Coronavirus: ‘It’s unfair to blame young people for virus rise’

8 September 2020

Manish Pandey

Newsbeat reporter

BBC Linzi Cormack, Tom Hardy, Aisha Mirza and Sophie Morgan

Are young people to blame for the rise in UK coronavirus cases? That's what the health secretary told us this week.

Matt Hancock told Radio 1 Newsbeat listeners: "Don't kill your gran by catching coronavirus and then ing it on."

But many are unhappy with being singled out and say the government has been giving "mixed messages".

Sophie Morgan hasn't seen her grandparents since February and is taking care not to spread the virus.

The 23-year-old says other people her age are doing the same.

"I've cancelled a holiday to Italy and try to limit how much I need to go outside, even to the supermarket," she says.

"There's nothing that I'm doing which puts me at risk. Even with a nail appointment I'm wearing a mask."

Sophie feels the government waited too long to make face coverings mandatory

Sophie Morgan Sophie on holiday — Sophie feels the government waited too long to make face coverings mandatory

Linzi Cormack has also changed her habits and is following the rules.

She's really cautious about touching door handles and surfaces.

"I use my feet to push them open and don't touch my face as much.

"I'm just cautious about touch points."

Her life has become more online-focused because of the virus and not wanting to "be around other people".

"I've decided to shop online all of the time and stop going to supermarkets."

"It's not about catching it myself, it's about protecting others," Linzi says

Linzi Cormack Linzi Cormack — "It's not about catching it myself, it's about protecting others," Linzi says

And as for the weekly drink in the pub - the higher number of positive cases mean Linzi isn't visiting as much as she normally would.

"I've been once since it reopened, and not for a long amount of time because I felt really uncomfortable."

Tom Hardy, who works in a school in Leicestershire, is a keen traveller but has stopped visiting different parts of the country.

"Mainly to protect the people around me. I'm also in a fairly high-risk job so I don't want to put my colleagues and students at risk."

Tom says the rules can cause a divide in friendship groups as some people are tired of the restrictions

Tom Hardy Tom in the pub — Tom says the rules can cause a divide in friendship groups as some people are tired of the restrictions

Like Linzi, the recent rise in cases has forced the 20-year-old to take more precautions.

"I've started shopping online a lot more, and not going to places as I did much outside of work."

Linzi isn't surprised by the focus on young people because there are some "who feel they are untouchable" when it comes to the virus.

"Especially when people start drinking more, they become a bit careless."

But she says generalising is wrong and "it's unfair to single out young people" with some older people "not wearing masks or social distancing" in shops.

Sophie says the constant changing of rules may be to blame for people being confused and not always following them.

"Every update was confusing which means the rules are confusing and leave you thinking 'are we doing this now":[]}