THIS week marks the first anniversary of lockdown. It’s not a milestone many of us wish to celebrate.
It has been a grim year, with families and friends separated. Loved ones have been taken from us. The economic cost still needs to be counted. Education has been difficult, home schooling or no schooling.
Dreams have been put on hold: weddings cancelled, anniversaries unmarked, holidays pulled and hair left uncut.
We’re at the stage where people fantasise about the mundane. Even pulling teeth at the dentist seems like an exotic day out.
While there does seem to be light at the end of the tunnel, thanks to the NHS’s amazing work with the vaccine roll-out and the new lateral flow tests that can be carried out at home, the talk of a third wave is disconcerting and dismaying.
However, it is even more disappointing that Boris Johnson has refused efforts to launch an inquiry into the early stages of the pandemic.
There is much we need to learn and improve on quickly in case a similar virus strikes us again.
We have to ensure that the right systems are in place to protect us, from PPE, track and trace and ways to manage lockdowns. That can only come from an investigation – it is needed now.
The Voice of Wokingham is the editorial of Wokingham.Today