Ellen Page , an 18-year-old university student from Northampton, was
hospitalised with Covid last June. “I have never felt weaker,” she says.
“I couldn’t lift my head off the pillow. I had hot sweats. It was really scary.”
During the four days she was in hospital, she took comfort in messages from
childhood friends. “They were all texting me, saying, ‘W e hope you get
better, we wish we could see you.’”
Months later, these same friends began fl outing lockdown rules. “It
started with a few of them posting anti-lockdown tweets, saying that it was
fi ne [to break the rules], because only a small percentage of people were
dying.” Still drained from being ill, she focused instead on her studies. But
then Christmas rolled around and, while most of the country was under
tier 4 restrictions, Page saw her friends throwing parties and posting pictures
of them on social media. “ They were all gathered at their family houses, with
three households together. Then in the evening, new people arrived. It was
like there was no pandemic .”
She unfollowed or muted them on social media , but didn’t confront
them. “I don’t want to argue, I feel like Covid has been a breeding ground for
arguments.” Still, those friendships are eff ectively over. “It’s sad because
they’ve been a massive part of my life since I was six or seven. But I’ve seen
what their morals are, and I don’t want to be friends with people who would
put other lives at risk.”
Fighting over lockdown rules, clashing
about Covid lies, or just stuck on
endless bor ing Zoom cal ls: w ill your fr iendships
survive the pandemic? Sirin Kale reports.
Illustration by Roberto Cigna
Friends behaving badly
→