Covid-19 baby bust: How the pandemic left us looking at uncertain family futures

Early visions of lockdown pictured couples having endless hours to reboot their sex life. But 120 days later, Sophie Gallagher finds the rising death toll and crashing economy has crippled any baby boom prospects

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In 1965 a blackout engulfed the whole of New York state, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and even parts of eastern Canada. It lasted 13 hours in some places, meaning families were left with nothing but candlelight and conversation. Nine months later, the media, including the New York Times, reported that as a result of couples being trapped without alternative entertainment there had been a baby boom. But the evidence was later rejected on spurious grounds.

Half a century later, the introduction of a UK nationwide lockdown on 23 March, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, solicited the same winks and nudges, even from Boris Johnson’s government. MP Nadine Dorries tweeted on 31 March: “As the minister responsible for maternity services, I’m just wondering how busy we’re going to be nine months from now.”

Countdown’s Rachel Riley similarly tweeted: “Pubs shut, football off, working from home...I predict we’ll know what a lot of you filled your time with nine months from now.” Even the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, said in a television address that his citizens should use the enforced time together to help fuel “Generation-C”. But far from a baby boom, there is mounting evidence that Covid-19 will instead see the baby bottom line go bust.