DADDY’S HOME AFTER 5 MONTHS SHIELDING

EVEN catching a common cold can cause serious problems for 48-year-old Tim Wotton. The communications director from London lives with genetic condition cystic fibrosis (CF), which means he’s at high risk of lung infections.

He’s already well used to taking precautions to avoid seasonal viruses and flu – careful hand-washing and avoiding crowds – as it could cause his health to deteriorate rapidly.

Yet the father of one admits the pandemic has posed a new kind of challenge. When CF patients were advised to shield in March, Tim – who lives with senior nurse wife, Katie, and 13-year-old son, Felix – moved to Southampton to shield with his retired nurse mother. He lived there for more than four months.

Tim moved back when it became apparent that Felix was increasingly anxious about his father living away.

‘We’d meet outdoors sometimes but we couldn’t hug – we even tried passing a rugby ball between each other to create some sense of intimacy, but eventually we decided the risk he posed to me was smaller than the distress being caused to him.’

With a new school year round the corner, and Felix going back full time, Tim has decided to remain at home but there will be certain protocols in place to minimise his risk of infection.

The family have always taken precautions around sharing cutlery, for example. ‘Katie’s job makes her alert to the importance of hygiene, and though she doesn’t work on a Covid ward, she changes clothes before coming home after each shift,’ Tim explains. ‘When Felix returns to school he’ll change clothes when he comes home as well as wash his hands and face.

‘I’m still undecided about whether I’ll keep a bit of physical distance from Felix at the beginning of term.’