The Tories Will Blame Young People For The Second Wave of COVID-19. Are They Right?
It has been seven months since the March COVID-19 lockdown. We all crowded round our tellies - or, more likely, our phones - and watched Boris say what his advisors, the World Health Organisation, and every living human being in the world had been saying should happen for two weeks prior: ‘We are in lockdown.’ This months-long lockdown ended not with a bang but with a whimper; slowly, the UK re-opened its doors in July to punters, shoppers, gym buffs, restaurant eaters and holiday goers. And, crucially, to workers. The economy was on the verge of collapse, so back to work we all went.
August was fun. Overall. The second wave wasn’t rearing its ugly head yet; we got to see our mates and pretend things were about to go back to normal. Ah, thank God it’s all over. That was weird, wasn’t it? Hey, guys, can you see that meteor? Looks like it’s coming right this way, pretty fast. Whatever, we’ll worry about that when it gets here. Anyway - another round?
By now, it is September, and we are all aware that the second wave is coming in thick and fast. Coronavirus cases in Europe are skyrocketing each day; meanwhile, local “lockdowns” are popping up all over the country. I say “lockdowns” because, well, they are not lockdowns. They are own-brand lockdowns. They are homemade, soggy-bottomed, knock-off, misspelt lockdowns. They are the Camden market Chanel purse of lockdowns. They are about as real as Dominic Cummings’ motorway eyesight test. They are about as effective as Michael Gove is sexy. These lockdowns are about as adequate as Boris Johnson’s ability to form a full sentence. I could go on. These lockdowns have one rule: no guests in your home. Otherwise, go off sis. Do literally whatever you want. Go to a bar and ‘socially distance’. Go for a cheeky Nandos with your Gran - but don’t you DARE go to her house for a cuppa, for fuck’s sake, what’s wrong with you? Do you want your precious Gran to die? For shame! For SHAME!
Okay, I’m getting carried away here, but you get the gist. The local lockdowns in Manchester, Glasgow and Birmingham, among others, prevent us from seeing friends and family inside our homes, but allow us to go and see them in a dirty pub full of strangers. There is absolutely no hiding it: this is purely to keep the economy alive. They know these lockdowns won’t really work, but they can’t say they haven’t tried when the death knell rings once more. The government know full well the second wave is coming - the question is, who will they blame?
That one’s easy, too - it’s young people. They blame us. In August, the whip was cracked and the instructions clear: ‘Don’t be so selfish, you MUST contribute to our Great British Economy. NOW.’ The Eat Out To Help Out scheme encouraged us all to go back to restaurants, even though many of us felt unsafe doing so. Dettol’s pathetic sick-fest of an advert romanticised our connection to the horrible neon-lit offices we haven’t missed a single bit, all in an effort to save Pret A Manger from liquidation. Ryan Air bulldozed their already-cheap ticket prices, encouraging us all to go on the boozy holidays we wanted to go on in May, but couldn’t. The government took young people’s cabin fever and used it against us. They gave us a playground. Now they’re telling us we’ve done something wrong.
Just a few days ago, Matt Hancock told the BBC that ‘Young people’ could risk a ‘second wave.’ We are already the scapegoats for the oncoming winter disaster, before the death ball has begun rolling. People were, understandably, angry about Hancock’s words. But is there some truth to it?
Disclaimer: I’m about as inclined to agree with Matt Hancock’s pathetic little willy drool rhetoric as much as I am inclined to eat a lit stick of incense, but this subject is a little touchy for me. I won’t lie, I have found these past few months tough, socially speaking. The government placed young people in an impossible position - if we don’t go out, we aren’t doing our bit for the economy. If we go and revel with our friends, we are murdering our fellow citizens. It was a test impossible to pass.
I am a cautious person, when it comes to this kind of thing. I ate out in August only a handful of times. I saw a few close friends on a regular basis, but most of the time we didn’t go to the pub, opting to stay in and have a drink and catch up there. That’s my choice. I chose to be careful, with a few exceptions, because I was worried about what I could be passing around to people without knowing it. Others I know made the opposite choice.
I hate this situation. I scroll through Instagram and become quickly dismayed by the actions of those posting what they’re up to, then immediately judge myself for judging them. I have a few friends who played fast and loose with the rules, going to house parties with different groups, seeing new mates every day, hugging, kissing, dancing, hooking up, going for a cheeky week away in Greece, breaking quarantine when they get back because they’re bored. I have been angry, very angry, with some of my friends this summer. People who I really love and respect, who are clever, socially minded, caring people - activists, even - who simply chose not to care this time.
I also feel guilty about this anger that I feel. I can be a staunchly moralistic person - not my favourite trait about myself, I admit. I don’t want to push my agenda on other people, or tell them how to live their lives. Yet people continue to die of this virus, and I think I have the right to be angry when others don’t appear to be contributing to helping others survive. I am a young person who didn’t bite when the government offered the sweeties - and no, that doesn’t make me a better human being, or put me on a pedestal. I am happy, though, with the choice I made. I think it was the right one.
Youth in this country feel as if we simply cannot win, right? As a young person, your choices are judged ubiquitously - the way you dress, speak, look, act, spend your money, protest, post on your socials - so why care what others think? Fuck the haters, just live your life and express your joy. This much is true. No matter how we act now, the government will blame us, when they are the ones who encouraged us to go out and play. But as young people, particularly in socially conscious and activist circles, we need to be better than doing whatever we want because the government said we can - or because they said we can’t. Our frustration at those in power shouldn’t be a free pass to screw over everyone else.
We, more than anyone, understand that the government is run by a bunch of upper middle class twit-heads with no social conscience whatsoever. We know they don’t care about our wellbeing, or the wellbeing of those we love. So it’s our job to care. No, it isn’t fair. It isn’t fun. It should not be our responsibility to do what they fail to do - which is to protect our communities. But we should be doing it anyway because that’s the fight. The fight isn’t about doing what we’re allowed, it’s about making decisions and sacrifices beyond what is mandated by those in power. Collective care is not easy, but it is important.
So yes, we will be judged when the second wave breaks, and there is no justice in that. At the same time, though, we need to do better. Nobody’s perfect, and all of us have broken the rules along the line. However, COVID-19 is still with us, and we have to act beyond our allowances. We have to act as citizens of the world we want to live in.
Written by Madeleine Goode
Madeleine Goode is a writer, tutor and barista from Manchester. She can be found cute-wrestling any dog she sees, watering her houseplant collection or making cheap jokes on Twitter. She likes to write about current affairs, neoliberalism and feminism, as well as poetry and journal entries. You can find her personal site at www.seizeyourlife.blog; on Instagram and Twitter she is @goodegracious.