The Post Pandemic Crowd
Helen Barrett has written an interesting piece on the post pandemic crowd (FT Magazine 19.6- paywalled but you may have access or be able to find a free link) which should really start a debate. Indeed author and activist Dan Hancox has already made relevant points on twitter.
Crowds vary a lot. There are those involving mass transport for example- trains and buses. I’ve used both inter-city trains and London buses throughout the pandemic (but not on a regular basis. My office is in the City of London but even before March 20 I worked virtually a good deal, much as I, as a Londoner, actually like being in the City). I wear a mask and I’m now fully vaccinated but I’m 64 so I still take care. In short if its too crowded for my liking I get off and wait for another.
Then there are the crowds at events, sport, concerts etc. Tbh I’m still not that keen. Its summer so Ive thought about going to the cricket (which I’d usually do in summer) and perhaps I will a bit later in the year. The point here though is that these are paid for events and along with taking care yourself, there is an expectation that the organisers will ensure and have a legal duty to ensure safety.
Demonstrations and protests are another matter. As Hancox noted who knows how many will turn up or what will happen. If we did life would much simpler and we could retire financially safe as crowd consultants. Now physical events have restarted I’ve certainly been on demos-for Palestine for example. Again one knows what to expect and can stay or go as appropriate.
Finally there are those things like pubs and restaurants. Of course I go in, but *only* to those where I know those who run it and know they will do the safe thing.
There are complexities here but then whoever said understanding crowds was easy? The added issue now is keeping safe and how safe one needs to be. Its called a risk assessment. One expects authorities to make them in many cases but you also have to do it yourself. After all the best kind of crowd is about doing it yourself…
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