Coronavirus lockdown has left many Britons feeling they are ‘never safe’, says behaviour expert

The UK’s lockdown has resulted in many Britons feeling they are “never safe”, a behaviour expert has told Sky News.

Professor Frank Furedi, emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Kent, who specialises in fear and behaviour, said “worst case scenarios are being applied to every situation” even if people are following social distancing guidelines.

“It’s paralysing people and their behaviour, which can do more harm than good because it makes us feel powerless in confronting the problems we are faced with,” he said.

Professor Furedi said improving people’s mental health through exercise and getting children back to school are being thwarted by how literally the public are interpreting the “Stay Home. Protect the NHS. Save Lives” slogan.

He added: “This idea that walking past someone accidentally will kill you, it’s a really weird idea when we know that you have to be in close proximity to someone for quite some time for the virus to actually have an effect.

“The most important example of that is schools. It’s a generational own goal. Parents know in their heart of hearts that their children should be going back but they’re too scared.”

It comes after Professor Robert Dingwall, a member of the government’s New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group, told the Daily Telegraph the population has been “terrorised” into thinking any contact with the virus is deadly.

Prof Dingwall also claimed that the two-metre social distancing rule was deliberately doubled by government scientists because they believed people would not understand how far one metre is, leaving people trapped in a “climate of fear”.

He said most people who catch coronavirus do not require hospital treatment, but the nationwide shutdown has left people scared of getting too close to joggers in the park, picking up items at the supermarket and boarding public transport.

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A&E visits dropped by nearly a third in March compared with a year ago, with NHS chief executive Sir Simon Stevens urging people not to avoid seeking treatment due to virus fears as it could have fatal consequences.

This weekend the prime minister will layout his plans for easing lockdown restrictions.

Downing Street has stressed that the change in restrictions will only be small, but will try and coax people to come out of their homes and go back to work where possible.

Dr Julii Brainard, of the University of East Anglia’s medical school, said a comparison of 30 countries’ lockdown measures revealed that closing schools, gyms, pubs and restaurants has been key in keeping virus deaths down.

(c) Sky News 2020: Coronavirus lockdown has left many Britons feeling they are ‘never safe’, says behaviour expert