Beyond the lockdowns: Lessons learned from Leicester's COVID story
Foreword
The production of an annual report is one of the duties of a Director of Public Health, and according to the Association of Directors of Public Health (ADPH) this report should be a “professional statement about the health of local communities”. However, this annual report comes at a time like no other in recent years; local communities having been through the incredible challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and now facing post-COVID recovery against a background of a cost-of-living crisis.
Whilst it would be easy to populate a whole report with simply the events of the past two years and highlight the incredible amount of public health work that has gone on, in order to protect and have a positive impact on the health of the people of Leicester, instead, this report attempts to learn from these recent past challenges and how this might be used to create a better future for our citizens.
We are all acutely aware that in June 2020, Leicester became the first local authority area to be placed under a local lockdown, and as a result we spent more time under restrictions than any other region.
The people of Leicester therefore have a unique story to tell, and many lessons learned for our future and for others. When I reflect on the way the people of this city pulled together in the most difficult and protracted of circumstances, I feel an enormous sense of pride in my home city. The future will not be without challenges, however; though the city is emerging from the period of restrictions, the lasting impacts of the pandemic on people’s health, livelihoods and happiness is only just starting to be understood.
