The Childline supervisor, the Midlands

The demand is much higher at work. Normally there’s a peak in calls after school, but everyone is at home so there are loads of young people coming through all the time. There is also a lot more risk than we’re used to – it’s not just friendship issues, it’s problems with much more complexity.

Kids are stuck at home with families where there’s already problems. Some used to go for walks to get away from it and now they can’t, or kids have had their counselling sessions cancelled or moved to phone calls. For those with really severe problems, like suicidal thoughts, hospitals are less safe because of coronavirus, so some parents are having to watch them 24 hours a day.

We’ve had to close the service between midnight and 9am because of the lack of [staff] resources. Our management team have been great, they really want to keep the service going, but there are so many volunteers who can’t come in because they’re ill or high risk. I’m part time, but I’ve already done overtime, nights and weekends. I’m doing three late shifts a week at the moment to cover shifts, when normally I do maximum one or two.

Quick guide UK lockdown: what are the coronavirus restrictions? Show Hide What do the restrictions involve? People in the UK will only be allowed to leave their home for the following purposes: Shopping for basic necessities, as infrequently as possible

One form of exercise a day – for example a run, walk, or cycle – alone or with members of your household

Any medical need, to provide care or to help a vulnerable person

Travelling to and from work, but only where this is absolutely necessary and cannot be done from home Police will have the powers to enforce the rules, including through fines and dispersing gatherings. To ensure compliance with the instruction to stay at home, the government will: Close all shops selling non-essential goods, including clothing and electronic stores and other premises including libraries, playgrounds and outdoor gyms, and places of worship

Stop all gatherings of more than two people in public – excluding people you live with

Stop all social events, including weddings, baptisms and other ceremonies, but excluding funerals Parks will remain open for exercise, but gatherings will be dispersed.

The police officer, Yorkshire

We get assaulted a lot, but there’s a new wave of people threatening to cough on us or saying they’ve got Covid-19 and using it as a way to threaten the officers.

The vast majority of people are following the guidance, but for some, having police officers tell them they can’t do something makes them challenge it, because it’s so different to how things normally are. We’re stuck in the middle, because we haven’t put these restrictions in place, we just have to enforce them.

There are quite a lot of staff in self-isolation, and all non-essential training has been cancelled, but at the moment staffing is relatively normal.

If we’re going to an address where we know there’s symptoms, or someone is self-isolating, then we wear personal protective equipment, but we have a shortage like everywhere else. In custody, we don’t have the facilities to space people out any more than we would normally do. If they present symptoms, we can wear face masks whilst interviewing them, though.

In a way, I’m quite glad I’m still working, because I think I’d be going stir crazy in the house. Normally, when we work on the weekend, a lot of our involvement is in people going out drinking, but if you drive through the city centre now, it’s empty. It’s like a parallel universe.

The bus driver, south-east England

I’ve lost a lot of hours because of the reduction to the service, so my income has dropped significantly. Despite this, I’m still expected to go out and drive buses with people coughing and sneezing.

When I pick up my bus, I do all our usual checks, and then I sit in the driver’s seat and go over every single part that I might touch with my antiviral wipes, then gel by hands, and then I can set off.

For many of my elderly passengers, taking the bus to go shopping is the only way they can get out. There’s one old boy who says that the moment he sits in a chair at home, he won’t get back out. Most of them aren’t online either, so they can’t order anything for delivery. I’m worried about giving something to them.

The authorities don’t want to run empty buses because it won’t be profitable, so they have to limit the number. But that means people are waiting for ages and all pile on, which reduces the space they have. There’s no social distancing there, but I can’t go round and clean the bus every time I stop. It’s quite frightening, really.

My partner has a heart condition, and I don’t want to think about the possibility of giving it to him. I don’t want to be the reason my husband dies. It’s a horrible situation, but my husband can’t work, so I’m the only breadwinner. If I don’t earn money, we don’t have any.

The care home manager, Scotland

At the moment, we’re lucky enough that no one has symptoms. It’s a strange atmosphere but it’s still quite positive. There aren’t many residents who don’t understand what’s going on; even those with dementia understand that things are different because of a global phenomenon. They’re all going along with it really well, and if they start to feel lonely, we set up a private video chat with their family.

We’re placing a lot of trust in the staff, like when they get home they’re staying indoors, but they’re worried too, and very dedicated. They take their temperatures in the morning when they arrive, sanitise their hands, and bring a change of clothes to work in.

We’ve set up WhatsApp and Facebook groups to keep in touch with families while they can’t visit. We take photos and videos throughout the day so they can see that our residents are still doing things.

This is something no one could ever have imagined, but we have dealt with diarrhoea and vomiting outbreaks and had to isolate residents. The biggest difference is the uncertainty. The government don’t seem to have a clue, so we’re just doing what we believe is the best way to do things.

Getting food has been difficult for staff. We had a member of staff turned away from Tesco at the healthcare workers’ hour – they were told they weren’t a real nurse because they didn’t work for the NHS. I made ID badges and laminated them for the staff, but again they said we couldn’t go at the NHS time. Even when you can get in, the shelves are empty.

The postal worker, southern England

I’m still delivering junk mail and that seems mad at the moment when post office workers are going off sick – one piece of junk mail for pizza showed a picture of people in a park together. Online shopping has led to a huge swell in the number of packets we’re delivering. It’s like Christmas.

Social distancing means new rules – no more than one person to a post van. The other postie, who would normally be doing the walker’s side of our route, is now expected to walk out to the drop-off point or catch a bus. The two-metre rule is almost impossible to enforce when we’re working in the office, and people are very worried about that.

One of the extra key services I’m providing is conversation. There’s one older woman who lives by herself and wishes it could all be over for her birthday in a week’s time. She’s asked to me to swear I won’t stop delivering to her, whether I get the virus or not.

The supermarket worker, Cumbria

The first huge panic took us by surprise – we had no restrictions in place. A lot of our customers are regular people who we’ve known for years, but there were lots of new people who didn’t know how things worked or where they were. They wouldn’t use self-checkouts because of the germs, so there were long queues. There was a lot of anger directed towards us, and it was panic-stricken.

We’re only letting in about 40 people at a time, and there are queues outside in the early mornings. The car parks are normally full with about 150 cars, but there are about 15 there now. During the initial lockdown, the car park was deserted, and a large rabbit came up to the staff door everyday. We never normally see wildlife, but it was so quiet that the rabbits were coming out to play.

What’s most strange is that people just don’t talk in the store – they nod and smile and whisper.

The delivery driver, Somerset

It’s worse than it is at Christmas. I would normally do about 10 or 12 drops each day, 14 at a push, but yesterday I did 20. I’m still dropping off orders of £400. Sometimes people shop for multiple families because they can’t get delivery slots.

Nowadays, we have no complaints about replacing items with alternatives, people understand, and that’s very different to usual. Our policy was to carry shopping in if needed, but now we aren’t allowed in anyone’s house, we just leave them at the door in bags and step back. We won’t collect the bags either, which has caused a massive explosion in plastic.

It’s a very stressful time, and I’m definitely concerned about bringing [the virus] back. We don’t get gloves or face masks, just gel. None of the people packing the vans wear gloves, and we share vans which run from 6am to 11pm, so you don’t know who’s touched what.

I was working on the night of the national NHS clap, and people came to their gates while I was driving down the road and cheered, saying, “Well done, driver,” and things like that. That was great.

The cemetery worker, London

This week has been really draining for me. I have been present at eight funerals and five of them were coronavirus-related. I’ve been a gravedigger for five years, I work in one of the smaller London cemeteries; there’s a nice community vibe here. Doing what I do, I’ve been really aware of the seriousness of the outbreak, but I think it took the public longer to become aware of it.

Even after the lockdown was announced, people were still playing football and frisbee in the cemetery. At one burial there were about 30 people standing closely together and they all hugged each other afterwards. I was thinking I could end up burying some of them.

I do worry about what’s coming. It’s incredibly stressful. Workers here are concerned about catching something because the virus lives on surfaces. It can be on a coffin, or anywhere, you just don’t know. We do have enough PPE at the moment, but it won’t be easy for a family to see us in hazmat suits during a funeral.

Death is such a taboo subject, but we have to be more open as a society about talking about it, particularly now. We just don’t know where we’re heading. The atmosphere is very tense.