On the 23rd of March 2020 (just over three years ago) Covid-19 restrictions began in the UK, with the introduction of the very first nation-wide Lockdown. Since this fateful date, the deadly virus has played a pivotal part in the lives of so many up and down the country, but how has it changed the way we think all these years later?

Recently, there has been a slight surge in local cases recorded by the Government in Wiltshire, many studies have shown that (despite the mass outbreak occurring in early 2020) Covid-19 will stick around for a very long time and is likely to be passed around a community like Wiltshire very frequently. A 17% increase of recorded cases in the last week is concrete evidence of the lingering presence that Covid-19 possesses and furthermore indicates what can be expected in future years.

The Coronavirus Pandemic left a lasting impact on many people across the world, as well as shaping the views we have on so many different parts of life today. The way that many people carry out everyday activities has been drastically affected by Covid-19 and there are subliminal changes that the mind makes in adjustment to the experience gained during the height of the Pandemic. For example; pre-2020, the idea of holding a business meeting over a video chat website (such as Zoom) would seem absurd, yet three years on it appears to be a very common way of conducting business / social meetings of all types. In some industries the traditional 5 days a week based in a communal office has been replaced with more flexible ‘working from home’ arrangements. Further studies have shown many more children living a more sedentary lifestyle, where little exercise is involved, resulting in a spike in childhood obesity figures (with one in four 10-and 11-year olds being obese). So, overall, a question is posed as to whether Covid-19 has changed the way we think? Has it changed the way we live and work? What can definitely be stated, is that there are years of reflection and discussion ahead of us all, weighing up which changes we may class as positive and indeed, which are negative.

Perhaps one thing we might all empathise with, is the ongoing confusion when we contract Covid in 2023, and are now meant to go about our day as normal. How do we retrain our brains after a prolonged period of isolation, and not feel that sense of guilt for mixing with our fellow human beings?