Christmas card showing the "12 weeks of lockdown" including an order to stay at home

Christmas card showing the "12 weeks of lockdown" including an order to stay at home, two metre distance, three toilet rolls, four months of Netflix, five Zoom calls, six banana loaves, seven trips to Durham, eight confusing speeches, nine support bubbbles, ten local lockdowns, eleven eat out offers and twelve cotton face masks, designed by TeePee Creations, sold by thortful, 2020

Inspired by the carol, The 12 Days of Christmas, this greetings card shows some of the responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. Measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus include the national stay at home order, two metre social distancing, local lockdowns – the first was Leicester in June 2020, and face coverings. Others refer to how some people reacted to the first lockdown – stockpiling toilet rolls, staying connected with virtual meetings, watching internet streaming services including Netflix, and baking banana bread. Internet searches for recipes increased by 525% by the end of April 2020, a month into the first lockdown.

The Eat Out to Help Out scheme ran from 3 to 31 August 2020. The scheme offered diners 50% of their bill on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays which registered businesses could claim back from the government. The idea behind intended to help the hospitality industry who were impacted by lockdowns. However, some scientists warned that this could drive infection rates. “7 trips to Durham” refers to the 264 mile trip taken by former senior adviser to the Prime Minister, Dominic Cumming’s during the first national lockdown. “8 confusing speeches” refers to the seemingly U-turns in policies by the UK government to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Support bubbles were introduced in England and Northern Ireland on 13 June 2020. This was to enable certain groups to join one other household to help reduce loneliness. Adults living alone or adults with dependent children could form a bubble. On 2 December 2020 rules were expanded to enable more groups to form bubbles.