Resurgence of COVID-19

For a few months, the country was living under the Tier system. This meant that different counties were put under restrictions of varying severity in an attempt to suppress the virus. To begin with, there were three tiers, with tier three entailing the toughest level of restrictions. If somewhere was in tier three, it meant that non-essential businesses had to close and social gatherings were restricted to just six people. The idea of Manchester going into tier three really worried me and I watched the news closely as Andy Burnham, the mayor, took the fight to the government and tried to stop them putting us into this higher set of restrictions.

On the 31st of October 2020, Boris Johnson announced that the UK would be going into a second national lockdown which was to last for a month. November was a very difficult time and it seemed to last forever. I have some very interesting memories of walking through the streets of Manchester as they were completely deserted. I found lockdown much more emotionally impactful in the city as opposed to the countryside where that kind of quietness is normal.

Thankfully, we were allowed to stay at university throughout this second national lockdown, still only coming in for a couple of days each week. I had a love-hate relationship with this. I liked the social interaction of staying on campus but being in the classroom didn't feel very safe and the atmosphere was quite oppressive. The corridors were almost deserted and there was only one group of students allowed on campus at a time.

At the beginning of December, I went back to my parents' house to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city. This was good, but it ended up being a bit more than I bargained for. On the 19th of December, the government announced that Tier 4 was coming into effect. Areas in Tier 4 were essentially in full lockdown. Not long after, it was announced that Manchester would be going into Tier 4 and travel in and out of the area would be restricted. I did not want to stay at my parents, so I went back to Manchester to live in my flat.

A few long months of living in my student accommodation throughout Lockdown 3 ensued. At this point, it was deemed unsafe to go to university due to the emergence of the Alpha variant (a.k.a the Kent variant) of COVID and extremely high levels of hospitalisation so all of my classes were moved online and were conducted through Microsoft Teams. Not everybody chose to come back to their accommodation after Christmas and many stayed with their families until we were allowed to return to in-person teaching in March.

January, February and the first half of March was a pretty dark and dull time. Lots of people were finding it difficult to keep their morale up and the atmosphere was one of fear, uncertainty and anger at the government's handling of the situation. I think I will always remember it as one of the most interesting and challenging times of my life.