To think that Covid has acted as a reset button on so many things that were going in the right direction

[Wheretobuy]

I am struggling to see the positives in this pandemic.
So far, it has:

• Pushed back women’s rights because women picked up majority of the childcare abs household work as this pandemic started and we went into lockdown
• led to loss of opportunity for earlier intervention and timely treatments for patients who would have received them otherwise
• costed our children millions and millions of hours of lost learning time
• disproportionately hit the earning and learning prospects of our younger generation who are struggling to find jobs while workers in senior roles (who would train new employees) get to negotiate to work from home
• disproportionate affected first generation immigrants who cannot travel outside the U.K. (especially red list countries) for fear of getting stuck and the expenses of self isolation upon return

All while Bezos and Branson get to visit space and the world has seen over a hundred new billionaires in the last year.

Who would've thought a shit situation would be shit for many people?

@araiwa

Who would've thought a shit situation would be shit for many people?

Quite

@araiwa

Who would've thought a shit situation would be shit for many people?

True that but I think it has been disproportionately shit for people who were already facing shit.

workers in senior roles (who would train new employees) get to negotiate to work from home

I don't understand this. Are you suggesting that older people should make way for younger people so they can step into senior roles? And that is a bad thing that it's easier for older people to continue working if they want to?

We're fucked anyway, the effects of climate change are in free fall, we hit tipping point

@araiwa

Who would've thought a shit situation would be shit for many people?

This ^

It is a pandemic. Of course it has been horrific.
I don't agree with all your list. I think it is far too simplistic.
OTOH, like all terrible situations, positive people have found positives amongst it all.

You are struggling to see the positives because there aren't any.

I really feel for all who lost a loved friend or relative due to Covid and our government handled it appallingly. However, it could be argued that some elements of the 'reset' were beneficial:

• People finally taking hygiene and cleanliness seriously
• Physical distancing
• Working from home which has been a welcome reprieve for many people i.e. those with disabilities , mental health conditions or even ethnic minorities.

Covid has been very shit, I don't dispute that - but it has shown how society can be reimagined.

@VladmirsPoutine

I really feel for all who lost a loved friend or relative due to Covid and our government handled it appallingly. However, it could be argued that some elements of the 'reset' were beneficial:

• People finally taking hygiene and cleanliness seriously
• Physical distancing
• Working from home which has been a welcome reprieve for many people i.e. those with disabilities , mental health conditions or even ethnic minorities.

Covid has been very shit, I don't dispute that - but it has shown how society can be reimagined.

Yup.

I was able to take my time recovering from long covid wfh.

I gave a woman who took a career break to have her kids a promotion taking her above the level she was when she left.

One of the dads at work enjoyed the extra two hours a day won back from his commute with his son.

We were able to offer evening sessions of training to help busy service users because our staff were happy to work flexibly.

I'm not saying it was all positive, but all those things are good.

@EmergencyHydrangea

We're fucked anyway, the effects of climate change are in free fall, we hit tipping point

As much of an issue climate change is, this attitude is so irritating and is about as useful as going to the other extreme of pretending climate change doesn't exist. It also does not mean that you should stop caring about other issues.

I don’t think all of those are true for many. DH and I have always shared parenting and household duties and that didn’t change. Likewise the DC missed no learning as schools set work remotely and we ensured it was carried out.

Yeah, I do worry it has set things back, especially for women. Two women I know in their 50s were made redundant last year and are finding it extra to hard to find new jobs... I'd be interested to see the stats for men and women of that age made redundant last year and how they've done with getting new jobs. I'll bet the women are having a much harder time of it.

People are saying 'Ah, but now men have seen how much work is involved with household stuff' but I'd hazard it hasn't actually made much difference for anyone.

@Needapoodle

workers in senior roles (who would train new employees) get to negotiate to work from home

I don't understand this. Are you suggesting that older people should make way for younger people so they can step into senior roles? And that is a bad thing that it's easier for older people to continue working if they want to?

No. I meant that it’s harder for junior employees to receive training if the senior managers refuse to come back to office full time.

It the single use plastic that bothers me, all the work that had been done and now everything is "disposable" again.

Lots of people want to argue that wfh and hybrid working helps women/mothers. I think it does the exact opposite. Women will indeed "benefit" from being able to spend more time with DC/do the school run, but they'll miss so many opportunities by being at home while their male colleagues go into the office.

I’d add to your list that we were making loads of progress in getting rid of single use plastic: moving away from disposable stuff to reusable. All gone backwards now because “hygiene”.

@MareofBeasttown

You are struggling to see the positives because there aren't any.

Yep

Those things were not 'going in the right direction' before covid. Austerity had already been disproportionately impacting deprived/ minority groups for the past ten years.

I am sure it was Someone on here who put lockdowns as:
middle class people working from home whilst the working class delivered them stuff.

Austerity had left services on their arses, it was getting by mainly on good will. Covid hit and all shit hit the fan as the tiny bolster there was, was gone.

I think it has been disproportionately shit for people who were already facing shit

This.

People on low incomes/gig economy jobs
Frontline healthcare workers
Women
Single parents

To name just the obvious ones.

COVID has massively accelerated advantages to those people who were in comfortable, remote-friendly jobs (tech for example), while putting those in jobs which had to be physical in mortal danger and leaving so many people redundant. And as with so many other situations in life, women ended up doing the vast brunt of the shit work.

Which is why it enraged me so much to read these posts on here a year ago from prosperous middle class people in coupled families banging on about all their lovely lockdown time walking, cycling and crafting with their children.

@EvilPea

I am sure it was Someone on here who put lockdowns as: middle class people working from home whilst the working class delivered them stuff.

And this. I thought this a lot at the time.

Stuck in your comfortable gardened flat shielding yourself while the Amazon delivery people risk getting sick to deliver a pair of gardening gloves for you to grow marrows and post smug pictures of them on social media saying #lovinglockdown.

Obscene.

@Needapoodle

workers in senior roles (who would train new employees) get to negotiate to work from home

I don't understand this. Are you suggesting that older people should make way for younger people so they can step into senior roles? And that is a bad thing that it's easier for older people to continue working if they want to?

I don't understand how you could leap to that conclusion from a decent point.

You're absolutely right, OP. Certain groups have suffered disproportionately.

It's been shit for everyone, even if to someone the worst part of it was not going on holiday, it's still shit to them! It's not a race to the bottom so comparing how difficult I've had it compared to some healthy millionaire with 3 cleaners and a butler doesn't help anyone.

I'm a social worker and although it has been horrific there have been some positives:

We used to have lots of meetings and still do, but now those meetings can be organised quickly and involve many more relevant people because people aren't having to travel to one place for them, they can sit at their desk, attend virtually and dip in for the bits that they are needed.

Rather than being able to have 2 waste of time meetings a day I can have 4 that are mostly useful.

The savings on staff mileage reimbursements costs to the local authority must be HUGE. Hopefully they can spend that money on services for vulnerable people and potholes instead

We have also been able to 'see' otherwise hard to reach people more easily, people have been happy to have a discussion via WhatsApp or teams, for parents they haven't had to take half a day off work to meet with us (e.g. we can do a WhatsApp call while they sit in their car during a lunch break) similarly people who might have declined a visit because of embarrassment about their living conditions have been happy to talk to us using virtual means.

We've had really low sickness rates because people aren't forcing themselves into an office to catch all the bugs, or if they have been feeling under the weather they've still been able to catch up with paperwork at home.

And my favourite of all, I can actually bloody park when I do go to the office.

@RaindropsOnRosie

It's been shit for everyone, even if to someone the worst part of it was not going on holiday, it's still shit to them! It's not a race to the bottom so comparing how difficult I've had it compared to some healthy millionaire with 3 cleaners and a butler doesn't help anyone.

But it’s not just a millionaire, is it? Covid meant this world seen over 100 new billionaires since last year even though millions of people lost jobs within a span of a few weeks. If we don’t ask these questions, how will we get to the bottom of it all? How will we improve things for those who really can’t dig themselves out of the hole that Covid has thrown them into?