katharineThe UK is going to preserve the performative grief wall maintained by white people who refuse to mask and just kind of guess that Covid deaths, while sad and worth commemorating, just somehow happen to unlucky people who are unfortunately still catching Covid in some mysterious way.
Every time I criticize that group, it makes me feel like I'm also trivializing the deaths of very real human beings who deserved to be protected. And that's not my intention. I just don't think the group painting red hearts on an old wall understands Covid at all.
Look, maybe they do mean well, their hearts are in the right place, deserve some sort of slack, etc. But those of us who still acknowledge the reality of the ongoing pandemic also mean well and our hearts are in the right place and have been grieving and carrying on *with* precautions and some understanding of the virus—many having lost loved ones to Covid directly or post-infection complications. There’s room to commemorate the dead AND protect the living.
It’s really irritating because it’s a primo opportunity for awareness and advocacy and it’s being squandered.
Grief in an ongoing pandemic is a tangled mess.
Those committed to avoiding Covid infections and those dealing with Long Covid and post-infection health issues triggered/accelerated by Covid seem to be much more invested in learning about and keeping up with developments re: the virus and prevention methods. It’s not as obvious where people who lost loved ones to acute Covid infections stand on awareness and advocacy. Bereavement resources are in scant supply.
Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Bereaved
The COVID-19 pandemic has killed millions across the world in only two years. Government health restrictions aimed at preventing transmission have impacted typical mourning practices such as funeral gatherings and in-person grief support services. ...
Phil Sherry@thatkatharine They’ll be the sort that think prayers help, so science is a bit beyond them.
Jennifer Moore 😷Oh interesting. Now that I think about it, I do think the meaning of that wall has shifted from when it was first created.
When it was new, it was a visualisation of the terrible scale of loss, and a way for grieving people to come together.
Now it could easily also function as a frozen symbol of "that was then, covid's in the past now" erasing the present-day deaths.
I don't think I would remove it, though. For the people conceptualising covid as a "that was then, it's in the past", getting rid of the memorial wouldn't reverse that. If anything, removing the paint and writing would seem to me more like symbolising "we're going to act as if none of that ever happened at all, so we don't need a reminder of it". And I imagine the wall is probably still very meaningful to many of the grieving people.
At the same time, it would be good if we could honour the dead by collaborating to push R down below 1...
@unchartedworlds It’s not just about maintenance. They’re still adding recent losses and updating their banners of lives lost with Covid marked as cause of death. They know Covid is still around and causing death, but they seem annoying uncurious about what it is or how to stop it.
I think there should be memorials everywhere. I think they should include everyone who’s died with/of/from Covid and of health issues accelerated by Covid infections.
Oh, I think I didn't understand what you meant at first - maybe because I've not seen what you've seen of the activities of the maintenance group. Thanks for explaining.