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Panorama 2020 E43
Transcript
00:00The city in the eye of the Covid storm.
00:05You took us scoutsers for granted, now we're shoulder to shoulder with the rest of the
00:12North West.
00:13First into the top tier of restrictions.
00:14It feels like we're in this land of the living dead.
00:22Now the first place to get mass testing.
00:25I bit the hand off and I said absolutely, yes.
00:28So let's have it, let's bring it on.
00:31This is a message for the people of Liverpool, for you.
00:35Let's start the fight back against Covid.
00:38So how have people here handled the crisis?
00:42Looking forward to taking him back to school.
00:44Feels so good to get back out.
00:48And will their sacrifices be worth it?
00:52I plead to people, I beg people, beg to follow the rules.
00:58Liverpool, a vibrant capital of culture, a tourism industry worth nearly five billion
01:16pounds.
01:17And officially the best football team in the world.
01:23The sound of Liverpool is BBC Radio Merseyside.
01:36Liverpool city region is to be placed into new tougher coronavirus restrictions as the
01:42area is classed as very high risk.
01:48This city and probably most cities, the taxi drivers and cabbies are the litmus test of
01:55how well the city is doing.
01:57The taxi ranks are full and the shops are empty.
02:03Gary's customers are few and far between.
02:06Now Liverpool's under tight restrictions.
02:09On a normal day, even late October, this area would be absolutely full of people.
02:15And this is a sort of hive of activity.
02:18So it's dead.
02:19It's absolutely dead at the moment.
02:29It's all come as the city, once a great port, has reinvented itself as a cultural and tourist
02:35destination.
02:38So this is the Baltic area of Liverpool.
02:40It's been redeveloped over the last 10 years.
02:44Really exciting area.
02:46One of the crown jewels of the Baltic is 24 Kitchen Street.
02:51Don't watch what it looks like.
02:52It's when you get inside that you realize the magic.
03:02Yao runs some of Liverpool's music festivals.
03:10This is a key venue.
03:11You know, I'll put this in context, you know, next to what the Caverns may be doing in the
03:15late 50s, early 60s.
03:18But it's silent now.
03:20It's a bit dusty on top, it's a bit sad.
03:26For Yao, it's not just a struggle for survival, but for the soul of the city.
03:32We've had this massive cultural renaissance here, and we've been shouting from the rooftops
03:38all over the world about what this city's about.
03:40If Tier 3 continues or escalates and we can't do these things that we're known for, we can't
03:45continue to grow in these areas that we're known for, then what does the city look like
03:51at that point?
03:53And Yao fears there'll be long-term damage.
03:56When you turn on the news and it says Liverpool's the worst and Liverpool's the leader, it's
04:00out of control.
04:01You know, those phrases are really, I believe, are really starting to have a massive impact.
04:11The government's trying to avoid a national lockdown in England, as a second wave of the
04:17coronavirus begins to break.
04:22Only the Liverpool city region is under the toughest measures, with pubs that don't serve
04:27meals forced to close.
04:32Some businesses are closed, stricter rules on meeting between households, no journeys
04:39that aren't essential.
04:42The government gives the region financial support, £44 million.
04:52I go to talk to the city mayor, Joe Anderson, born and raised in Liverpool.
04:59I grew up in the docks.
05:01You know, we had a tough upbringing.
05:03It was, you know, lived in poverty, depended on social services as a kid.
05:10That sense of community where I lived are the things that drive me and keep me passionate
05:15about the best for our city.
05:18Now in charge of that city, Joe's had to implement the toughest rules in England to tackle COVID.
05:25It was worrying.
05:26It was frightening because of the infection rates and the hospital admission rates were
05:31going up.
05:32I think we were putting out messages to try to stop people mixing, socialising, doing
05:37all of the things that, you know, we wanted them to do to stop the spread.
05:42But it wasn't working.
05:43So, you know, we were really concerned.
05:45I think the anxiety was palpable.
05:49Just two days into Tier 3, the mayor himself felt the full force of COVID.
05:55His brother, Bill, became sick.
05:57He was taken into hospital, put in the ICU unit in the Royal Liverpool Hospital, treated
06:05superbly by the staff.
06:08But within sort of eight, nine hours, he'd succumbed to the pressure of the coronavirus
06:13and died.
06:16Not being able to say goodbye, not being able to be there to hold his hand, that's, you
06:23know, it's devastating, it's heartbreaking.
06:27One and a half million people across the city region are now knuckling down under the new
06:39Tier 3 rules.
06:42We wanted to know how people here felt about it, so Panorama carried out a poll of almost
06:48900 people across the Liverpool city region.
06:5262% of them said they were in support of going into Tier 3.
07:00People in the city have been touched.
07:03People in the city have been affected by COVID.
07:05So it doesn't surprise me that 60%, I'm surprised it's low as that, really.
07:14Professor Callum Semple is on the government's SAGE committee, and he lives just across the
07:20Mersey.
07:22Liverpool's a wonderful, vibrant city with quite a strong industrial base.
07:29Population is culturally very diverse, but we sadly do have pockets of some of the greatest
07:34multiple deprivation in Britain, in fact, in Europe.
07:40Callum is a specialist in disease outbreaks like coronavirus.
07:47Tell me about Liverpool's demographic and why that feeds into the COVID situation.
07:53The highest levels of COVID activity mirror the areas where there's highest degrees of
07:58deprivation, and that's because there's been generations of poor diet, multiple occupancy
08:04within houses.
08:05Viruses, they pick on people, they don't pick on the strong and the healthy, they pick on
08:11the weak.
08:14Callum's own view is the first national lockdown in March ended too soon for the North West.
08:21While the South and South East were really at very, very low levels, we were still seeing
08:26sustained transmission in the community.
08:28To put it into context, if this was a fire and the lockdown starved that fire of oxygen,
08:36then the fire went out in the South, to all intents and purposes, whereas in the North,
08:41the embers were still glowing, and when the oxygen was put back in, the bonfire started again.
08:48We asked people how closely they were following the restrictions.
08:52Eighty-six per cent said they were sticking to the rules all or most of the time.
08:59But I keep hearing from people here that the rules don't all make sense.
09:05I'm on a ferry crossing the Mersey to the Wirral to visit one business that quickly
09:10became the centre of a row over Tier 3 rules.
09:22This is the body tech gym.
09:26I'm 79, but fully functional, 100 per cent operational.
09:32Regulars like William rely on it, and it's keeping him going.
09:38It's a social aspect of my life. I attend the gym six days a week.
09:43It is my reason for living, if you like.
09:49Under Tier 3, all gyms across Liverpool City region were told to close.
10:01Nick is the owner here. He thought it was wrong.
10:05It's opening up wounds that had only just started to heal,
10:08and it's like, here we go again. This time, it doesn't seem just.
10:13We don't have a High Street any more, you know. There's nothing left.
10:16It's literally all that's left in our little town.
10:18So, for me personally, it's everything, and I believe I speak for my members
10:22when I say it is for them as well.
10:27Nick grew up here and, as a teenager, founded a free-running club.
10:32When we were younger, it's all we had to kind of channel our energy.
10:36You know, we lost our youth clubs and everything else quite early,
10:38so all we really had was each other.
10:40You know, that community spirit's really stuck with me.
10:44Now Nick's got a battle on his hands.
10:49The data's unclear, but he argues there's only a small risk of gyms
10:53spreading the virus.
10:55We're going to stand strong, not because we were reckless,
10:58but because we had the government's own data that supported our cause.
11:03How does it take an uneducated business owner from Liverpool
11:10to articulate government's own data back to them?
11:15The first day, the police arrived in force.
11:19Nick was fined £1,000 but refused to close his gym.
11:24Others in Liverpool are also resisting the rules imposed by Westminster.
11:31Please, sir, can I have some more?
11:33Sorry, son, we don't give to the norm.
11:37People take to the streets, some Covid deniers, others angry about money.
11:44I think that it's at the risk of the economy,
11:49it's at the risk of people's poverty, it's going to bring poverty to the city.
11:54Frustrated about the rules.
11:57Are you abiding by the restrictions or not?
12:01Erm, no.
12:03I don't know, not mixing your households, that sort of thing?
12:07Er, no, I'm not abiding by them, just because it's just...
12:11I feel like it's a violation against my own freedom.
12:14I just feel like they're taking away our freedom, you know?
12:18They're just taking away our rights, yeah.
12:22You took us Scousers for granted, you picked the wrong city to test,
12:26and now we're shoulder to shoulder with the rest of the North West.
12:30CHEERING
12:38This is the first time I've seen a police officer
12:41wearing a mask.
12:45This car boot sale is still open in Sefton.
12:49Here, people who don't wear masks are a problem for Dave.
12:53Right, take your mask off.
12:55No point, it's a nice neckchief, looks great.
12:57Do you want a mask as well?
12:59He's trying his best to get people to stay safe.
13:03Keep them on, keep them on, fellas.
13:05When you're on the site, stick the mask on.
13:07What about the guy behind me? Yeah, we're going to get everyone.
13:10Do you want to tell the camera?
13:12And yeah, you've got a car boot sale on.
13:14I don't know if you breathe through your pocket, mate,
13:16but I breathe through my mouth.
13:18Stick it on your face.
13:20Just don't want to be on people's back all the time about it.
13:22However, they're starting to now get it now, the reason why.
13:26There's a chap who was a lovely man who used to come here,
13:30and he wouldn't wear a mask.
13:32It's not just here he's caught this,
13:34but he got it, and he's died.
13:36He's died of Covid-19.
13:38It shocked the hell out of me.
13:40I was like...
13:42I physically stopped at the gate,
13:44and I had tears in my eyes.
13:46Every time we seen him, we asked him to wear a mask,
13:48and he wouldn't do it because he was like,
13:50I don't need one, that's a load of rubbish.
13:52God, he's dead, he's dead.
13:54People really need to say, well, hang on,
13:56what use are my civil rights, human rights,
13:58when I'm six foot under,
14:00because I wouldn't put a mask on?
14:03There is some government and council support in Liverpool
14:07under Tier 3,
14:09but deprived communities are feeling the pressure.
14:15For a century, the flurry has been
14:17at the heart of Toxteth and Dingbo.
14:24They're going out to 200 children today.
14:27Anne runs the centre.
14:29It's half term,
14:32so they're focusing on getting food donations
14:34out to families.
14:39Have you found that things have got worse
14:41for local families during Tier 3?
14:43Is there a recognisable difference?
14:45Absolutely, absolutely there's a difference.
14:47What we're finding is,
14:49we're seeing more and more people
14:51who are coming to us because
14:53they've lost their jobs because of Covid
14:55and because of Tier 3
14:57and the new lockdown.
14:59The team from the flurry
15:01is carrying out welfare checks
15:03in the neighbourhood.
15:08Are you OK? Are you coping OK?
15:10You've got plenty of people coming to see you.
15:12It's only my daughter, that's all.
15:14My son comes, but he'll only stay at the door.
15:17And it's terrible for you, isn't it?
15:19As a family.
15:21It's so hard for you not to see them as well, isn't it?
15:23Yeah.
15:25People are so confused about it,
15:28especially older people.
15:30They're worried they'll stay in
15:32and wait until they're told
15:34what they can and cannot do.
15:36But there's been so many different messages
15:38around what Tier 3 means.
15:40A lot of people are scared to go to shops.
15:42They're scared to leave their homes,
15:44a lot of people.
15:52Near the flurry,
15:54I'm meeting someone who is doing her best
15:56to follow the rules.
15:58Hello!
16:00You must be Rachel.
16:02I am.
16:04Very nice to meet you. I'm Jane.
16:06Rachel's son has to self-isolate.
16:08Like thousands of children
16:10in Liverpool,
16:12he's been sent home
16:14because someone in his class
16:16got the virus.
16:18His character's completely changed
16:20in lockdown.
16:22To get back to school in September
16:25I feel I was being isolated
16:27and sent home last Thursday.
16:29He keeps dropping
16:31in conversation again.
16:33Oh, Mummy, I want to go back to school.
16:35We're not going back into lockdown, are we, Mum?
16:37You know, you have your good days,
16:39you have your bad days.
16:41People are calling it the corona coaster.
16:43I'm trying my best to do what I can
16:45to stay upbeat.
16:47Rachel agrees with the restrictions.
16:49Jaron has a medical condition
16:51that makes him vulnerable to the virus.
16:53It's not really good on people's well-being
16:55and mental health.
16:57There's no end to this.
17:07It's the night before Halloween
17:09in the streets round the flurry.
17:11And it's traditional for kids to be out
17:15making mayhem.
17:19The police are keeping a watchful eye.
17:23People shouldn't be out mixing in large groups.
17:27In the last three weeks
17:29more than 230 fines have been issued
17:31across Merseyside
17:33for breaking Covid rules.
17:35But there's good news
17:37for one man in his stand-off
17:39with the law.
17:41BBC Radio Merseyside.
17:43The mayor of the Liverpool City region
17:45has exclusively revealed
17:47that gyms will now be able
17:49to reopen.
17:52The government's changed its mind.
17:54Nick's no longer breaking the law
17:56by keeping his gym open.
17:58What does it mean looking out there
18:00and seeing your door open to the street now?
18:04It means everything.
18:06Not just to myself but to our community.
18:08It's incredible.
18:10I've experienced no feeling like it before in my life.
18:14It's a victory not just for me
18:16not just for our region
18:18but for the country as a whole.
18:21This is a good day.
18:23It's a really good day for all of us.
18:27A victory for Nick and the gym.
18:29But there's bad news for Liverpool.
18:33Liverpool's hospitals
18:35are now treating more people
18:37with coronavirus than they were
18:39during the peak in April.
18:43Hospital beds are filling up fast.
18:45The virus is out of control
18:47and it takes no prisoners.
18:49So concerned is the council
18:51it's sent cameras
18:53into the city's main hospital,
18:55The Royal.
18:57The mayor gives the public
18:59a stark message.
19:01I'm telling you that your actions
19:03can and will make a difference.
19:05Our wards are becoming
19:07very, very full.
19:11So many people
19:14are dying of Covid
19:16across the Liverpool region.
19:18So many families
19:20affected by the tragedy.
19:22I'm off to meet
19:24someone who's just lost
19:26a loved one.
19:38Jack, how nice to see you.
19:40I'm really sorry to disturb you.
19:42It's such a difficult time for you
19:44and your family.
19:46Just tell us a bit about Pamela.
19:48Was she younger than you?
19:50No, she was 10 years older than me.
19:52She said, this is my baby brother.
19:58She was proud of me.
20:00She couldn't see me passing out
20:02when I was in the army.
20:04I was 17 years of age.
20:06It was the most proudest day of my life.
20:08My mum was there.
20:12Jack was with his sister Pamela
20:14at Aintree Hospital when she died.
20:20The nurse and the doctors
20:22were running around
20:24and I just felt for them.
20:26They were marvellous.
20:28They were the angels.
20:30The doctors were
20:32just superhuman.
20:34It must have been so hard.
20:36What it is, is I've seen it.
20:38I've seen the NHS
20:41breaking under the strain.
20:43They're not broken, but they're breaking.
20:45They're nearly there.
20:47I've not seen my grandkids
20:49and my children
20:51for weeks and months.
20:53It hurts, but I don't want to die.
20:55I don't want them to die.
20:57I want to see them.
20:59I want a good life.
21:01If you don't follow the rules
21:03we'll be in this lockdown again
21:05and lockdown again and lockdown again
21:07because you're not following the rules.
21:09To follow the rules.
21:11Do you want your sister to die?
21:13Do you want your dad to die?
21:15Do you want your brothers to die?
21:17Your sons?
21:19No, you don't.
21:23I'm sorry.
21:39There's a glimmer
21:41of hope for the city.
21:43There's a time lag between people getting
21:45the virus and then being admitted
21:47to hospital and the infection
21:49rate has started to drop.
21:53So is Tier 3 working
21:55for Liverpool?
21:57It's very hard to say that it's working
21:59or working well enough.
22:01My personal opinion
22:03is that it's led to
22:05a decrease in transmission
22:08but not enough.
22:10The outbreak has risen
22:12starting to plateau but it's plateauing
22:14at a bad place.
22:16It's not coming down.
22:18So we've got high levels of activity
22:20of Covid in the community
22:22high admission rates
22:24and high admission rates to intensive care
22:26and they will result in death.
22:28Not just in Liverpool.
22:30The government is saying its data
22:32predicts a high death toll
22:34across the country.
22:36The virus is spreading too quickly
22:38despite the sacrifices made by
22:40people under local restrictions.
22:46Earlier I'd met Elaine
22:48and Peter.
22:50Their business was struggling under Tier 3.
22:52They ran three Spanish restaurants
22:54in the North West.
22:56Two of them in Liverpool.
22:58Do you like calamari?
23:00They'd already had to make tough decisions.
23:02Following the March lockdown
23:05the government decided to close one restaurant
23:07making a third of their staff redundant.
23:09We were predicting
23:11catastrophic losses
23:13of about £14,000 to £15,000 a week.
23:15That would have collapsed
23:17the whole company
23:19so that's why we made that decision.
23:21We'd planned a Zoom call
23:23and I think eventually
23:25we did it between 9 and 10
23:27as we were trying to
23:30get the courage
23:32to give people
23:34some really
23:36what was going to be awful news
23:38their jobs were disappearing
23:40and we didn't say this
23:42but the reality was going to be
23:44that no one was going to find it easy
23:46to get another job.
23:48We know that if our business
23:50is going to go down
23:52it's not going to be easy
23:54to get another job.
23:56We know that if our business
23:58fails then 60 odd people
24:00will lose their jobs
24:02and that's going to have a massive
24:04impact on them
24:06and their families
24:08so it's just a huge
24:10responsibility to try
24:12and not let that happen
24:14and to try and survive
24:16into next year.
24:18Lanya had stayed open
24:20under Tier 3
24:22yet few people came
24:24because of the restrictions.
24:27It feels like we're in this land
24:29of the living dead at the moment
24:31waiting for an announcement
24:33to say right, it's full closure
24:35and for us at the moment
24:37full closure would be more beneficial
24:39than the state we're in
24:41at the moment.
24:43The city region found
24:45£40m to support
24:47hospitality and leisure under Tier 3.
24:49Peter and Elaine have
24:51had some financial help.
24:53Back in September
24:55they wanted a national lockdown
24:57not local restrictions.
24:59They thought their business would have a better
25:01chance of survival.
25:07People in England are facing a new lockdown
25:09scheduled to last a month.
25:11Well I mean sadly not remotely
25:13surprised but profoundly
25:15disappointed and frustrated
25:17that it is, it's like Groundhog Day.
25:19I was with Peter
25:21as the Prime Minister announced
25:24the second national lockdown.
25:26Pubs, bars,
25:28restaurants must close.
25:30How do you think
25:32you and people in Liverpool feel
25:34having gone through Tier 3 and now to hear this?
25:36I think
25:38there's a very sad
25:40and smug we told you so.
25:42More livelihoods would have been
25:44saved in September.
25:46Locally we're having to
25:48suffer further because nationally
25:50they're behind the curve
25:52and it's like a double whammy for us.
25:54This time schools are staying open
25:56during lockdown.
25:58Morning Rachel. Morning, how are you doing?
26:00Hi, morning Jaron, how are you?
26:02It's a relief for Rachel.
26:04Now Jaron's finished his quarantine.
26:06Looking forward to
26:08taking him back to school. Feels so good
26:10to get back out. How are you Jaron?
26:12Are you looking forward to school?
26:14Excited to see your friends and your teachers.
26:16For now they're making
26:18the most of it.
26:21Come Jack, please.
26:23It's like dangling a carry
26:25in front of us and saying, come on, you can come out now
26:27but we don't know what's coming on the next week's
26:29news.
26:35That evening the city locks down
26:37along with the rest of England.
26:41Nick closes his gym
26:43once more.
26:47Scumbags!
26:49Scumbags!
26:51Some people are back in the streets here
26:53still denying the dangers of
26:55Covid, angry at the
26:57authorities.
26:59Nearly 2,000 people have died
27:01in the city region during the pandemic.
27:09But after everything
27:11Liverpool has been through
27:13it's been thrown a lifeline.
27:15If you live or
27:18you work in Liverpool you can get tested
27:20for Covid-19 whether you have symptoms
27:22or not.
27:24And people are queuing around
27:26the block to take advantage of it.
27:28Anyone in Liverpool
27:30can now be tested.
27:32The city is at the forefront
27:34for a mass testing
27:36programme supported by the army.
27:38Those with no symptoms
27:40can attend these centres
27:42to help stop the virus spreading
27:44undetected.
27:47The mayor seized the opportunity
27:49when the government came calling.
27:51I bit the hand off and I said
27:53absolutely, yes, so let's have it
27:55let's bring it on.
27:57If it's successful and I think it will be
27:59then what it can help us do as well
28:01is not just here in Liverpool or Liverpool city
28:03region or the North West
28:05it can help us across the country.
28:07It means people can try to go back to
28:09a sort of normal.
28:13I promise you you won't find a more
28:15resilient and tougher group of people
28:17than Scoutsers.
28:19Many, many people have tried in the past
28:21to stamp on us and tread us down
28:23and not many have succeeded.
28:25So we'll get through it
28:27we'll unite and come through it.
28:45For more UN videos visit www.un.org
28:49www.un.org.uk