How will COVID be remembered?

[Logan Carroll]

Will COVID nostalgia become a thing in the upcoming years?

What parts about the pandemic will be forgotten?

 

[farleigh]

Doubt it.

 

[duncanp]

I think it will depend to what extent the country goes back to the "old normal", or whether some of the changes that have been introduced become permanent.

Gradually over time the pandemic will be forgotten though, except that people who lived through it will be able to bore their children and grandchildren with "during the pandemic", rather like Uncle Albert from Only Fools & Horses kept saying "during the war".

 

[brad465]

Apparently Spanish Flu spent some time as "the forgotten pandemic", despite it's immense death toll, although that might be because WW1 easily dominated the global scene. This economic fallout though will be hard to forget, and as the Covid response was the cause of it there's plenty of reason Covid will also be hard to forget. Something else that will also make the experience easy to remember is the mass improvement in communication and access to information (good and bad).

That said, if climate change does its worst in years to come, that'll be much more significant and make past events less significant.

 

[185143]

"When I was your age Son, it was against the law to go to the pub for a pint!"

Will we be believed?? Assuming there's any pubs left for our Grandchildren to experience that is.

 

[yorkie]

Apparently Spanish Flu spent some time as "the forgotten pandemic", despite it's immense death toll, although that might be because WW1 easily dominated the global scene. This economic fallout though will be hard to forget, and as the Covid response was the cause of it there's plenty of reason Covid will also be hard to forget. Something else that will also make the experience easy to remember is the mass improvement in communication and access to information (good and bad).

The main differences are:

• 'flu affects younger people more
• this pandemic is much more about the measures taken to reduce the spread of the virus than the direct effects of the virus itself

As for how it will be remembered... as a time when authoritarians tried to impose authoritarianism on us, and to some extent succeeded in doing so, though I believe their successes will be short lived; as a time when a huge burden was shifted onto the younger generation (many of whom have no idea yet); and as a time when mental and physical wellbeing was disregarded as unimportant. And many other negative things.

 

[johntea]

I think I'll find it very hard to look back on what I actually...did...in 2020 never mind forget it!

13-16 March I was in Amsterdam, normal enough until 6pm on 15 March when everything shut down literally like a light switch, landed back in the UK the following day to rumours the UK would be following suit, 23 March and the rest is history as they say

Sadly despite the recent vaccine developments I think you could leave this thread open until this time next year and still be asking 'how WILL' it be remembered rather than 'how WAS' it remembered

 

[Bantamzen]

The main differences are:

• 'flu affects younger people more
• this pandemic is much more about the measures taken to reduce the spread of the virus than the direct effects of the virus itself

As for how it will be remembered... as a time when authoritarians tried to impose authoritarianism on us, and to some extent succeeded in doing so, though I believe their successes will be short lived; as a time when a huge burden was shifted onto the younger generation (many of whom have no idea yet); and as a time when mental and physical wellbeing was disregarded as unimportant. And many other negative things.

If the authoritarians maintain their hold on us, it may not be remembered at all. To paraphrase Owrell:

"We are at war with Covid. We have always been at war with Covid."

 

[bramling]

Will COVID nostalgia become a thing in the upcoming years?

What parts about the pandemic will be forgotten?

The overriding memory for me is likely to be the way the reaction of some people caused a bad situation to be several orders of magnitude worse than it needed to be, whilst for others the whole thing has been one big extended bank holiday.

 

[Ianno87]

I think most people will mentally pretend this year never happened, as if it were a bad dream or something

 

[bramling]

I think most people will mentally pretend this year never happened, as if it were a bad dream or something

The trouble with that is there will be reminders in the form of things we will no longer have as a result. Ian Allan bookshop and Debenhams are two which spring to mind (yes I realise these may have gone at some point anyway).

 

[yorksrob]

The trouble with that is there will be reminders in the form of things we will no longer have as a result. Ian Allan bookshop and Debenhams are two which spring to mind (yes I realise these may have gone at some point anyway).

Yes, a bit like the 2008 financial crash and Woolworths.

I suspect that the spectre of looming authoritarianism will be with me for some time after this dreadful period is consigned to the cess-pool of history.

 

[adc82140]

I'm waiting for the film "Covid- The Year The Earth Went Mad". I think I might register the copyright

 

[Nicholas43]

Will COVID nostalgia become a thing in the upcoming years?

What parts about the pandemic will be forgotten?

No, there won't be fond nostalgia.
In England, at least, people will forget that at no stage did we have a literal lockdown.
It won't be remembered much at all, unless someone comes up with a snappier name than 'the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic' (compare 'the Irish potato famine').
Historians will note that it accelerated changes that were happening anyway, such as the death of department stores and cinemas.
Students of politics will wonder at the 'United' Kingdom Parliament's acquiescence in incoherent restrictions imposed without debate.
No governments will do enough to stop CO2 emissions, and memories of Covid-19 will be lost amid hurricanes and floods.

 

[Mag_seven]

I'm waiting for the film "Covid- The Year The Earth Went Mad". I think I might register the copyright

I would also register the copyright for the worst case scenario - "Covid-The Decade The Earth Went Mad".

 

[Mojo]

To put a more positive spin on some things in this thread above, I think some people will look positively on the early stages of lockdown when we had nice weather; in particular those who have had to go back to work and not see their families as much.

 

[bramling]

Yes, a bit like the 2008 financial crash and Woolworths.

I suspect that the spectre of looming authoritarianism will be with me for some time after this dreadful period is consigned to the cess-pool of history.

I have a horrible feeling that the creeping authoritarianism may well remain, in some areas and to some extent.

There’s some rather ugly behaviours which have been normalised as a result of this, not least “calling out” of others. This isn’t new for some people, however such people seem to have been given a boost which they have warmly embraced.

 

[greyman42]

The overriding memory for me is likely to be the way the reaction of some people caused a bad situation to be several orders of magnitude worse than it needed to be, whilst for others the whole thing has been one big extended bank holiday.

I agree. Depending on your health, lifestyle and your line of work, it will vary from being an absolute nightmare to a period in peoples life which they thoroughly enjoyed

 

[philosopher]

I would also register the copyright for the worst case scenario - "Covid-The Decade The Earth Went Mad".

I am pretty confident there will be quite a few films about this year. Perhaps there will be a movie called Plague Ship: a movie about the Diamond Princess cruise ship outbreak back in February.

 

[bramling]

I am pretty confident there will be quite a few films about this year. Perhaps there will be a movie called Plague Ship: a movie about the Diamond Princess cruise ship outbreak back in February.

Oh yes I remember that cringeworthy couple on the cruise ship. That was an early memory of Covid. At the time they seemed to think it was a major affront to them that they were stuck on it.

 

[scotrail158713]

I am pretty confident there will be quite a few films about this year. Perhaps there will be a movie called Plague Ship: a movie about the Diamond Princess cruise ship outbreak back in February.

Yes, there was a documentary about cruise ships on ITV/STV back in July so I’d say films are highly likely.

 

[yorksrob]

Perhaps there might be a revival of the 1970'style disaster movie - 'Towering Inferno' being the gold standard.

On the other hand, a group of middle aged men just shutting everything down probably wouldn't make good cinema !

 

[sjpowermac]

I have a horrible feeling that the creeping authoritarianism may well remain, in some areas and to some extent.

There’s some rather ugly behaviours which have been normalised as a result of this, not least “calling out” of others. This isn’t new for some people, however such people seem to have been given a boost which they have warmly embraced.

Do you remember who said this back in March? I’m afraid I’m unable to quote since the thread I’ve copied it from is now locked. I seem to recall numerous other posts about how ‘ordinary’ people shouldn’t be out and about just in case they got in the way of ‘key workers’.

“I get that you’re unhappy having to rely on public transport, I sympathise to at least some extent. However people need to realise that there are people working quite simply to keep the most basic cogs of our society turning, and that *has* to take priority. There’s social media for conversing with friends and family, nowadays this can be done visually as well as audibly. For virtually all of the population this is the first time ever we’ve seen curtailments of our liberty, and there’s quite clearly good reasons for doing it. Many other countries are in the same boat, some more tightly locked down than us. It really isn’t *that* bad a deal being asked to stay at home as far as possible, compared to those who are playing Russian roulette with a relatively unknown virus simply to keep the processes going which ultimately do things like keep food on *your* table.”

 

[bramling]

Do you remember who said this back in March? I’m afraid I’m unable to quote since the thread I’ve copied it from is now locked. I seem to recall numerous other posts about how ‘ordinary’ people shouldn’t be out and about just in case they got in the way of ‘key workers’.

“I get that you’re unhappy having to rely on public transport, I sympathise to at least some extent. However people need to realise that there are people working quite simply to keep the most basic cogs of our society turning, and that *has* to take priority. There’s social media for conversing with friends and family, nowadays this can be done visually as well as audibly. For virtually all of the population this is the first time ever we’ve seen curtailments of our liberty, and there’s quite clearly good reasons for doing it. Many other countries are in the same boat, some more tightly locked down than us. It really isn’t *that* bad a deal being asked to stay at home as far as possible, compared to those who are playing Russian roulette with a relatively unknown virus simply to keep the processes going which ultimately do things like keep food on *your* table.”

I don't see the issue. Back in March we had a relatively unknown quantity, and were being told by the scientists that this was a national emergency, complete with official TV ads implying that this was something which posed a severe risk to people of all ages, including people devoid of underlying conditions. At the same time there was a genuine hope that a relatively short period of lockdown would be able to get cases down to the point where track & trace systems would be effective, as had appeared to be the case from January to March; this had seemingly been effective in Wuhan. We were also led to believe that there was a real risk of the NHS being overwhelmed, which doesn't appear to have come close to occurring. I don't think it is invalid to consider that those expected to take what was at the time a risk to their health should have been afforded a level of protection, in order to keep the cogs turning and the lights on, so to speak.

 

[sjpowermac]

I don't see the issue. Back in March we had a relatively unknown quantity, and were being told by the scientists that this was a national emergency, complete with official TV ads implying that this was something which posed a severe risk to people of all ages, including people devoid of underlying conditions. At the same time there was a genuine hope that a relatively short period of lockdown would be able to get cases down to the point where track & trace systems would be effective, as had appeared to be the case from January to March; this had seemingly been effective in Wuhan. I don't think it is invalid to consider that those expected to take what was at the time a risk to their health should have been afforded a level of protection, in order to keep the cogs turning and the lights on, so to speak.

So are you saying that in some circumstances it is ok to be a bit authoritarian and to call out others?

 

[Islineclear3_1]

How will Covid-19 be remembered?

How our dear government mishandled it from just about every angle

 

[bramling]

So are you saying that in some circumstances it is ok to be a bit authoritarian and to call out others?

In a "national emergency" situation, yes. However, law enforcement should still be left to the police as far as possible.

In particular, I despise vigilantism (with one or two very specific exceptions, for example some of the paedophile stings which do seem to achieve some success and seem to be handled professionally, though even this *should* be being carried out by the police).

 

[yorkie]

@sjpowermac you make an interesting point; I think this is down to a change in circumstance, knowledge/information available and other factors.

In the early stages of the first lockdown, many people (not at all unreasonably, given the Government messaging at the time) genuinely thought that a short sharp lockdown would make the virus go away and acted accordingly and expected others to act accordingly.

I do have a lot of respect for anyone who mistakenly believed that narrative, but has since seen the light, and is no longer pro-lockdown.

Many examples of this can be found; indeed I have seen many forum members openly state state they were originally pro-lockdown (based on the messaging and information - or lack of - available at the time) but have since changed their stance. I applaud that.

What I can't forgive is those who are not prepared to change their stance in the face of overwhelming evidence. But people in that category are diminishing daily...

 

[Cowley]

@sjpowermac you make an interesting point; I think this is down to a change in circumstance, knowledge/information available and other factors.

In the early stages of the first lockdown, many people (not at all unreasonably, given the Government messaging at the time) genuinely thought that a short sharp lockdown would make the virus go away and acted accordingly and expected others to act accordingly.

I do have a lot of respect for anyone who mistakenly believed that narrative, but has since seen the light, and is no longer pro-lockdown.

Many examples of this can be found; indeed I have seen many forum members openly state state they were originally pro-lockdown (based on the messaging and information - or lack of - available at the time) but have since changed their stance. I applaud that.

What I can't forgive is those who are not prepared to change their stance in the face of overwhelming evidence. But people in that category are diminishing daily...

Agreed.
We were all searching for information back then and we played it safe because it was the right thing to do at the time. As new information became available over the following months many of us re-evaluated some of the risks (personally I, along with my family had no choice but to have to work right through all of this).
Changing positions isn’t a sign of weakness.

 

[bramling]

What I can't forgive is those who are not prepared to change their stance in the face of overwhelming evidence. But people in that category are diminishing daily...

The difficulty is I'm not sure that's necessarily the case, as I think we're still left with a hard-core of individuals who want this to continue, in many cases for unrelated and nefarious reasons, working from home being one of them. Unfortunately I don't think that view is going to change unless either the economy and life as they know it is literally collapsing around them, or they start to take a severe personal hit - both of these being medium-term consequences so aren't a major issue for such individuals (yet).

Agreed.
We were all searching for information back then and we played it safe because it was the right thing to do at the time. As new information became available over the following months many of us re-evaluated some of the risks (personally I, along with my family had no choice but to have to work right through all of this).
Changing positions isn’t a sign of weakness.

I think the lockdown was correct strategy for the time and based on what was known at the time, indeed it seems generally acknowledged that it probably should have happened a week or so sooner than it did. At the very least it bought some time to enable things to be got in order - remember back in March a lot of places had few if any mitigations measures in place bar signs on doors saying stuff like "do not enter if you've just returned from China". Whether more should have been done by that point is a matter for conjecture, however we were where we were.

What has been unforgiveable is the way the whole thing has then been completely mismanaged and mishandled from that point forward in just about every way possible, in particular the lockdown shouldn't have been allowed to last as long as it did once other mitigations, even as basic as perspex screens, were in place. It does seem like we spent an absolute fortune on lockdown and didn't really get much in return for that.