Cardiff Uni lecturer criticised for email suggesting students shouldn’t be worrying about coronavirus

A Business Management lecturer at Cardiff University has emailed students telling them to not worry about COVID-19 and focus their worries on their studies instead.

In the email, the lecturer says “there are currently 460 people with COVID-19 in the UK, around 3% of those who are elderly and already ill are likely to die eventually.” He then went on to say that students’ “age group are MUCH more likely to die from crossing the road, cycling, drug overdoses or falling down the stairs.”

He has been criticised for disregarding the severity of the coronavirus in Cardiff, stating that “there’s a huge amount that you could worry about in life” and that “[you] are richer, eat better, live longer, have freedom from pain (mostly) and will not have to go and fight wars.”

He also said, “worry about stuff you can change, and enjoy life while you’re (relatively) young and fit” whilst also finishing the email by saying that students should “turn up to your actions”.

A student from the Cardiff Business School told The Cardiff Tab: “When I first read it, it was funny because of the way he worded it but then he’s basically making it out as if people of our generation have easy lives and don’t have a worry in the world”.

The student expressed their worries, saying “it kind of makes it feel like we can’t be worried about the coronavirus because ‘we are fit and healthy and young’ when actually people of our age do have a lot of worries and the coronavirus isn’t just about us, but it’s about family members and friends who may be old or ill who are actually vulnerable to the virus”.

A spokesperson for Cardiff University told The Cardiff Tab: “We are aware of the email and we are looking in to it. The safety of our staff and students in this unprecedented situation is paramount and we take their questions and concerns seriously. All of our guidance for staff and students is available on our intranet.

“We know that many of our staff and students will have questions and we have created a central point of contact for all enquiries – [email protected].”

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