Silver linings and peacetime heroes

Sarah Vine wrote about the death of the mother of a ‘very dear friend’ on Sunday.

It was not just the fact hat she died that shocked everyone, she said. but that she died alone without her loved ones by her side.

“She never got the chance to squeeze her husband’s hand one last time, or hug her teenage grandchildren, or tell her sons she loved them. And, after she had gone, her two boys weren’t even allowed to see her body, to say one final goodbye,” she said.

“When I spoke to my friend, the gut-wrenching grief he felt was almost matched by the anger, the utter desolation, of this final insult.

“‘She did not deserve this,’ he said, and he’s right.”

She said the virus has changed the way we now face death. Her parents told her weeks ago that people in Italy - where they live - with coronavirus were refusing to go to hospital because they didn’t want to die without their relatives there.

“None of this is the fault of the doctors and nurses. Patient volumes are such that staff are doing what they can to keep someone alive,” she said.

“There must be some way in which a single hospital visit for a loved one could be arranged with PPE gear,

“There is a deep, visceral and painful response to enforced separation — and if the rules mean you can’t see your mother even after she has died, it is brutally inhuman.

“The virus may have robbed us — for now — of our freedom; but we must make sure it never takes away our humanity.”

The Guardian

Farrah Jarral, broadcaster and doctor, said the idea that the pandemic might have some upsides seemed almost distasteful.

She said it would be some time before we see what the full fallout of the effects on our mental health will be, particularly for those more vulnerable.

“As academic Cynthia Enloe put it, “We aren’t all in this together’,” she said. “We’re in the same rough seas, but we’re in very different boats. And some of those boats are very leaky. And some of those boats were never given oars.

“Yet in all the darkness there have been some real hopeful shifts.”

She said that for those who can work from home in a safe and secure environment, the lockdown has had ‘some unexpected silver linings.’

“Some people with mental health conditions have reported feeling much better since the lockdown started. A housebound 58-year-old woman with debilitating obsessive compulsive disorder and social anxiety told me she felt as if the rhythm of the world was finally chiming with her own life. Some of her biggest anxieties around contamination and handwashing were “going mainstream” and settling as a result.”

She also cited the example of a 42-year-old lecturer who suffers with depression and anxiety. Since lockdown, he too feels relief and less anxious as the pace of life eases up and he no longer commutes to work.

“We have a precious opportunity to think about the ways in which “normal” life can make people anxious and ill,” she said. “If we can change the arrangement of the post-pandemic world to prioritise compassion, pay people decently, value essential workers, and to fund our public services properly, perhaps we can hang on to this silver lining.”

The Daily Express

Leo McKinstry said the nation stopping to remember those healthcare workers who have lost their lives in the fight against coronavirus was a deeply moving collective act of respect.

“From politicians to council staff, in hospital car parks and supermarket queues, the silence was rigorously observed,” he said. “It was fitting that yesterday’s tribute carried an echo of the Remembrance events in November.

“Today, we owe a colossal debt to the heroic professionals - more than 130 of them have paid the ultimate price - who risk their lives to save others.”

Without their actions, he said, the virus would have brought greater destruction.

“Winston Churchill wrote that “courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees all others”,” he added.

“That truth is embodied in the tragic but noble roll-call of the fallen healthcare workers.

He called for a statue to honour them. “We have great works dedicated to the heroes of wartime. There should also be one to the heroes of peacetime.”