Melissa Tilling: ‘Covid-19’s legacy should not be about despair’

I’ve even seen a meme of Back To The Future’s Marty McFly being warned by Doc Brown: “Whatever happens, do not go back to the future to 2020!” But I pray that actually 2020 it’s celebrated as the year we learnt to #BuildBackBetter.

It’s hard to believe we’re in June; so much has happened – and not happened – in just six months. The soul-searching, self-examination and reverberations of change during lockdown are palpable. Action, though, has to continue to be taken.

Embracing the #BeKind message and understanding that mental health matters; watching out for one another; volunteering; showing outrage, supporting and really committing to change for the #BlackLivesMatter movement; and recognising the environmental opportunity afforded to the planet and people by global lockdowns. These are all actions that should be carried forward.

Can six months change a community psyche and how we relate to each other?

We should not forget 2020 and everything we have learnt. We cannot simply pick up where we left off because through adversity we have been shown a way to evolve and create something tremendously positive from the awful price of peoples’ lives and other innumerable challenges Covid-19 has created globally.

The environment: how do we capitalise on the positive effects on the environment that came from reduction in human impact? People have been saying they can see the stars, they can see the sea is cleaner and the air is not smoggy.