Teacher’s class return fears
TEACHER Daniel Wilson, who faced the devastating tragedy of losing his daughter and wife last year, has spoken of his fears for going back to the classroom next term.
A TEACHER who faced the devastating tragedy of losing his daughter and wife last year has spoken of his fears for going back to the classroom next term.
Daniel Wilson, from Abercynon, teaches physics at Ebbw Fawr Learning Community in Blaenau Gwent and has been told that he can deliver lessons wearing a plastic visor.
But Daniel, still heartbroken after losing daughter Carys and wife Sharon within weeks of each other, has concerns about starting work again.
He said the Government has not done enough to protect black and ethnic minority (Bame) staff like him – who are more at risk from Covid-19.
His situation is perhaps all the more understandable given that his uncle died with coronavirus.
Daniel would like to see staff and pupils in schools across Wales routinely tested and said Bame teachers are “an afterthought”.
“I am going back to school because children need to be taught, but I am worried,” he said.
Daniel was facing the terrible first anniversary of losing his daughter Carys and wife Sharon when the pandemic struck.
When Carys caught a cold in May 2019 it rapidly developed into pneumonia which she died from four days later on May 27.
Her heartbroken mother Sharon died on June 12 from a stroke which Daniel believes was brought on by grief.
He added: “Carys nearly died of pneumonia in 2016 and was on a ventilator for six weeks and then in May last year she got a cold.
“It was 72 hours from having a cold to going to hospital and 22 hours later she was gone.
“Her mum had a stroke four days later and then passed away. I sincerely believe she died from a broken heart. She said, ‘I don’t know how I am going to cope’ and slowly slipped away 12 days later. She was still talking and everything but she just died.
“Every time I feel bad I try to think it would have been so much worse if it had been this year.
“People losing loved ones this year would not be able to have people to console them in the same way. It puts pain in perspective.
“Afterwards my parents came over from Ghana to be with me for three months and my sister, who
“I am going back to school because children need to be taught, but I am worried” Teacher Daniel Wilson
is a GP in Coventry, also came to be with me. If that has been this year that would not have happened.
“Every time I feel dark a quiet voice reminds me ‘imagine if they had gone this year.’
Carys was born with the inherited condition myotonic dystrophy, a type of muscular dystrophy which affected her muscles and left her vulnerable to respiratory illness.
She used a wheelchair and attended Ysgol HenFelin special school from the age of four to 19.
Remembering his “princess”, Daniel said Carys was always full of life, despite the condition which her mother also had, but in a far milder version.
“Carys was gregarious and outgoing. She liked potato, cheese and beans and making people happy. She made people laugh. She was my princess.
“I saw her 16th, 18th and 21st birthday. I was just lucky to have had a daughter for 22 years.”
Tragedy struck again this year when Daniel’s uncle, who was in his sixties and lived in London, died from coronavirus.
That brought home how those from the Bame community are more affected, said Daniel.
His uncle had shown few symptoms and had not had the telltale dry cough or high temperature. Testing positive for Covid-19 when he went to hospital for regular kidney dialysis he died from it in his sleep a few days later.
With schools reopening full time in Wales in September Daniel said he is disappointed the Government has yet to provide a tool to assess risks for Bame staff.
The physics teacher has been working from home since schools re-opened for the past three weeks of term and will wear a plastic visor when he returns to the classroom in September.
“I don’t feel unsafe going back to my school next term because my school has been very good with social distancing measures and they have said I can work with a visor. But it is a case of, if you are on duty, is it possible to socially distance by two metres?
“I feel Bame teachers have not been ignored exactly, but we are an afterthought. We have just been an afterthought because perhaps we are not that visible.
“I have been working from home but I am going back to school because children need to be taught. But I am worried.
“As ethnic minority parents who could have vulnerable family members, there is no reliable medical proof (via the current tests for asymptomatic patients) that sending your children to school will not bring Covid-19 home. The current research papers on children and Covid-19 do not specify if they are ethnic minority children.
“Empty verbal reassurances with no proactive testing measures is yet more evidence that black lives don’t really matter. It’s time for the politicians to demonstrate that we are not an afterthought.”
In April an urgent investigation was launched by the Welsh Government into why a disproportionate number of NHS staff from from black, Asian and minority ethnic (Bame) backgrounds are being affected by coronavirus.
A team from Welsh Government has been working with Public Health Wales to gather evidence and data to establish whether there are any identifiable risks or avoidable factors
Welsh Government guidance on school reopening in September published earlier this week said advice on protecting Bame communities will “evolve”.
“This guidance is designed to enable local authorities working with their schools and settings to plan for the autumn term, recognising that the guidance will evolve over the coming weeks to reflect the latest Welsh Government policies particularly around school transport, shielding and black, Asian and minority ethnic (Bame) communities.”