皇家华人

On the second anniversary of Britain听first going into lockdown, and with the country now opening up, this is a good opportunity to make sense of what happened in the pandemic, what it meant, and what needs to be done next.

Some of the pandemic鈥檚 patterns are now all too clear. COVID鈥檚 visible harms听concentrated听on the elderly,听over 150,000听of whom lost their lives in the UK. But there have also been huge invisible harms, largely concentrated on the young. The pandemic has mainly been reported on in terms of health and economic effects, but in the long run the social impacts may be just as serious.

Globally, the last two years brought the sharpest retreat of human development and equality in living memory.听Hundreds of millions听have suffered with听mental health problems听and just as many with stark听cuts in income. Inequality has widened in the UK, with people on lower incomes seeing a听significant drop听in living standards.听Mental health and wellbeing听have been adversely affected,听especially in children.

Rahm Emanuel, an adviser to Barack Obama and later mayor of Chicago,听famously said听after the 2008 financial crisis that 鈥測ou never want a serious crisis to go to waste鈥�. With that in mind, it鈥檚 not too late to use the rest of 2022 to address the scarring effects of the crisis and their underlying issues 鈥� so here are five things the UK needs to prioritise.

1. Help children catch up and recover

惭补苍测听children听丑补惫别听fallen behind听in terms of academic achievement, socialisation and confidence as a result of missing out on school.

One study听found that during school closures 20% of children were doing less than an hour of home learning each day. With education moving online, unequal access to technology played a part:听one in eight听school children had either just a mobile phone or no device at all to use to learn at home.

A large number 鈥� though it鈥檚 hard to say precisely how many 鈥� have听not returned听to school after the lockdowns. This summer we need a much richer offering of chances to do sports, arts and have fun alongside more traditional academic catch-up opportunities and tutoring.

2. Address mental health needs

From March 2020, the prevalence of anxiety and depression across the UK听rose sharply, having remained relatively static over the last 30 years.听Over a quarter听of the population experienced 鈥渃linically significant鈥� levels of distress during the pandemic and the same proportion of 18-year-olds听considered self-harm.

Attention now needs to turn to strategies for supporting mental health across the population and not focus on just the most acute needs. There are good examples of what could be done. The Australian government, for example, has provided a package of听mental health support measures, including a 24/7 phone-counselling service, job opportunities for Australians to be trained as counsellors to meet the need, and funding for online and peer-support tools.

3. Look after health and care staff

Frontline NHS and care home staff bore the brunt of the crisis, and many are now burnt out. The latest NHS Staff Survey, which covered the first six months of the pandemic, found that 44% of staff听reported听feeling unwell as a result of work-related stress, the highest rate recorded in the last five years. A听British Medical Association survey听in September 2021 found that 43% of respondents were considering early retirement.

There鈥檚 also a much bigger strategic challenge of addressing unfair pay. Care workers, for example, are听drastically underpaid听compared to other workers with similar skills, with the听majority struggling听to pay for essentials. Wage top-ups or higher minimum wages for particular sectors (like care) are听potential solutions.

4. Reconsider urban design

COVID has changed how and where we work.听Data听gathered from mobile devices shows that British people on average are spending 27% less time at their physical places of work compared to before the pandemic.听Over 80%听of UK workers say they would prefer to work remotely at least one day per week. There鈥檚 likely to be a long-term shift away from five-day working in offices.

Urban centres were therefore quieter during the pandemic, and while footfall has recovered somewhat, it鈥檚 still听significantly down听in major cities such as London, Manchester, Cardiff and Birmingham. It鈥檚 too soon to say which places will suffer lasting scarring effects 鈥� but it鈥檚 already clear that land use may have to change radically.

5. Fix failures of governance

The crisis revealed many failings of governance, some at the very top. The core of government听floundered. The problem wasn鈥檛 just the听abuse of rules, but also included failures in how science was organised and how data was used, which the upcoming听UK COVID inquiry听will examine.

A particularly striking failure was the lack of coordination between the different levels of UK government, from Whitehall to the devolved administrations and local government. For example, having England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland each introduce their own restrictions听was confusing听and may have undermined public compliance with control measures.

Other countries have well-developed systems to help levels of government work together; these were largely lacking in the UK. Fixing this now needs to be a priority.

These are just a few of the issues that need to feature prominently in recovery plans. There are plenty of other challenges to consider too, from the听distrust听many communities felt around vaccines, to the听rise in domestic violence, to the gender imbalances that left many women bearing the brunt of the crisis 鈥� looking after children sent home from school as well as juggling jobs and more.

We know that the costs of the crisis will be with us for many years to come. Over听11 million听were on furlough. The cost to taxpayers is estimated at听拢315-410 billion听(or between 拢4,700 and 拢6,100 per person). But other costs will be less visible. The risk now is that our understandable relief at the pandemic entering its final phases shuts off the willingness to address the harms it leaves behind: that we will essentially have wasted the crisis.

This article was first published in on 22^nd March 2022.

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