‘There are those who don’t believe it. So many people think it’s just flu...’
THIS week Wales was gripped by a story of heartbreak as one family spoke about their devastating loss of a mother and her two sons.
Gladys Lewis, 74, and sons Dean, 44, and Darren, 42, from Pentre in the Rhondda, all died with Covid-19.
Their story is a reminder as we enter the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic that the disease is just as deadly and tragic as it was in March, April and May.
The Lewis family in the Rhondda aren’t the only ones who have been left so devastated by multiple family losses to the virus.
In April twin sisters Eleanor and Eileen Andrews, from Abercynon in the Cynon Valley, died within days of each other after both falling ill with coronavirus. They were 66.
Just days later we learned that husband and wife Bryn, 86, and Pat Howells, 80, from Gelli in the Rhondda died within hours of each other after being hospitalised and testing positive for Covid-19.
Their deaths are a tragic insight into how families have been affected by the coronavirus. Sadly the communities they come from are some of the worsthit areas for both cases and deaths across the UK.
Currently Merthyr Tydfil has the highest rate of coronavirus infections in the UK, with 639.9 cases per 100,000 people on the basis of the latest sevenday rolling average.
Rhondda Cynon Taf, which borders the county borough, has the ninthhighest infection rate in the UK but the second-highest in Wales, with 534.7 cases per 100,000 people.
The health board which covers the area, Cwm Taf Morgannwg, has seen a total of 547 people die with the virus since the pandemic began, according to Public Health Wales figures.
According to data from the Office of National Statistics, 362 people have died with the virus in RCT along with 79 people in Merthyr Tydfil.
But these figures don’t show the true story of what has been happening in these areas over the last several months.
Dr Dai Samuel, a Merthyr-born consultant hepatologist at Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board, said the past several months have been exhausting for health staff. He described how he could never have imagined having to tell family members over the phone that their loved ones have passed away and said no amount of training could prepare a doctor for how often these phone calls have been made and were still being made.
As a Merthyr resident, Dr Samuel has also been a witness to how people in the area with one of the UK’s highest Covid19 rates for the entire pandemic have reacted, admitting that some nights in the village pub have gotten a little bit fiery.
“There are people who really don’t believe what it is,” he said. “There are so many people who think it is just the flu. You try to educate your friends – it has been quite heated in the pub.
“And people claim that they know nurses who work in the hospital [Prince Charles] and say that it is empty. But it isn’t, it is lies.”
On Thursday night there was even a large bonfire held on the Gurnos estate in Merthyr with crowds in attendance.
One thing Dr Samuel has been a witness to is just how much the virus can affect entire families.
“We saw that in the first wave,” he said. “We saw families all infected – we saw several members of the same family in ICU for Covid. This time now it feels that bit more different – we have seen colleagues go to ICU this time around.
“I am still a human being. I am mentally drained. I have become more frustrated. I want a social life as well. There is that voice of the doctor and that other voice that wants to go out and enjoy myself. Hopefully by the spring we will have some vaccine there.”
For now Dr Samuel thinks lockdown in Merthyr Tydfil should continue “for weeks, even months,” as he told BBC Radio Cymru on Friday. But one thing he is thankful for is the local nature of the health board. He explained that many of his colleagues are residents, just like him, and that community spirit felt outside of the hospital transfers inside. Everyone has pulled together to keep up the morale.
When 2020 began the health board was already a hot topic of discussion across RCT and Merthyr Tydfil.
Residents in the borough campaigned to save the A&E department at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital. As they celebrated the success in saving the department, many of those residents were hit by devastating flooding.
Senedd Member for the Rhondda Leanne Wood described the community as “resilient” for overcoming the months of challenges they have faced.
“People have come together,” she said. “Even with the most recent tragedy, the family that lost three members, people came together and have raised thousands for the family.
“People are doing what needs to be done. When everyone pulls together we show incredible strength. And that is what gives me hope for the future.”
The culture in the central Valleys is that of everyone being there for each other. Streets are narrow. Neighbours are family. Everyone lives close by.
“You have got a lot of people relying on parents and grandparents for childcare,” added Ms Wood. “They pick them up from school in groups, there are lots of people around the house for tea – that is how it works in the Rhondda.
“Childcare is expensive – people make do with their own informal arrangements.”
But this – along with the fact that a lot of people in the area can’t work from home due to the nature of their jobs, working in low-income manufacturing roles or being self-employed – could be one of the possible reasons why the virus has been so prevalent in the community despite the restrictions that have been in place, with both RCT and Merthyr being subject to local lockdown measures well before the existing firebreak came in.
Ms Wood believes another issue that may have led to cases rising in these areas is the worry of having to take time off work due to a positive test result.
“If you have got a job in the civil service or the bank you can work from home – anything like the manufacturing industry and retail and schools, you can’t,” she said.
“And some of these factories have not got windows. But we can’t let it be the people’s fault – there are clear policy failures and misinformation spread online about the virus.
“Some of it has been quite dangerous – people saying Covid is made up, and that it is just the flu, I have seen that and that worries me because I do think some people will believe what they read.”
Even the Lewis family were subject to vile trolls who claimed the virus was a hoax.
Gladys’ daughter Debbie Mountjoy said: “They want to spend a couple of minutes with me, my dad, Claire [Dean’s wife], Claire’s children and my children to see the devastation that we are going through as a family. Spend five minutes with us and they’ll know it’s real.
“Just please, please just listen to what the Government is saying and stick to the rules. Hold your family close and look after them.”
Moving forward, Ms Wood believes the answer to bringing case numbers
People get fed up of hearing numbers, it doesn’t mean anything to them Pontypridd MP Alex Davies-Jones
down in these areas is mass testing, as is being conducted in Liverpool at the moment, and according to Pontypridd MP Alex Davies-Jones, that is something the Welsh Government is considering.
Alex’s constituency of Pontypridd has not seen as high a rate of cases as parts of the Rhondda, which has been a frustration for the likes of those in Llantwit Fardre who were brought under the same local lockdown restrictions as the rest of the county borough without seeing a direct rise in cases in their locality, she explained.
“I think the issue is everybody knows everybody – we are a really close-knit community. People live close to their families. We think we know everybody – we know where they have been, we know they are okay. So I think it is the compliance, it is getting through to people, that is the problem.
“And I think people who haven’t been affected by it, don’t know anyone who has had it or lost their lives to it, it is not seen as a big deal.
“But as we saw this week with the family from the Rhondda, it is a tragedy and it is devastating, and I hope people can see that. I think people get fed up of hearing numbers, it doesn’t mean anything to them, but the time has come to shout about these tragic stories, to get the message across.”
Coronavirus cases in RCT and Merthyr Tydfil have continued to rise despite both areas being under local lockdown since September.
Wales will be under a new set of national coronavirus restrictions from today and those in these areas with the highest rates are hoping that the firebreak will be enough to reduce the rate of transmission, but we won’t know if it has worked for several days after the restrictions are lifted.
Looking further into the future, Alex said her hope is to get the community ready to celebrate Christmas together as safely as possible.
And one of the potential ways to reduce the rate of transmission where the rates are high is to follow in Liverpool’s footsteps and use RCT and Merthyr Tydfil as the starting ground for mass testing in Wales. She said this is something the Welsh Government and Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board were currently looking into.
“People are fed up – they are not seeing any improvement. We have been living with these restrictions for seven months, doing the same thing over and over again.
“When it comes to Christmas, we are very, very acutely aware that people will do what they want anyway but now it is about how we make Christmas as safe as we can.
“Give people guidance on how to do it as safely as possible – people are going to break the rules and I think we would be wrong to deny people Christmas.”
After a hard year, Alex understands that Christmastime will be very important for many people.
And as she pointed out, Christmas comes around every year but that doesn’t mean every family member will continue to be around for each celebration – as many families will be acutely aware as they enter a first festive season without loved ones.
“Who knows how many Christmases we have with our parents and our grandparents? We need to make it safe,” she said.
Others are also looking at ways of moving forward after the firebreak ends. Kevin O’Neill, leader of Merthyr Tydfil council, believes one thing that shouldn’t be in place for the area is the 10pm curfew on pubs.
“I think the 10pm curfew is pushing people back to their homes to drink in groups,” he said.
He also questioned if the so-called “rule of four” will work, believing that most people will not follow it due to the nature of the family makeup. He said that by the time parents and grandparents are included there is no room for anyone else.
However he stressed that people need to analyse the risk of seeing some members of their family.
“The awful thing you will have to live with is you may have caused that illness.”
Echoing the sentiment that many of us know about the Valleys, Cllr O’Neill said the closeness of the community is what makes it difficult to contain the spread while also citing issues surrounding the nature of low-income employment.
“Around here people are very close. People want to grab people and give them a cwtch.
“I think a lot of people are going to work because they are worried about their jobs. And now we need to target those clusters around the schools and hospitals and factories.
“And I think people are thinking it is better not to go and get a test and contribute to the figures. They are thinking, ‘It is better I don’t know and I can stay in work’.”
He accepts there are people who are rule-breakers and believes these will never change but said the focus should be on clear messaging and rules for the vast majority of people.
“We need to give families a framework to meet. I think the mass testing will do that.”