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2020 hindsight
Looking back, it has not been an easy year. For some, it has been dreadful. For many, the sense of running out of reserves has been palpable.
2020 hindsight
Looking back, it has not been an easy year. For some, it has been dreadful. For many, the sense of running out of reserves has been palpable.
Of course, it’s all been down to the virus. The virus which has had an enormous impact, pretty much world wide. The World Health Organisation estimates that over 1.8 million people have lost their lives to Covid so far. Despite the hope offered by vaccines, many more will yet die
Besides the sorrow and the loss, there have been enduring effects on mental and physical health, economic and business impacts, educational impacts, impacts on employment and finances, disproportionate impact on people already suffering from deprivation, loneliness and harm
The thing is, it’s not all down to the virus. That's been on top of everything else. Whatever your views on politics and politicians at home and abroad, on Brexit, on the constitution, and on the debates and disagreements associated with these things, the virus is an added factor
If you have had health problems, Covid is an additional concern. If you have been bereaved, Covid has left you more alone in your sorrow. Your opportunities to share happiness have been curtailed. Your births, your birthdays, your anniversaries, your graduations – all diminished
If you are alone, Covid will have exacerbated that. If you live in poverty, Covid will have made that harder. If your home circumstances place you at risk, Covid will have increased that risk. If you have no work, Covid will have made it harder to get any.
Should we just write it off – this grim, squalid, wretched year? Not quite, I suggest. In it, we found it possible to do remarkable things very fast – big changes to health and care service delivery, a furlough scheme, a move to remote working at a pace hitherto undreamt of
We also developed a better sense of community – patchy maybe, and not as durable in places as we might have hoped, but cause for optimism nonetheless. People went the extra mile, making deliveries, replenishing stock on shelves, taking on extra shifts to care for those in need
And let us not forget those who lost their lives through their commitment to caring for others – a sacrifice that cannot be repaid. Nor should we overlook those who volunteered for vaccine testing, taking a risk to benefit the community at large
And people kept going, with emerging data (some of it well explained, some less so), with decisions necessarily taken with incomplete data and changed as the evidence changed, with interventions that some thought were too much too soon and others thought were too little too late
And now, at the threshold of 2021, there is a mix of hope and concern. On the one hand, vaccines are coming on stream. (In passing, trusted sources such as the Joint Committee on Vaccines and Immunisation work with, and advise based on, the latest evidence.)
On the other, new strains of the virus are emerging. The effects of Christmas appear to be crystallising in increased rates of infection. Hospital systems are under pressure again. More restrictions may be required soon, with all their attendant harms and problems.
Can we look ahead with any sense of hope? I don’t know when you will next embrace your loved ones. I couldn't recommend booking a holiday yet (although I don’t criticise if you have). I cannot say when the economy will recover, or education will return to normal, whatever that is
But I do know this. You got here despite everything. You kept going. Perhaps at times you nearly sank under the weight of it all. You gave your all and then someone or something asked for more, and you found it. You did more than anyone ever had a right to ask of you
There is a little light shining through the trees: the vaccines are real. The clouds are not all gone, and there will be storms. But 2020 threw everything at you, and on this, its last and fading day, you are still here. Undefeated.
In 2021, you have the right to stand tall. You have been buffeted maybe, bruised perhaps, wearied almost certainly. But still you are undefeated. You are ready for what 2021 brings, and there is a basis for optimism. And you are part of that hope.
