It’s Sunday and the sun is shining which will increase park use and inevitably closure of these spaces again. I’m reminded of the fear, stigma and ignorance at the height of HIV and the resulting AIDS epidemics and how communities changed. (I’m not equating the 2)

Since the 1980s more than 70 million people worldwide have acquired the infection, and about 35 million people have died with 37 million currently living with HIV, of whom 22 million are on treatment according to WHO figures.

At the beginning there was no treatment for HIV no retrovirals and the outlook for those infected was grim- a debilitating illness and death within years. Back then we were surrounded by ignorance and prejudices often peddled by our media.

Just as we now hear that only the elderly will die we were then told only gay men would die. The ‘Chinese virus’ was the ‘African virus’. “I’d better not use that mask because it’s come from China” was “I’d better not sit next to a gay man.”

What I remember most is the fear. Friends waiting for a test result that anyway only gave you the all clear for 3 months prior. Light started to wink at the end of the tunnel as science broke through prejudice and the information that saved lives was disseminated.

Now testing is easily accessible, there’s a whole range of prevention options, including PrEP, and wide-spread information about not sharing needles, for example and services for vulnerable communities

Before the treatments emerged, people changed their behaviours. Young people worried whether they would ever be able to have sex again. Whether sex was going to kill them. Later we learned about non MSM transmission, blood transfusions and newborns

But mostly it was about sex and fear. Whole communities changed their practices, habits and lifestyles overnight. Covid-19 can lead to death in days not years. It’s killing key NHS practitioners, bus drivers, children and babies. Tell me why you can’t stay at home on Sunday?