by Alex Edwards (HTV and Year 12 student)
Tuesday 23rd March 2021, 12:00 noon, we all stand in silence and solitude one year on from the day our lives turned upside down.
One year on from the day Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the first stay at home order, sending the whole of the nation into lockdown. The country sent into hiding to protect ourselves from the new coronavirus strain. Covid-19.
Since the first stay at home order Covid-19 has showed the UK and the rest of the globe no mercy, current statistics stand at 3.76 million cases nationwide, of those roughly 111K deaths. As we stand here today, one year on, back at school after weeks of home learning, parents and teachers back working on site and the country slowly approaching the end of our third lockdown, we reflect.
We reflect on how quickly the virus took hold, how many family members friends and neighbours caught the virus and unfortunately even the 2.73 million people worldwide who lost their life to coronavirus.
It’s important to take this time. Reflection allows us to truly understand how much the pandemic has affected us, how it turned our lives upside down, to remember how many friends, family and neighbours we lost on the way.
But also, it’s important to reflect on our courage and determination, how even when times got tough we stuck together and came out the other side. We reflect on the truly selfless nature of the NHS and how, despite putting their lives at risk, the thousands of doctors, nurses and other key workers continued to provide the care and help we need at times like these.
At Heathfield Community College at 12:00 noon on Tuesday 23rd March 2021, we stood and remembered and said thank you.