Students have been hit heavily since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, throughout their learning especially but also through their mental health. With whispers among the population of another lockdown, concern is rising.
A new variant of COVID-19 has emerged, causing restrictions to tighten in the UK. The first recorded Omicron variant was in South Africa on November 9th with a mutation being discovered on November 24th. With concern rising, Boris Johnson decided to tighten restrictions slightly, spiking concern among students across the country.
The UK has been fighting COVID since the first case arose suspicion on January 29th 2020, leading to the first ‘stay at home’ order being made on March 23rd. The lockdown legally came into force on March 29th, with all schools and non-essential shops closing down. There’s been a total of 305,252 total positive tests in the last seven days, up by 0.7%, with deaths falling 7.8% with a total of 854 in the last few days.
The re-opening process began in June and slowly spread through the summer but hope was slashed when we went back into another lockdown in November 2020, and then again in January. It’s only been in the summer of this year we felt a change back to full normality with masks being personal choice – making it a year and a half battling. But even then, normality isn’t what it was two years ago; normality for us now is caution wherever we go, still remembering your mask when you go out, with students still being encouraged to do two tests a week to allow them the possibility of face to face lectures. We’re still on tiptoes with caution – and rightfully so with masks once again being mandatory and the red list of travel once again growing. Anyone traveling into the UK must once again isolate and do a test two days after arrival.
This spikes concern among students as restrictions go, setting in the fear that we might once again go into another lockdown. Although it’s not confirmed, there is a rising suspicion as this sounds scarily like how COVID first became an issue for us – a handful of positive cases and restrictions being slowly put in place. Students last year had worries over travelling home for Christmas, having to travel within a certain window to get home, causing some to not make it home, especially international students being locked up in their university rooms unable to travel home to see their family. Not only did learning get negatively impacted by being online, student mental health also got knocked down heavily throughout the pandemic. Over a quarter of the student population suffer from mental health difficulties, with 37% being the known number but many go undiagnosed, the main issues being anxiety and depression. Is this another concern this year?
Isolation is incredibly unhealthy for anyone – but even more so for university students. One of the main elements of university is the social aspect which has been incredibly lacking for the last year and a half. At the University of Gloucestershire, students in halls last year were confined to their flats as social bubbles – not even their whole blocks. When one tested positive, they were expected to be confined to their room, leaving little to no social interaction, which is a necessity for the generation with their growing minds. It would be made worse if you were in student accommodation stuck in a flat of people who you didn’t get along with, having an incredibly unhealthy environment to live in. It limited the number of connections that could be made, confining them to flat members – where flats of six-eight were the average at UoG – and course members for those who were lucky enough to get face to face connections.
Then there’s the students who were commuting from home; barely even getting to know anyone, especially for courses limited to online. With people moving away from their homes for university on the majority, the people left at home can find themselves already feeling incredibly isolated, let alone no longer having the chance to form connections with new people at university.
“Socially, uni has definitely been affected hard by covid and personally even more so for commuting students as we don’t even have uni flatmates for company, meaning last year doing it from home felt very isolated,” says Thorsten Wynne, a second year commuting ecology student at UoG. “This second years been much better in the aspect of having all lectures on campus and sports clubs means I can meet people which has definitely helped me over the past months. Going into another lockdown, my main concern would be falling into that isolated feeling again.”
Vaccines are now available in England, being offered to a majority of the population. 80.7% of the population over the age of 12 have had both vaccines with 88.7% having the first one. As part of the precautions, Johnson is encouraging people to get vaccinated if they aren’t already with a booster jab campaign being one of the main elements of the change. One benefit of having both vaccinations was the freedom to only have to isolate if you get a positive test yourself – even if you come into contact with someone else who is positive. With the new omicron variant, this isn’t the case; regardless of your vaccination status, you must isolate for 10 days if you come into contact with an omicron case.
Remember to check in with friends and family as we hold hope in the ability to travel home for Christmas. Keep up to date with the latest government guidelines on the website.
If you do have concerns with mental health, do not hesitate to contact your university support or your gp.
Links to mental health help services
- Mind’s helplines provide information and support by phone and email.
- Local Minds offer face-to-face services across England and Wales. These services include talking therapies, peer support and advocacy.
- Side by Side is our supportive online community for anyone experiencing a mental health problem.
By Chloe Hall
