Wish they stop talking about Covid?

At least now, we have the option of ignoring it, and tuning into something else; I'm a firm believer in ignoring the news. I abandoned Radio 4 in 2020 when I had heard "corrrrrrrronavirus" once too many, and I've never looked back.

In 2020, we didn't have that option. The propaganda was EVERYWHERE. You couldn't even go for a walk (and the "only one hour a day" finger-wagging was never true) without signs about social distancing everywhere (and the scientists have since admitted that "two metres" was made up on the spot, with no basis in science). You couldn't even watch TV to escape it: it made its way into every kind of programme.

Whatever your view on Covid, it was a completely unprecedented global event that affected everyone for a long period of time. I assume you talked about it at the time , maybe even banged a few pans together at 8pm every Thursday.

As a country we are still feeling the economic effects of Covid and every third post on MN is about WFH, a direct consequence of the time.

Historical events especially of this magnitude are often talked about on the anniversary. What is it you were expecting?

The reason why anniversaries of Spanish flu are not usually commemorated nowadays (I've no idea whether the 5th and 10th anniversaries were) is, I am sure, that the pandemic coincided with the end of WW1, and people commemorate that instead, Though the pandemic actually killed even more people than the war,

OP have you considered just turning the radio or TV over when you don't like what's on?

Erm no, people are talking about how to lose weight for themselves, which is good

What isnt being seriously spoken about from an NHS and government end is the devastation that obesity is causing this country, individually, economically and socially.

What is the game plan for this? Theres no discussion about it and about how we need to act pretty fast.

I remember being taught about the Spanish flu pandemic at school. COVID will be the same. It is part of the history of this era. It is still affecting the way people live and work, and children who were born or in education at the time. It is naive to just say it is over, move on.

Did they know the details of it? There was a media blackout, doctors were told not to panic people and minimise it, even to nursing staff, except for Spain, which is why it was called the Spanish flu. It was very interestingly covered on Upstairs, Downstairs. So if you watched that programme, you knew about it.

@ACabaret our local hospitals have cleared the Covid back log. Within the NHS, it will never fade, those staff, who have had it repeatedly, are now needing antibiotics for chest infections they would have shaken off. It's left many health issues in hospital staff.
I think that in fifteen years time, we will see much more poorer heart/lung health in 35-55 year olds.
@soupyspoon everyone is talking about obesity. It isn't the be all and end all when it comes to health, though.

Thousands of us can’t move on because we’re still unwell with long covid. We’re the lucky ones as we’re still here.

All the people who worked through and suffered through it may prefer to have it commemorated
I personally had a pretty good lockdowns financially, practically and health wise so I will shut up and take my lead from those who didn’t

Ah yes the "hierarchy of death" that was prevalent at the time. When mum died of covid (the anniversary of which is next Monday), we had all the "oh that's so awful" type comments that seemed never-ending. When dad died 7 months later (6 weeks after his cancer was found), the comments ranged from "oh that's a shame" to....and I shit you not....."well at least it wasn't covid, that would have been awful for you".

The language used around reporting covid linked deaths didn't help either....people "sadly" died wrt covid where as they "just" died from anything else.

It's a valid point @PassingStranger. I watched some of the BBC program last night, and was struck by how stuck in grief some of the families were. There's no other cause of death whereupon it'd be deemed 'healthy' for the loss of a 90 year old to still be a 'daily struggle' 5 years later.

My Mum died of cancer in April 2020, at just 73. We had the entire lockdown loss experience, only 10 at her funeral, all sitting apart. If not for the NHS becoming a covid health service, we'd've had my Mum for longer. I've refused to be bitter, my Mum's 73 years of life meant too much to make it all about us. What does anger me though is when the media is saturated with assertion that the loss for families like ours was somehow 'lesser' because it wasn't covid she died from. There was no bereaved families support for us (which on reflection is probably a blessing - my Mum would've booted my arse if I'd still been moping 5 years later!).

Of course we will. It changed the world forever. Just as we talk about other huge events on anniversaries. Why should we remember and reflect on something that had huge implications around the globe?
Why exactly is it that you feel like it shouldn't be remembered?

It was a global pandemic. A pandemic does not mean it's worldwide. If it was limited to the UK but affected the whole of the UK, it would still be a pandemic, but a national one. If it affected only the Southwest but did affect all of it, it would be a regional pandemic. This time we had a global pandemic because it spread worldwide.

It’s not as if Covid has gone away - I tested positive yesterday and can hardly stand. I’m feeling every bit as ill as I did when I first caught it in 2022, despite being fully vaccinated. The virus had such a major impact on so many people, of course people are still going to be talking about it five years later.

This is what the healthy not bothered about Covid say. This voice is louder than that of people who had family and friends die, who suffered when having covid, who have life long effects. All the there should never have been a lock down comes from those who didn’t need medical care, weren’t turned away by hospitals, survived and don’t give a care for others.

Don't mention the war. I mentioned it once, but I think I got away with it.

(Shameless Fawlty Towers reference).

Its weird, my grandfather and grandmother who survived the 1918 flu pandemic that killed 50 million people approximately, on top of the huge losses of WW1, never, ever spoke of it the whole time I knew them. They were adults during that time.
They avoided any questions about it too.
Covid seems like a strange dream to me now. I can hardly believe it happened.

And this is proof that when people say 'move on' they mean I feel sick of hearing it or uncomfortable so stop talking as this is about me not you.

Basically you tell others to move on because you are fed up. People can talk about whatever they want to. That is the world we live in.

It will eventually fizzle out of course. And as newer frightening world events happen, the pandemic will start to fade in people’s awareness.

For me, it is the social impacts of Covid that still seem to persist. The shift to working from home, how people view schools and education, the dire consequences for the NHS now in terms of waiting lists, etc. It is definitely not over in terms of what it has left in its wake.

Millions of people, including children, have been left disabled by it. Would you like them all to be ignored and forgotten? How about the millions that died, shall their lives and the loss of their loved ones also be dismissed? It's nearly 4 years since the last lockdown, who cares about loved ones dying alone or the lives that have been ruined. Some people just dwell in the past, ay.

It's already crept into some of the A Level work from what I've been told

The first lockdown began 5 years ago - a lock down which lasted several months, was slightly lifted before plunging back into full lock down again for several more months. The lock down wasn't really lifted properly for over a year and small restrictions and rules like masks kept changing until 2022.

2 years of rules and restrictions which massively affected lives and raised serious questions about whether they were needed.

And, as there was no real "end" date that could be marked, using the first lockdown gives a definite "date" to remember on.

It will become less remembered as time goes on, as only the bigger anniversaries counts, as those who remember begin to die. Just like we only mark the big anniversaries of the events in the war and don't mark those from things that are well beyond living memory.

I do wish people would stop saying it was a
'global pandemic'

The definition of a pandemic is “an epidemic occurring worldwide, or over a very wide area, crossing international boundaries and usually affecting a large number of people.

@PassingStranger from what point of view do you wish they would stop talking about it?

It will be mentioned in the history books for many years to come and children will learn about it. Maybe even a set topic for GCSE or A level in history, sociology or psychology.

It was a global pandemic and important.

Covid had a massive impact that continues to be felt so no we can’t stop talking about Covid.

My goodness, what a tiny world you must live in. Covid-19, as a subject, is not all about the lockdowns. People are still catching it and still dying of it. Look at hospital statistics. My sister in law didn't get it when the pandemic was at it's height, but she's had it twice in the last 6 months. Other people I know are struggling with the effects of long Covid and probably will for the rest of their life. Nor was it just about UK. It was a global pandemic. Other countries are having their own discussions about it. It's also not so much about an anniversary either. Our legal processes work very slowly and people who are trying to sue the government, hospitals and care homes are now having their cases made public. What about having some compassion for those who lost people they loved in horrible circumstances? Why should they stay quiet just because you have a very weird aversion to facing the truth? You're going to have a very miserable time in 2026 when the final findings of the government enquiry are due to be published.