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Long Covid- the ongoing cultural impact of the virus
The pandemic has had a disproportionate effect on out cultural and creative lives
Long Covid is not just about the devastating impact that the virus may wreak on the physical and psychological well being of an individual. The effects of the pandemic has stretched its long tentacles out to many areas of our local communities and larger societies.
In particular, it is the cultural and creative sectors that have been hit hard by the rigours of social distancing. Although normal service has been resumed, the cultural effects of the pandemic will continue long into the future. With the virus still out there — beaten, bloodied but not yet dead — many people remain reluctant to return to the old ways of close and prolonged social contact in pubs and clubs, festivals, trade fairs, recreational and educational facilities.
The work force is also having a major rethink regarding how things are done, favouring the possibility of a shorter working week for the same amount of work and salary, as well as continuing the trend to work from home. Now the genie is out of the bottle many people do not wish to return to how things were done before, just because that was how it was done. The enforced changes, imposed by the pandemic, has led to a reluctance to just return…
