It seems that for some, the COVID-19 pandemic is an event that must never be forgotten; a chapter in history that must be revisited over and over again, with a sense of relentless victimhood. Despite the reality that, for most, COVID-19 was a mild virus that the majority survived without lasting consequence, a narrative of widespread trauma continues to be pushed. Nurses, doctors, and even journalists insist that they are still suffering, unable to move on from the so-called ‘trauma’ of the pandemic years.
The endless fixation on pandemic-related stress has been most pronounced in the healthcare profession. Doctors and nurses, who have always worked long hours under demanding conditions, now claim that COVID-19 pushed them into a state of lasting burnout. But were they truly working harder than usual? While some medical professionals undoubtedly faced increased demands, many hospital wards were empty; non-COVID cases were sidelined, and emergency Nightingale hospitals stood largely unused. Meanwhile, countless nurses found the time to choreograph TikTok dance routines, hardly the image of an overburdened workforce.
Even five years post-pandemic, articles continue to lament how ‘burned out’ medical professionals are, suggesting that COVID-19 somehow “supercharged” workplace stress. Yet, burnout has long been a concern in healthcare, predating the pandemic by decades. The notion that COVID-19 was an unprecedented catastrophe for frontline workers appears exaggerated when one considers that many doctors and nurses saw fewer patients overall due to lockdowns and postponed treatments.
Beyond healthcare, journalists too, claim to have suffered lasting psychological harm. Italian reporters, in particular, speak of their ‘lingering trauma’ from covering the pandemic. We are told they experience flashbacks at the sound of an ambulance siren or are haunted by memories of military trucks transporting coffins. But is this genuine trauma, or a self-serving narrative designed to justify past fearmongering? The media played a crucial role in amplifying the panic around COVID-19, portraying it as an existential threat when, in reality, it had an extremely low fatality rate for the vast majority of the population. The exaggerated death counts, the blind promotion of lockdowns and mask mandates, and the suppression of dissenting voices—all contributed to an unnecessary culture of fear.
This self-inflicted guilt among journalists may well explain why they cling so desperately to their trauma. To acknowledge that they were complicit in promoting hysteria, that they actively discouraged debate, and that they misrepresented scientific uncertainty as absolute fact, would be an indictment of their own profession. Instead, they frame themselves as the victims, suffering as much as those they misled.
The question remains: when will people let COVID-19 go? Why is there such an investment in ensuring that the pandemic is permanently etched into our collective consciousness? Some will argue that it’s about ensuring we ‘learn from history’ to prevent future crises. But the real reason appears far less noble: power, control, and the validation of past decisions. Keeping COVID-19 in the public discourse allows those who implemented draconian restrictions, who pushed experimental medical interventions, and who silenced dissent to avoid scrutiny. By painting themselves as survivors of an unprecedented disaster, they evade accountability for the many mistakes and misrepresentations that characterised the response to COVID-19.
The time has come to stop indulging this narrative of perpetual pandemic suffering. COVID-19 is over, and for most people, it was never the existential threat it was made out to be. The real tragedy of the pandemic was not the virus itself, but the decisions made in its name: the unnecessary lockdowns, the shuttering of businesses, the neglect of non-COVID medical care, and the coercion of populations into compliance. If trauma exists, it is in those who lost livelihoods, who suffered undiagnosed and untreated illnesses, and who were vilified for questioning the mainstream narrative.
It is time to move on. Those who still seek to perpetuate their COVID-19 trauma would do well to remember that true resilience lies in acknowledging mistakes, taking responsibility, and moving forward, rather than endlessly wallowing in the past.
Roger Watson is a retired academic, editor and writer. He is a columnist with Unity News Network and writes regularly for a range of conservative journals including The Salisbury Review and The European Conservative. He has travelled and worked extensively in the Far East and the Middle East. He lives in Kingston upon Hull, UK.
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The providers of the “Narrative” are desperate to reinforce their message that the strategy followed by them was the only one available. They know that if that position is allowed to change then suddenly charges of Crimes against Humanity will face them. As it currently stands only displaced dictators from small island nations find themselves with unexpected mandatory invitations to The Hague, but numerous people should be getting hauled in. Their names include Boris Johnson, Matthew Hancock and Keir Starmer. Our dear leader’s name is on the list because despite supposedly being the leader of the opposition, he completely failed to question any of the garbage “science” with its numerous gaping inconsistencies. Instead he demanded even harsher measures for a virus with minimal impact for the healthy population. And he had claimed to be a Human Rights Lawyer…..but only for non indigenous people.
I decided that it was time to have an eye test so yesterday googled ‘opticians near me’ in the hope of finding a small non-chain outlet. I did but their site was, 5 years on from the madness, still full-on covidian. At first I assumed that inexplicably they’d never updated their site, until I read that they’d incorporated ‘patient safety’ into their normal routine and the use of hand sanitiser was required on arrival, then a medical questionnaire and then more hand sanitiser before the actual eye test. Needless to say I chose a chain optician (although not the one that went covid barmy).
This surely illustrates the unwillingness of some health professionals to accept it’s over (let alone even question if it was a real thing anyway) and that there must still be a willing audience for medical theatre, presumably NHS worshippers, persistent mask wearers and those who don’t expose BS when they encounter it.
My Covidian cousin tells me frequently that she “had Covid” five times but has stopped testing now (apparently the kits aren’t free now). She also can only smell and taste “horrible things” which is, according to her, a “symptom of Long Covid” which she now suffers from. She and her family have more health issues than you can shake a stick at (non of which will kill them and most of which aren’t actually proper diseases) so Covid has given her more. Most people appear to have stopped talking about the whole Pandemic Era or, at least, their part in it. Mention, say, Matt Hancock and they will look blankly at you. I agree that any form of discussion now would involve people having to admit they were irresponsible fools led by wicked charlatans. Far easier to keep kidding themselves that they survived the Black Death. The question now is – will they all do it again when commanded to?
I tend to disagree on one point; mention covid or the pandemic and many, many will still happily reminisce about the dreadful death toll, the wonders of the NHS, how many times they had covid, how many are still suffering from the effects of long covid etc.
Lockdowns, masks, tests and vaxxes plus the criminal ‘experts’ and politicians, resultant economic troubles, vax injuries and the fake Covid Enquiry though conveniently aren’t remembered or deemed to be topics for polite conversation because that might get into the conspiracy theory area or suggest that there are other viewpoints which they refused to even think about whilst doing their bit (as though suffering the equivalent of WW2).
So say all the self righteous know alls who have never had covid, or lost anybody close from the illness. Oh how they love to smugly pontificate that either it did not exist, or was ‘merely a case of the sniffles’, from which 99% of people recovered in days. They of course know best – it was all a plot by the government – in fact the governments of the whole world, inexplicably working in unison for once – to beat us into submission with the threat of an illness which was largely, well, imaginary. As the late Queen Elizabeth said, ‘recollections will vary’.
I’m not saying that 5 years on, people should still be claiming metal health issues, and whining that we were ‘locked in our homes’ when in fact our lockdown in the UK was fairly undemanding, unlike the draconian rules that those in other countries were subjected to. Yes I know we are all supposed to hate Boris – it was all his fault, like everything else, but I would remind you that if Starmer had had his way, we would still be in lockdown. I regret the mistakes that were made, and furlough, trustingly given, was taken advantage of by so many fraudsters. It felt like the right thing at the time, and saved a lot of people from ruin.
I remember what it was actually like – nobody knew what to do. The poor so and sos in charge more or less had to make it up as they went along. Whatever they did would always be wrong in hindsight, especially in the eyes of the ‘covid didn’t exist’ brigade.
I caught covid from my teacher husband in early 2020. It was not at all nice and afterwards I lost all sense of smell and taste for a year. I don’t care if the smug naysayers don’t believe me. I feel it was largely a case of random pot luck as to whether you suffered symptoms long after the illness itself – many being much worse than me, and fatigue being a really major bugbear. I just hate this attitude fashionable among those who consider themselves as ‘anti establishment’, that those who did have covid quite badly, and some who continue to suffer, are somehow stupid and on a par with flat earthers.