The pubs are closed

Personally, I am quite glad to see that the pubs have closed. Don’t get me wrong, I do like going to pubs and having a drink. However, given the nature of this Coronavirus and acting now, before the signs are apparent, it is the right thing to do. If they waited until people showed signs of sickness, then it’s too late. Given what we know about transmission is based on close contact and people breathing all over each other, pubs seem like a prime breeding spot to me. 

I think the problem is that on the streets there is very little visual evidence of anything actually happening. All the pain is happening in hospitals that are out of sight for us. Because we can’t see it, we don’t believe that anything is going on. 

The images coming out of Italy, for me, are a stark illustration of the effects of this virus. I really feel for the Italian people, and I hope that as fellow British Europeans, we can find some way to show our support for their amazing medical staff who are just acting heroically. 

I took a fair number of shots of signs in doorways where businesses, mainly restaurants, have shut down until the pandemic finally goes. As I walked around I realised that the shots I am taking will be part of our visual collective story about this awful event. History will certainly remember this pandemic. The speed it had spread across the world is quite shocking really. The 1918 flu pandemic killed around 50 million people, so history has already showed us what can happen if we ignore the warning signs...

Sorry its a grim read, but it is important as the people dying in Italy are now in their 30s and 40s as their healthcare service is overwhelmed. The impression I am getting is that our wonderful NHS is not prepared yet for what is going to hit it. However, I am not really sure how prepared services can really be for events of this magnitude.

I am doing my bit with social distancing and working from home, as well as taking almost ridiculous precautions such as changing my clothes and showering after each time I go out as well as cleaning the house down as I go through it to stop anything entering the home. Of course, when the size of the enemy is measured in nanometers,  I can’t really see where the threats are.

I don’t really talk about my work here as I try to keep these things separate, but my role is working with child and family mental health as a clinical psychologist. I am not sure what the psychological impact will be for both children and their families. I hope that everybody reading this keeps both physically and psychologically safe whilst we all fight this thing.