Summarising the year 2020 isn’t a quick task. It has impacted the world is such a way that it is becoming impossible to see the world going back to what it once was. This year has seen many events and disasters such as; bushfires in Australia, protests for Black Lives Matter, explosion in Lebanon, ending of Yemen, a continuous increase of detaining and killing of Uyghur Muslims and protests against the Indian government led by farmers. There have been many more events and disasters this year, but this article will look closely at the Covid-19 pandemic and specifically the actions taken and outcomes within the United Kingdom.

During late 2019, the Chinese authorities confirmed a new unknown illness which was soon given the name Covid-19, a new novel coronavirus. Throughout January 2020, the virus spread across the globe and by the end of the month the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared a global health emergency. The UK also announced its first cases at the end of January. As the virus continued to spread throughout February and March, we witnessed panic buying like never before and lockdown measures were implemented towards the end of the March. Restrictions have continued since then.

Restrictions were first introduced because the UK government and the NHS saw an increase of deaths related to Covid-19. It is important to remember that a Covid-19 related death doesn’t mean the cause of death was Covid-19. Due to this, many questions around how many deaths were actually a result of Covid-19 were raised. The restrictions introduced meant cutting off social interactions that would usually take place in locations such as restaurants, bars and schools. During the period of tougher restrictions, the UK has seen a rise in street violence, mental health issues, domestic abuse cases and suicides. Since April, many have argued that lockdowns don’t help and have instead created more fear and weakened immune systems.

The most common advice given by the UK government, mainstream media and the NHS has included washing hands regularly, social distancing and isolating if you have flu like symptoms. Many private healthcare officials questioned on social media platforms why the government and the NHS wasn’t mentioning words such as nutrition, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and anti-inflammatory in their advice to the public. Instead the public repeatedly heard something along the lines of ‘there is no vaccine’ which actually raised more fear than hope. Covid-19 isn’t the first novel coronavirus the world has seen so the question is was there really no advice based on nutrition available?

As more questions were raised, more conspiracy theories spread across social media about how people were dying. When looking at the death figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS), you can see clearly when there has been an increase of deaths in 2020 compared to 2019. When looking at the figures it is important to remember the population of the UK is over 67 million. The first 10 weeks of the data shows an increase of 2000 deaths in 2020, but there was more deaths in January than February. From week 12 to week 22, the UK saw an increase of 60,000 deaths. The increase happened from week 13 to week 21 which are in the middle of the UK national lockdown. Many theories have claimed that this increase of deaths comes from the rise in suicides and street violence as well as the instruction from the NHS to not resuscitate patients in care homes and not Covid-19. Regardless of what the real reasons may be, an extra 60,000 deaths is more than enough to worry people across the UK.

As fear increased, different opinions and perspectives about the pandemic caused divisions amongst the public. One division has been about the use of a face covering. At first it was considered that it is more dangerous for an average person to wear a face covering because they are likely to trap the virus and breathe it in as they take it off and put it back on. Later it became mandatory guidance for public transport and shops. Since then the different opinions include you shouldn’t wear one, it’s your choice and you must wear one. Fear has grown so much that if you don’t wear one then some people will be afraid to go near you.

As restrictions were lifted, the government introduced a track and trace system to help control the spread of the virus. Although this seemed to be a good idea, many have seen this as a breach of privacy. Especially with the announcement of a Covid-19 tracking app, people haven’t been so welcoming of this idea. With the release of the app in September, faults have been identified that caused the wrong people to isolate. Reasons such as these haven’t worked in favour of the track and trace system and instead caused more divisions.

With the economy being shut down, the working class suffered the most. Although the government had given out furlough payments, many still suffered financially. The government introduced the ‘eat out to help out’ scheme to help restaurant businesses recover. As cases started to increase, the government blamed the scheme and implemented new restrictions. Actions such as these added to more divisions and now caused many to lose their trust in the government.

Since September, tier systems have become common whilst protests against lockdowns, social distancing and vaccines have been taking place weekly across the UK. Protests aren’t usually mentioned in the mainstream media, but pictures, videos and other information has been shared across social media platforms. Many of these protestors claim that the government doesn’t have enough evidence to implement further restrictions because cases do not mean deaths. When looking at the ONS figures from week 23 to week 37 (June to September), the total deaths in that period are actually just lower than last year. However, others argue that if restrictions weren’t introduced then the deaths would’ve increased.

Forecasts by Public Health England started showing that the UK could be seeing around 4000 deaths a day. Based on this the government introduced more restrictions around the UK in October. Many have said that the restrictions put in place are contradicting, especially when compared to schools. It is considered okay for a teacher to teach 30 students from different households without social distancing and face coverings, but not okay for more than 6 people to meet outside. Also the virus is more likely to spread in schools as they are more crowded, yet curfews were introduced for hospitality businesses. This further affected the working class financially.

The UK went into a second national lockdown on 5th November, but the government was later criticised by the Official Statistics Watchdog. This is because the data they used to justify a second lockdown showed around 1000 deaths a day by the end of October and this clearly wasn’t the case. It has also been reported that less hospital beds are in use than last year, but because some beds have been taken out in the name of social distancing, less beds are actually available this year round. Since the second lockdown began, deaths have started to rise again.

December can be described as the month of new beginnings for 2021. We have heard about vaccines getting approved. A new variant of the virus has also been introduced as well as a tier 4 for the tier system as a result. Many think that with a vaccine restrictions would become lighter, but the government has made it clear that vaccines do not stop the transmission of the virus so guidelines such as face masks and social distancing would remain in place until further notice.

The UK has ordered 40 million Pfizer vaccines and 100 million Oxford vaccines. Both vaccines require two doses and with the UK population under 70 million, the UK has ordered enough to vaccinate everyone. The importance of taking the vaccine has been clearly marketed by the government, NHS and some businesses. Ryanair recently released an advert with the tagline ‘jab and go’ which hasn’t received popular feedback. The NHS has spoken about using celebrities to persuade the public to take the vaccine and the government keeps talking about how our freedom will return with a vaccine.

Many have raised questions about how reliable either vaccine really is. One of the questions raised include how is it even possible to create a vaccine in such a short period of time. This has been argued with better technology, previous research from SARS and more collaboration globally. It is said that vaccines can’t be approved unless they pass all phases. Even though this is the case, Pfizer has a history of lawsuits that shouldn’t be ignored. It has also been said that vaccine manufacturers won’t be held reliable for any side effects.

At a time like this, it is important to do what we can to improve our health overall. We can first start by making sure we are eating correctly by focusing on nutrition. This means making sure we are getting enough vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and anti-inflammatories so that our body is stronger at fighting off illnesses. Next we need to become active in our daily routine. This can simply be going for walks, jogs or some home workouts. It’s about being more active than you already are. These steps should help improve both our mental, physical and emotional health so that we view better perspectives.

As we go into 2021, there are divisions regarding face coverings, social distancing, track and trace, lockdowns and vaccines. As much as we may be at odds with someone regarding our opinions, we need to remember we have all been affected by this year. Let’s take a moment to remember and appreciate what we still have which others around the world don’t. We should be grateful for waking up everyday and being able to make a difference. Instead of spreading fear, let’s spread love and hope for a better future.