We are in an unprecedented time at present, not only with motorsport but in every element of life with most of Europe in some form of lockdown. Except for the UK who has shutdown pubs, club, bars and leisure centres, with the official advise being “social distancing” meaning we can still go outside and even socialise, with no official restrictions despite other advice being only go out when essential.
In incredibly British fashion people seem to have an “it doesn’t affect me attitude” with Images going viral across social media of mass’ of people at Snowdonia National Park, Southend Seafront and even bikers meeting for a cafe run in Matlock. Yes, literally treating a pandemic shutdown like a bank holiday.
Understandably we all know that staying at home in ok weather is boring, especially self-isolating, there’s no motorsport on TV the news is littered with COVID19 information, so I get it we need escapism. But we won’t get a normal life back if people continue to ignore guidelines set out by Public Health England.
If we want life to get back to normal, we all have to do our bit, MotoGP looks set to be delayed even further as lockdown in Spain is set to extend, with the first race looking at present to be Catalunya. Again, that will of course be subject to change.
F1 has just postponed what would have been round 1 in Baku, and having pushed the 2021 rules back to 2022, there seems to be a distinct feeling that we are going to struggle to get any major sporting events underway in 2020.
“So, what can I do?” I hear you say. Well for a start avoid any unnecessary trips, for exmple, meeting a big group of people is the exact opposite of what you need to do, if you want to talk to Ryan or Liam, cool, use FaceTime or Skype to chat to them.
Secondly, if you have any of the symptoms no matter how mild stay at home don’t even contemplate going out, remember it’s about protecting the elderly and vulnerable.
I write this to plead with everyone to please stay in, don’t go out unless it’s for essentials.
The sooner we get rid of COVID19, the sooner we can go racing again.