• last year
Are you worried about catching coronavirus? Fresh concerns from health professionals arise amid a surge in the number of cases and the identification of a new strain of the virus here in the UK. We asked the British public - would you support the return of measures like mask wearing and social distancing, or even lockdowns?
Transcript
00:00 There's been a rise in a lot of COVID cases. Are you concerned by that?
00:05 Yeah, because I've got more health problems than I did have. I've got diabetes, I've got
00:10 cholesterol, I've got A, but with diabetes it's a problem I think. Obviously there were
00:16 a lot of people down there and obviously when it was really bad.
00:20 Yeah, I'm not worried because I think COVID is something we're going to have to live with.
00:25 I don't know if I got it during the pandemic symptomatically. I might have had it asymptomatically.
00:30 But I was classified as a key worker through the pandemic so I worked without really any
00:35 problem. Yes, I'm not too worried about it.
00:37 COVID?
00:38 Yeah, are you worried at all? Are you really thinking about it?
00:41 Nah, I think COVID's dead and buried. I don't think I worry about that. Nothing to worry
00:45 about at all.
00:46 Yeah, you wouldn't be thinking about it even if numbers...
00:48 Not at all. Not at all.
00:50 According to the Zoe Health study, which estimates COVID figures in the UK, the numbers of coronavirus
00:54 cases jumped by nearly 200,000 in July, from just over 600,000 predicted cases to almost
01:00 800,000. It comes after the Aries variant of the virus, a descendant of Omicron, became
01:06 the second most prevalent strain here in Britain. The numbers say one thing, but are people
01:11 concerned? We took to the streets in a city near you to find out.
01:15 Not concerned about it. I have heard about it and especially up in Scotland, but I think
01:20 that's the children going back to school. Nowadays, COVID, you've just got to live with
01:25 it. You know, you're going to work. It's just part of having a cold now, isn't it? And some
01:30 sort of virus.
01:31 Yeah, I think it's very serious. I think people should be more cautious like they did two
01:38 years ago, you know, maybe when it was at the height.
01:41 So would you support the return of measures like mask wearing, social distancing?
01:45 I certainly would. Certainly would.
01:48 It does worry me for like my older family members and people that are more at risk.
01:53 I do worry about what happens to them, but I don't think that it's as extreme to need
01:58 to return to mask wearing and lockdowns at the moment.
02:01 If it goes up, it would affect me really badly because of my disability and my mental health
02:09 issues. I didn't very well last time when the coronavirus came. It sent me really bad
02:18 depression. I've lost a few of my friends through it and I lost my family through it.
02:25 This is just basically a conclusion, like consequences of people not caring because
02:29 they thought it'll never happen to them. And obviously they may be OK now, but now it's
02:33 happening to them because they never really prepared themselves for it. You know what
02:36 I mean?
02:37 Not really, no. I think they overhyped these things. And I reckon, don't worry, I'm fine
02:43 now. We reckon we had it a while back, but it's like a bad cold, you get over it. But
02:49 I'm not being blasé about it. Yes, I know so many people have died, you know, and I
02:56 know it can be extremely serious, but we have to carry on, I think, you know.

Recommended