Covid: My wife would still be shielding, says Hampshire widower – BBC.com

25 March 2024

Gary Alexander said he and his wife Juliet Coffer would be still be shielding today if she was alive

Four years on from the first Covid lockdown, the nation has had a variety of changes and experiences to contend with, brought about by the pandemic. Gary Alexander's wife died in 2022, from an existing condition but Covid still had a huge impact on their lives.

Gary expected to only work from home for a month "until the whole thing blew over".

"Two and a half years later, we were still shielding but the whole country had gone back to normal," he said.

"In retrospect, it was nice we had that extra time together, just the two of us, of course it did take a mental toll being so isolated."

Juliet Coffer, from Hartley Wintney, had a severe lung condition and was living in one room, sleeping upright in a chair.

She started shielding in December 2019 after "we'd heard the stories of what was going on in China". Gary said: "I started shielding a month before the country went into lockdown."

Image source, Juliet Coffer

Juliet Coffer had a severe lung condition and had been shielding since December 2019

In fact, he thinks they would still be isolating now, if she hadn't died.

Asked what he thought his late wife would make of the situation four years on, he replied: "I think she would say she can't believe society is just carrying on as if nothing is happening, as if Covid doesn't exist anymore and it's all over now - because it isn't.

"If she were still here, we would still be shielding and I think she would have become more and more frustrated that the government and society had pushed Covid to one side and forgotten about the people still shielding after four years.

"I know there must be many people in Juliet's position, still having to shield after all this time. It must be awful."

According to the latest statistics from the government, between 660,000 and 1,073,000 people in England were infected with Covid in February 2024 - a prevalence of somewhere between one in 50 and one in 83.

The government shelved the idea in the UK in 2022 because of a lack of evidence over how well it works against the Omicron variant.

However, The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence announced in November last year that it would start a fresh appraisal of the drug in February.

Mr Alexander recalled the last time his wife left the house, taken to hospital by paramedics.

"She was looking around the garden, everything was in bloom, she was waving goodbye and said 'I'm not sure I'll come back again' and unfortunately she didn't," he said.

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Watch: Juliet Coffer reacts to the prospect of no Covid restrictions

In the UK, 1.2 million people are still classed as clinically exceptionally vulnerable (CEV) to Covid-19, according to patient campaign group Forgotten Lives UK.

The government's shielding programme ended in September 2021 and there is no current rule saying people classed as CEV have to shield.

In a statement, the Department of Health and Social Care said that, throughout the pandemic, the government "acted to save lives and livelihoods, preventing the NHS being overwhelmed, and delivered a world-leading vaccine rollout which protected millions".

It added: "We have always said there are lessons to be learnt from the pandemic and are committed to learning from the Covid-19 Inquiry's findings, which will play a key role in informing the government's planning and preparations for the future."

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Covid: My wife would still be shielding, says Hampshire widower - BBC.com