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It seems not to have occurred to people that lockdown is going to prove so much harder to get into than to get out of.
It isn't just a case of reopening businesses and sitting everyone two metres apart. People have allowed themselves to become mortally afraid.
The aim of lockdown was never to get rid of the disease. It was to prevent too many people becoming seriously ill with it at once, overwhelming the NHS.
Your chances of becoming dangerously ill with the disease, if you are not an older or vulnerable person, are still very low.
Your chances of becoming dangerously ill with the disease, if you are not an older or vulnerable person, are still very low.
But everyone has forgotten this. Large numbers of people now seem to believe, despite the facts, that this is a terrifying plague from which they have a significant chance of dying.
Some people believed this all along, but it was noticeable how our mentality changed when social distancing began. Behaving as if everyone else is a genuine threat makes you feel like they really are. Suddenly it felt like the disease was everywhere, literally hanging in the air.
The "stay home" messaging hasn't helped dispel that image. Many people also think leaving the house at all is now not to be taken lightly, when unless you are within two metres of someone there is *no risk at all*.
These fears and perceptions will take a long time to dispel. I speak as someone who has battled mental illness, which stems from fear, her whole life. The twin messages that other people are potential killers, and that wanting normal human contact is therefore selfish, have stuck
And I don't know how we get rid of them.
And don't get me started on the powers we've given the police, who have lapped them up like kittens at a saucer of milk and won't be in any hurry to go back to fighting yawn yawn boring crimes like burglary yawn and assault yawn snooze.
And don't get me started on the powers we've given the police, who have lapped them up like kittens at a saucer of milk and won't be in any hurry to go back to fighting yawn yawn boring crimes like burglary yawn and assault yawn snooze.
Like most messes, this may be easier to get into than out of. And I should know.
