Sunday 9th March 2025 is Covid Day of Reflection.

Galaxy

We should have taken responsibility for the welfare of children, and we didnt.

Yes.

It affected all ages but only those who took GCSEs just after lockdowns were given consideration.

www.theguardian.com/education/2024/apr/24/pupils-in-england-facing-worst-exam-results-in-decades-after-covid-closures-says-study

Not just England, I would think.

I don’t actually think you can say “well it’s my choice” when it comes to a virus. I don’t go to the cinema or meet with friends if I know I’ve got a bad cold, let alone a virus that could kill somebody else.

Galaxy

We should have taken responsibility for the welfare of children, and we didnt.

So true

We should have taken responsibility for the welfare of children, and we didnt.

GrannyGravy13

Our neighbours on one side work for NHS, a senior nurse and a clinical nurse manager.

Their house was party central throughout all lockdowns.

We have two lockdown GC babies, along with GC who were let down with online learning.

I will never let any government dictate who, when or how many people can access my home.

I was classified as vulnerable, my lungs, my life, my choice.

Yes, I was classed as vulnerable and took responsibility for myself.

FriedGreenTomatoes2

Weren’t we daft? Swings taped up, benches in the park like a crime scene, stupid useless porous masks, schools closed, ‘Save the NHS’. I could cry at the way we were coerced and manipulated. What are your ‘reflective thoughts’?

The BBC, Sky, the Press, Starmer, Sturgeon, Drakeford, Hancock, the teaching unions, Whitty and his idiot side kick whose name I can't remember, the Behavioural Insights Team, your curtain twitching neighbours, .... family bubbles, Rules of Six.

And the Great Barrington authors have been vindicated after all. And our stupid ‘National inquiry’ costing millions still rumbles on. And the Wuhan labs? Don’t get me started.

Oh dear.

And the Great Barrington authors have been vindicated after all.

I do think a balance needed to be found between trying to avoid unnecessary deaths and the mental health of the population, particularly our children. Most are resilient but some are still suffering from social anxiety due to the effects of lockdowns.

Imo during the pandemic we weren’t just responsible for our own lives but the lives of others. And I took that very seriously.

Our neighbours on one side work for NHS, a senior nurse and a clinical nurse manager.

Their house was party central throughout all lockdowns.

We have two lockdown GC babies, along with GC who were let down with online learning.

I will never let any government dictate who, when or how many people can access my home.

I was classified as vulnerable, my lungs, my life, my choice.

It's not a case of what would we have done, it's a case of learning from what happened, or what is the point.

FriedGreenTomatoes2

Weren’t we daft? Swings taped up, benches in the park like a crime scene, stupid useless porous masks, schools closed, ‘Save the NHS’. I could cry at the way we were coerced and manipulated. What are your ‘reflective thoughts’?

The BBC, Sky, the Press, Starmer, Sturgeon, Drakeford, Hancock, the teaching unions, Whitty and his idiot side kick whose name I can't remember, the Behavioural Insights Team, your curtain twitching neighbours, .... family bubbles, Rules of Six.

And the Great Barrington authors have been vindicated after all. And our stupid ‘National inquiry’ costing millions still rumbles on. And the Wuhan labs? Don’t get me started.

All very well in hindsight...
If it was all SO wrong...how would you have dealt with it?
What would YOU have done?
Did you go to work every day.. not knowing if you would come home at the end of your shift... or if the next patient would be someone you knew or loved?

Yes it was madness, maybe understandable but madness none the less. I am a bit ashamed that I didnt think more about what it would mean to lockdown. To children, to society, etc.

Allira

MayBee70

When my family first heard about what was happening in Italy we started protecting ourselves and, when it was necessary we locked down to protect ourselves and protect others. And, if it happened again we would do the same. Do people really have such short memories of the vast numbers of people that were dying, so little knowledge of the virus and, at the time no vaccine? And then, when there was a vaccine, the realisation that the vaccine would reduce the symptoms but not prevent further infections.

I heard about something strange happening in Wuhan late 2019 via people from there who were working in Australia. Everything was being kept secret and people in Wuhan were frightened.

Although he has since turned out to be a bit loony John Campbell was warning people in January 2020. And for a long time I found his advice invaluable.

Do you remember the " Italy" conversations? How it was supposed to be bad there due to multi generational living. Similar tale from Bradford.

It was madness. A picnic that wasn't a picnic. You must buy something if you touch it in a supermarket and so on!

Tragic for some people though.

MayBee70

When my family first heard about what was happening in Italy we started protecting ourselves and, when it was necessary we locked down to protect ourselves and protect others. And, if it happened again we would do the same. Do people really have such short memories of the vast numbers of people that were dying, so little knowledge of the virus and, at the time no vaccine? And then, when there was a vaccine, the realisation that the vaccine would reduce the symptoms but not prevent further infections.

I heard about something strange happening in Wuhan late 2019 via people from there who were working in Australia. Everything was being kept secret and people in Wuhan were frightened.

MayBee70

When my family first heard about what was happening in Italy we started protecting ourselves and, when it was necessary we locked down to protect ourselves and protect others. And, if it happened again we would do the same. Do people really have such short memories of the vast numbers of people that were dying, so little knowledge of the virus and, at the time no vaccine? And then, when there was a vaccine, the realisation that the vaccine would reduce the symptoms but not prevent further infections.

Exactly Maybee.
And if another dangerous virus caused a pandemic am pretty sure we would have to do the same thing again.
How else could we have protected the vulnerable?

When my family first heard about what was happening in Italy we started protecting ourselves and, when it was necessary we locked down to protect ourselves and protect others. And, if it happened again we would do the same. Do people really have such short memories of the vast numbers of people that were dying, so little knowledge of the virus and, at the time no vaccine? And then, when there was a vaccine, the realisation that the vaccine would reduce the symptoms but not prevent further infections.

Aside from the fraud allegations and partying at number 10 and all that other stuff we were told to do, there was genuine fear about the unknown until that day when they created the vaccines!
But the saddest thing is still those who got seriously ill and could not be visited and the grief of those left behind to mourn in isolation. It seems unbelievable now - but it was real.

I think some people are forgetting how many people got sick in those early weeks and many died. News from countries overseas ( Italy for instance) of high death rates even in younger people ( skiers in the alps) There was no known treatment at first- actually for quite a while. It took a while to work out who was most vulnerable. It was all very frightening. There was a lot of guessing. I worked in the nhs and we lost staff - mostly early on- before the risks ( eg to anaesthetists and cleaning staff) were better understood. Many of the people with severe long Covid were infected before vaccinations were invented. Yes some precautions- especially those affecting children- were over the top and others too late or mismanaged.
I will remember the friends colleagues and relative I lost and those who are still affected by long Covid or absent other health care.

I don’t think we were daft as you put it FriedGreenTomatoes2, because we were dealing with the unknown, and in those circumstances it is better to be over cautious. The next pandemic may be much worse, and we would be very grateful for what you see as being daft being enacted again.
So many people died, or had family members who died, and others are still living with long term effects, both physical and mental that I think a day of reflection is good for the country - it changed us all, whether we were directly affected or not.

Of course some people like Michelle Mone saw financial opportunities in others bad health but most decent people didn't. I don't have great hopes of the enquiry, but at least we should try and recoup some of the money that was grabbed by opportunists.

So it was daft to try and stop people dying was it?
It was an unknown situation, nothing similar for the previous hundred years. Maybe some people think they would have known exactly what to do for the best, but nobody really did.
Apart from the party animals in Westminster, most people tried to protect each other and, in my eyes, that is never "daft".
We should reflect on those who lost family and friends and we should reflect on our discovery of who exactly is necessary to keep society functioning.

On reflection it does seem ' daft ' !!
However it was a very very scary time, my family were fortunate - Covid did not take any of our loved ones. Sadly this was not the case for many families whose loved ones died alone and were alone at their funerals, absolutely devastating!!! I agree the drinks parties at no 10 were unforgivable! Having said that that this was a very new and frightening experience for them and us !! FGT I don't think we were manipulated, the safeguards were put in place to protect the public. There was a huge amount of goodwill , as for the speedy development of vaccine - I will be forever grateful! I recognize there has been problems with the vaccine but thank God we were able to have it.

No one has mentioned Johnson - maybe we don’t need to.

I feel very like you FGT Looking back 5 years ago it was such an awful frightening time. My 19 year old granddaughter has been left with severe anxiety, her mum (DD1) has been left with long covid. Three of my family both daughters and son in law worked on the front line and saw so many die. I too could just cry at the way we were manipulated and afraid of hugging our nearest and dearest.