Opinion

Tom Kelly: We endure this time, not for the politicians, but for those we hold dear

Tom Kelly

Tom Kelly

Tom Kelly is an Irish News columnist with a background in politics and public relations. He is also a former member of the Policing Board.

There are 41 patients with the virus on intensive care wards
There are 41 patients with the virus on intensive care wards There are 41 patients with the virus on intensive care wards

Owen and Bredge Ward were married for 48 years. They had six children and nine grandchildren. They were diagnosed with coronavirus and died hours apart aged 69. Their family now devastated.

David Lewis was married to Gladys for 44 years. Gladys (74) and her two sons, Dean (44) and Darren (42) contracted coronavirus. All three died. The photograph of their coffins side by side in an empty church was heartbreaking.

Sheila died of stomach cancer at the start of lockdown. She was cared for at home surrounded by her family and was buried under restricted rules for funerals. Five days later, Sheila’s husband Peter developed Covid symptoms. Testing positive he was taken to hospital. That was the last his daughter saw of him. Thirteen days after the death of his wife, he went straight from the hospital to the graveyard. No wake. No funeral.

These are not statistics. These are real people. And the events as described are true.

During the first lockdown my aunt Rose developed symptoms which led her being taken to a Covid centre. I remember so clearly the anxiety in her face entering the ambulance. With her back to us, she briefly glanced around.

My heart sank into the pit of my stomach. Was this to be it?

My beloved aunt scooped off to a hospital, alone and without embrace.

My father, who is stoic about most things, stood helplessly looking on. We had to immediately clean the house they shared but more worryingly we had to leave my father alone overnight whilst awaiting the Covid test results.

This took an agonising ten hours. It seemed like a Gethsemane moment. Thankfully our story did not end like the Ward or the Lewis families. Rose returned to us in good health.

This may seem a strange way to comment on the latest round of Covid restrictions belatedly and clumsily announced by the Stormont Executive.

But I think it is worth reflecting on why we need such measures and more importantly, why we need to recognise the human impact of this virus as it rips through a family or a community.

Yes, there are other consequences of tighter Covid restrictions. There are those who will struggle with mental health issues brought about by increased isolation and healthcare waiting lists may grow longer for screening, testing and treatment for other diseases.

Covid is not being prioritised over other conditions but it is being responded to in a particular way because it creates patients with acute health needs requiring intensive care.

Covid, unlike some other conditions, can infect those doing the actual caring. Doctors, nurses and healthcare workers are not just at the frontline of care but they are also at the most risk. A staggering 620 NHS and social care staff have died of coronavirus in England and Wales alone. Thirty-one of those were doctors or consultants. To put this in context, British military losses in eight years of war in Iraq was 138.

Frankly, we are at war with Covid-19 but community resolve is waning against this invisible enemy.

There is considerable and justifiable anger directed towards the Northern Ireland Executive from the business community. Some of it is misdirected. Trade organisations lobbied hard and got from the DUP measures which amounted to a useless half way house. This was self defeating in the face of mounting medical evidence for a complete or harsher lockdown.

Many individual businesses argued for a full lockdown with proper financial support measures in place rather than a stop start approach.

The executive’s credibility is shredded and the culprits are the DUP and Sinn Féin. Plodding decision making, silo-thinking, oneupmanship and an abysmal communications strategy have cost the executive public confidence.

But let’s remember we endure this time, not for Arlene or Michelle, but for people like my aunt Rose and everyone we hold dear in our families.