Shielding ‘It’s been so tough – I can’t even hug my son’
AWOMAN who spent almost half of 2020 not leaving her house and living in separate parts of her house away from her 11-year-old son has urged people to follow the coronavirus lockdown rules.
Liz, from Chipping Sodbury, has spoken about the nightmare of her life during the Covid-19 pandemic, after being told she was extremely clinically vulnerable, and needed to shield in her own home.
But Liz has an 11-year-old son, and so was thrown into a dilemma about how to stay safe in her own home, while also letting her son continue to go to school, go out and have as normal a life as possible, in between the various lockdowns.
She outlined the measures she has had to take during 2020, including spending 21 weeks of it – that’s roughly five months – completely shielding.
In the family home, she and her son have to live almost separate lives, because of the possibility he may have picked up Covid-19 outside or at school, but wouldn’t know as many children and young people are more likely to be asymptomatic but can still pass the virus on.
“I’m very fearful for the future, especially because I’m not just extremely clinically vulnerable for one reason,” she said.
“I’ve not just got multiple sclerosis, but I’m also on drugs that affect my immune system, and I’ve recently had an operation, so if I caught Covid right now I’m not really that confident of my chances of survival,.
“Like for many people, it’s been a challenging year – especially as I’m in the extremely clinically vulnerable category. This is made more complicated by the fact that I’m also a mum to an 11-year-old boy who obviously attends school. Like many people in the extremely clinically vulnerable category, I’ve actually shielded for about 21 weeks of this year.
“This year has been extremely hard on my son. I can’t even hug my own son.
“We have to sit in separate parts of the house, we have to have the windows open at all times. We have to have separate areas of the bathroom, separate towels.
“My washing is an absolute nightmare because everything has to be cleaned on a daily basis, which is exhausting.”
With the second wave in cases hitting, Liz is more desperate than ever to see an end to the pandemic, and to get back to normal life, which would involve socialising with friends again.
“I’m such a social person; I would be out and about all the time,” she said.
“I’m missing my friends, I’m missing my family and being able to go on holiday and do all the things that I love. I miss being able to go swimming.
“But I think we’re all in this together, and if everybody wants to be able to see their grandparents, their parents, their children and do all the things that we enjoy, we really have to all work together to make sure that we protect everybody.”
And that means abiding by the rules, and trying to stop social contact which spreads the virus.
“I have an 11-year-old son – I really want to be here to make sure that I see him growing up,” she said.
“It actually really upsets me that lots of people aren’t following the rules and the restrictions because we’re all used to having many liberties.”