The greatest lesson we can learn from the pandemic is the way people banded together

It wasn’t just lives lost but also many lives ruined with the pandemic continuing to cast its long shadow today.

The pandemic showed the value of the monarchy. The late Queen Elizabeth II’s memorable “we will meet again” message did more to galvanise the nation than any elected politician could.

Lessons will need to be learned. The Covid Inquiry should shed light on not only what went wrong but also provide a roadmap for any potential future pandemic.

The country cannot afford to become complacent. The idea that a deadly disease can’t spread like wildfire here is naive. It has and it could again.

As Dr Rachel Clarke says it is important that we don’t consign this to history “partly because we owe NHS staff that but also because we need to learn from this. There will be another pandemic and we need to do better next time”.

It’s scandalous that the very NHS staff that were being portrayed as heroes, for whom millions of people stood on their doorstep on a Thursday evening to applaud in a public display of collective gratitude, are now having to strike for fairer pay and working conditions.

Perhaps the greatest lesson we can learn from the pandemic is the way people banded together, once the initial hysteria had subsided over food supply, in the early days of the crisis to help the most vulnerable in their communities.

This sense of togetherness dissipated and in its place the country looks more divided now than ever. The country could do with a bit more of that community spirit.