Coronavirus: UK set to 'Clap for Carers' again this week... and there are calls for it to be done differently
Grateful Brits are set to take to their doorsteps once again this evening to publicly applaud NHS workers battling coronavirus.
The royal family and the Prime Minister joined people all over the UK who flocked to their balconies and windows to applaud the NHS staff for the Clap for Carers campaign.
The national round of applause also saw vehicles sound their horns at 8pm last Thursday evening as a gesture of thanks to frontline healthcare heroes.
📢Calling everyone across the Midlands#ClapForCarers is happening again tonight at 8pm. Join us to say a huge thank you to all NHS staff, carers and key workers 👏👏#ClapForNHS #ClapForCarers #ThankYouNHS pic.twitter.com/DQsi4rP7MQ
— NHS Midlands (@NHSMidlands) April 2, 2020
At the same time on Thursday this week, Brits are being encouraged to do it all again – only this time some are saying it should be done differently.
Rather than simply clapping, some people are suggesting people shout and demand more personal protective equipment (PPE) for workers:
Rather than #ClapForCarers shouldn't we be shouting at the government to ensure the carers have the resources, testing, PPE, ventilators & oxygen they need?
— 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀 𝗔𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻 (@DrChrisAllen) April 2, 2020
I will be clapping for all the people putting our lives before their own .. not only clapping to support you all, But to tell you we know you need more #PPE .. I will be chanting #PPE #ClapForCarers pic.twitter.com/NknLn0Chw1
— Patricia and Kira 💎🐶🌹 (@patricia_hamill) April 2, 2020
I’ll be proudly cheering for my sister and every other health worker and carer at 8pm this eve.
But v concerned that her charity too has not received the PPE they need when working with vulnerable people.#ClapForCarers #ClapForOurCarers— Harsha Patel (@HarshaPatel_) April 2, 2020
I am not doing #ClapForCarers our carers need us to #WeDemandPPENow not a clap. So I will be shouting that tonight. A clap won't protect them.
— Ms.expressioness@damnation #NotMeUs (@expressionessd1) April 2, 2020
After last week’s nationwide round of applause, NHS chief executive Sir Simon Stevens thanked the public, saying it would have meant an “enormous amount” to NHS staff to know the “whole country is behind them”.
He said in the last two weeks 18,000 doctors and nurses have returned to practise registers after “answering the calls to arms”.
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“It was therefore very gratifying for our staff across the NHS to see this remarkable outpouring in the Clap For Carers last night,” he said.
“For many nurses coming home from a day at hospital or for other staff returning to start again for the night shift it would have meant an enormous amount to know that the whole country is behind them.”
A doctor in London added that the applause was a welcome boost "as we head into the storm”.
Tom, 42, a consultant anaesthetist, heard the applause on his way home from work at a London hospital.
"It was really touching to hear the applause," he told the PA news agency.
"We're all so worried about whether we're going to be able to be there for all the patients who are going to need us over the coming weeks and months, and knowing that the public have got our backs was much needed.
"Hearing the clapping told us that people out there know how hard everyone has been working to get ahead of the coming surge as much as we can, and that has given us a boost - a reminder that there's a world outside the frantic bubble of COVID-related work we've all been living in for weeks now.”
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