minister. As all of us are aware, the easiest thing to do is to remove the compulsory five day isolation period and roam around with covid particles left, right and centre. Since medical advise has now proved Covid draws parallels with the common cold and poses little danger, removing the isolation period should be simple.
You may assume this is the case, over the past two years there has been a large amount of mass hysteria in the media surrounding the severity of the virus, obviously to begin with no one was aware of the damage and the threat this could cause, particularly to the vulnerable members of society. However due to the over dramatisation of the virus, many people feel reluctant to go out while obtaining the virus. More importantly, employers are prohibiting employees from coming into work, restricting individuals from earning money as ‘legally’ they are allowed to work, but this is not happening in multiple businesses throughout the country. While it is assumed, employers who are enforcing this should still be forced to pay employees, in many cases this is not occurring, take a self-employed hairdresser, renting a chair in a salon, if they do not perform the service on a client they do not receive any income. Within reason they are self employed and ultimately the choice should be their own wether they go to work, however often business owners feel uncomfortable allowing them into the workplace, moreover so could the client. This being the case, thus results in them receiving no form of salary despite being completely entitled to attend work.
Due to the current climate of the relaxation of regulations, England are in a state of turmoil and inconsistency as each and every business have different rules making the relaxation of isolation unbalanced throughout the country.
It comes to no surprise that the British economy suffered, but so did vulnerably ill members of society, mental health across all ages, families and relationships. Very few people have benefitted out of this pandemic, perhaps in insignificant aspects of their lives but not entirely. Instead of approaching the relaxation of regulations from the perspectives of all challenges that were faced, the priority, obviously, was to boost the economy. Understandably, recovering the economy is of great significance as through global history there has been past experiences of economic difficulty such as ‘The Great Depression’ and the effects of hyperinflation after World War One. Additionally, if the economy weakens this often results in members of society being unable to maintain standards of living because of the fall in economic output, leading to a decline in goods and services and therefore there is less to consume. As a result, our economy is a vital part of our country since it provides us innately with the opportunity to trade, allowing any countries globally to access the resources they deem necessary in a natural disaster, or worst case a war. Finally, in order for any community to survive and grow, there must be employment opportunities in order to generate revenue and provide services. Therefore, the government’s desire to maintain and improve our economy after the pandemic is understandable.
But should the economy be placed at higher value than well-being?
Well-being is classified as the state of being comfortable, healthy and happy. For many English and global citizens, since the beginning of the pandemic there well-being has been affected immensely, wether that’s through: mental health, feeling uncomfortable in a close proximity to others or in social events or from a vulnerable persons perspective where they feel fearful and anxious to even step foot in a supermarket, something which previously required no predicament. Regardless of wether you have actually been consumed with the virus, every single person has been impacted by coronavirus. While some people obtained the virus without feeling to unwell and quickly resumed back to normal life, others unfortunately experienced hospitalisation, being in intensive care, ventilators and so much more. People are so prompt in assuming if you weren’t hospitalised or badly ill, that covid hasn’t affected you. It meant nothing. But this is not the case.
Thousands of people were unfortunate enough to lose loved ones, damage their mental health and relations with so many people due to the confinement to our houses and the lack of contact. The development of young children’s social skills are distorted along with them growing up with their lives dictating around washing their hands. That’s not the life for a five year old. This should not be a priority or even a thought which occurs to them. It is diminutive details like these which highlight the extent of the damage which has been done from this pandemic.
On a more serious level, mental health escalated consisting of a surge in suicide rates and issues surrounding weight spiralling. Not only in teenagers but throughout society, eating disorders soared with the effects of becoming unhealthy through binge eating or fasting. Not to mention, anxiety levels went through the roof. With so much uncertainty lingering about what would be announced next, what other aspects of your life could be restricted, but there was more to it than that. People were left concerned wether their family could survive from the governments self-employment grant of ninety-four pounds a week with no alternative to generate income, confined to their houses. For our youth, wether exams would go ahead or be cancelled, when and if they would be returning to school in the foreseeable future. Finally, everyone experienced the apprehension of transmitting the virus and the health of loved ones physically and mentally. The last two years has been an experience none of us ever imagined we would go through and the impacts from these experiences may sit with us for the rest of our lives.
While it may be easy for you to walk around with covid, think of the vulnerably ill, the deaths and all the things people missed out on in their life: last days of school, graduation, times with grandchildren, birthdays, weddings and the mourning of lost loved ones.
It is so easy to move on and forget about this dreadful experience, but consider others and the effects it has caused, five day isolation at home is not life changing compared to infecting a vulnerable person and their quality of life never being the same again.
