'Holidays in the UK: What can you do?' cartoon by Stephen Collins, 2020, showing ‘Richard Coronavirus’ on holiday. Published in ‘The Guardian Weekend’ online, 8 August 2020. The cartoon is arranged in two horizontal rows, each with six narrative moments. Most feature speech bubbles. The coronavirus is shown in red with yellow spikes, on pink skin or a yellow beach, against a blue sky. Also featuring character Dennis Simpson.

Collins' cartoon summarises and satirises discussions around holidays during the Covid-19 pandemic in the summer of 2020. He makes use of the visual familiarity of the coronavirus itself, while referencing contemporary discussions on social distancing. Originally created as a digital cartoon, this is a unique print of the work specially produced for the Science Museum.

A key visual theme of the Covid-19 pandemic was the use of images of the coronavirus, based on the work of medical illustrators. By comparison with any other major epidemic – such as Ebola or SARS – the general public became much more familiar with what the virus looks like for Covid-19, and even the structure that allows it to function. Here, a newspaper cartoon shows a powerful example of the use of the virus within wider visual culture.

Collins uses the character of ‘Richard Coronavirus’ to comment on wider public discussion about people flocking to beaches and overwhelming popular holiday spots, criticised for bringing the virus to areas of the UK already medically overstretched. Likewise, Richard is able to enjoy his holidays because of ‘mask-refuser Dennis Simpson’ whose sneeze sends Richard to explore holiday spots on cardboard surfaces, benches and door handles. Collins references contemporary thinking on how long the virus could survive on such surfaces, as well as criticisms of the quantity of litter left by visitors on British beaches. Ultimately, he seems to question the idea that holidaying during the pandemic could be safely undertaken with the need to ‘keep social distancing [to 7 million per millimetre]’.