Op ons verzoek stuurde Peter ons een mailtje met zijn visie op het coronavirus in GB:

Hi Anna and Hans,
This is my contribution to your Coronavirus Pandemic Diary:
Like many people we did not realise how serious this Pandemic would be or for how long it would last. We all were able to achieve lots of clearing out of cupboards and drawers, long overdue, and tackled these jobs with enthusiasm. Strangely when lockdown was first introduced the weather changed to warm and sunny and we were able to be outside (pitying those who lived in high rise blocks with children). When the restrictions were starting to be lifted and we could go out more the weather became unsettled, but then the sunshine returned. An aeroplane going over the garden was a very rare sight. The birds were a great source of comfort and extremely vocal! The only sounds we heard for lots of the time.
Some people went completely mad and started hoarding food (and toilet rolls?). Who needed a freezer full of food and vegetables depriving others of the chance to purchase their share. Flour and eggs become precious sought after commodities as many people started to homebake in their newly acquired home time. Our daughter now makes all her own bread. We survived the shortages and stocks in the Supermarket are now almost back to normal. There are days when you can’t get all you would wish, but you have to adapt.
Clothes shopping is a distant memory but with nowhere to go you don’t need new clothes. Now that shops are open who wants to queue outside every one.
We have ordered many things on the internet, even reels of sewing thread so that I can continue my charity sewing! I now have 75 aprons, cushions, shopping bags, face coverings etc. in the loft waiting for the charity organisations to open their shops.
We and many others in our road all were out at 8pm on Thursday evenings to clap for 2 minutes for the National Health and front line workers. Such a small thing to do but we felt we showed them our support and appreciation. A cousin of mine works in a Care Home and subsequently caught Covid 19. She and her husband were very ill, but not hospitalised, pleased to report they are much better now.
Our grandchildren are growing up very quickly it seems during lockdown, only Ellie (aged 5) is at school now, the others are home schooled, and Joe came home from University. Heard yesterday he has achieved a 2.1 degree. In view of difficulty in getting a job he has decided to go back to Uni for one more year and work for his Masters degree. He a lovely lad now aged 21 (another birthday celebrated virtually) and we are very proud of his achievements.
We have had enough of being restricted, but appreciate that the situation must continue to eradicate this terrible disease.
As we approach the “new normal” lets us hope that sensibility prevails and we can all get back to being with our loved ones. As our granddaughter says “when all the sick people are better, I can give you a hug and come and stay overnight”! We have received virtual hugs from the children but it just isn’t the same. We have many things to celebrate in the months to come.

Coronavirus conclusion:
It seems clear to me that the main problem was that the UK was not prepared for a pandemic, despite the experience of the Sars Pandemic in 2013 and a UK wide pandemic exercise in 2018. No clear action and strategy had been put into place for PPE (Personal Protective Equipment), hospital intensive care capacity, track and trace procedures, testing and much more.
In view of this, I think the Government has done a good job under difficult circumstances and the main error was probably starting the lockdown one week late (but that is said with hindsight).
We have had a lot of deaths - too many - and the vast majority of deaths were old people with underlining medical conditions of obesity, asthma, heart decease and diabetes (the UK has the highest level of obesity in Europe).
More could have been done to protect these people. Many were in care homes, and it really surprised me that we had over 5500 care and nursing homes in England, many individually family owned. Once COVID-19 entered a care home many deaths resulted, but about 66% of care homes remained COVID-19 free.
There will in future be a greater connection between the NHS (National Health Service) and Care industry - if it happens!

Take care and stay safe.
Kind regards Christine & Peter

Geschreven door Anne-hans.reizen