top of page
Search

Coronavirus crisis: We are not ‘all in this together’

  • kayeoholland
  • Aug 24, 2020
  • 3 min read

Updated: Nov 16, 2020

It’s great that we are all in this together except for everyone who isn't

I rather like “Dishy” Rishi Sunak, really I do, but I wish he and his Conservative cohorts would stop saying: “We’re all in this together.”

It’s become the catchphrase of the coronavirus, a rallying cry that Covid-19 is a great equaliser: “We’re all in this together.”

Only we’re not in this together, not even close. Rather than being a great equaliser, the coronavirus has been the great revealer – exposing economic and race based inequalities once again. 

The rich and middle classes have been able to ride out the Covid-19 storm in second homes and sun-kissed gardens. Conversely the less advantaged were cooped up in small houses and high-rise flats with cardboard-thin walls and no outdoor space. 

They were often forced to share the open-plan kitchen/dining/living room with in-laws spanning three generations, with the TV turned up to drown out the noise from next-door – all the while trying not to explode.

Affluent professionals work safely from home on high-speed internet connection but blue collar workers – supermarket assistants, care workers, bus drivers, hospital porters and cleaners – must serve members of the public who don’t always wear masks.

Those who have a job are probably better off financially due to our inability to travel and socialise in our usual fashion.

Those who have been furloughed will worry that they won’t have a job to go back to in November. However in the meantime they are being paid unto 80 per cent of their salary by the government (companies can top up this pay if they choose) and afforded the time to come up with a Plan B should they, heaven forbid, end up needing one.

By contrast those who have lost their jobs amid the current Covid-19 crisis get nothing. And, let’s face it, those who work in certain industries – travel, leisure, hospitality, events, the arts – aren’t likely to be employed again anytime soon, leaving them struggling to survive and frantically applying for universal credit. (Unless, as is the case for a couple of my friends, you’ve spent decades saving up for your first flat and the government turns around and tells you to live off your deposit).

Elsewhere plenty of virus-hit self-employed have qualified for Sunak’s coronavirus relief package, but equally there’s a profusion of self-employed people – such as PAYE freelancers, limited company contractors and the newly self-employed – who have been excluded from the scheme and left to collapse.

The pandemic has disclosed other disparities too: people from BAME backgrounds are at a higher risk of dying from coronavirus, while those living in the poorest areas are twice as likely to die from covid as those in the wealthiest neighbourhoods. Being male, over 70 and plagued by underlying health issues puts you at further risk.

Some have lost loved ones to this dreaded disease, and been robbed of communal support and time-honoured rituals to help them cope with their loss. Others, fortunately,  haven’t been touched by death during the time of Covid-19.

Bottom line? Yes we’ve ALL missed our friends and family – and hugs, handshakes and other human contact, particularly if you live alone – but remember that while for some Covid-19 has been an incredibly frustrating and inconvenient time, for others it’s an unmitigated disaster.

“We’re all in this together.” It’s a sweet sentiment, borrowed by Sunak from one of his predecessors, but when it comes to the coronavirus, it’s simply not true.


 
 
 

Comments


bottom of page