Caller's very perceptive moment he realised coronavirus was so serious
4 March 2020, 14:51
James O'Brien was asking listeners the moment they realised the coronavirus was a very serious issue - and this was James's favourite answer.
Yesterday, the government set out their battle plan on how they would deal with the spread of coronavirus, which included plans to stop non-essential NHS operations and for the police to drop less serious investigations.
James pointed out this is not the first public health scare in the UK, but it is certainly the most serious and was asking listeners what they have seen that made them realise the severity.
That made Martin call in - and he revealed his moment of truth came in, of all places, the toilet of a motorway service station.
Martin revealed: "I stopped in the services on the M6 and went to the toilet. The normal behaviour of gentlemen is to nip in and nip out as quickly as possible.
"What was most noticeable was there were eight sinks and people were washing their hands in all of them. And it was like being shamed to stay longer to wash their hands for as long as possible. They didn't want the shame of finishing washing their hands early.
"And this was the moment I realised we were all taking it seriously."
James summed it up: "This is sociology!
"There were no queues for the urinals, but there were queues for the sinks."
Watch his call at the top of the page.
