Six months on from our first detailed statement on COVID, we’re taking stock.

Hundreds of thousands around the world have died as a result of the virus. Economies have been severely affected with inevitable consequences for citizen’s livelihoods, and future standards of living. Quality of life has been impacted too, particularly for the young, the old and those already in the margins of society. And the virus has not gone away. For Europe, as September 2020 ends, there has been a resurgence of cases, although increased levels of testing make it difficult to make proper comparisons to six months ago and it’s still not clear which measures, applied in heterogeneous communities, best promote control of the disease spread.

The new normal is that we have to continue to live with uncertainty.

Although there are many unknowns, there are many things we have learned thus far. Moreover, despite a divergence of opinion even amongst those presented to us as experts, society is learning fast and attempting to apply these lessons to how we manage to live with COVID going forward.