The number of people with Covid across the UK has hit record levels, figures released on the day England ended free testing suggest.
One in 13 people in the UK were estimated to have Covid in the week ending 26 March, according to the Office for National Statistics, including a record 6.6% of over-70s.
Four people speak about recently contracting Covid for the first time.
‘I don’t want to go everywhere with a mask on but I will have to’
After avoiding Covid for two years, 72-year-old Marie James became ill in March. She’s since developed painful mouth ulcers that make it impossible to eat solid foods, which a nurse said was a sign that Covid had lowered her immune system. During the week she caught the virus, she “did a series of things unusually”, including wearing her high-grade mask less strictly than usual. “I shan’t be doing that again. I lowered my guard a little, very much to my regret,” she says. “Though I don’t want to go everywhere with a mask on, I will have to.”
James still has “one or two” tests at home. “If needed we’ll buy more. We’re lucky, we’ve got our pensions – it’s the people who can’t afford to do it,” she says. “Personally, I know they have to come to an end but people on benefits should be able to have them. If you can’t afford it, you’re not going to get a lateral flow test, are you?”
‘Do I heat the house, do I feed the girls or do I get Covid tests?’
David*, a 55-year-old office worker in Manchester, is one of those forced to make that choice. The father-of-two tested positive for the first time on 20 March. He still feels unwell – “I’ve got asthma, which is just making it a long road” – but having run out of lateral flow tests (LFTs), he is concerned his family may not know if they contract the virus. “If [my daughters and partner] get ill, I’ll be thinking, have I passed it on or have they got a cold?” he says. He’s also concerned about transmitting the virus to vulnerable people. “At least before, I could go online and order one … You follow advice for two years and then they cut you off at the knees.”
Combined with the cost of living crisis, David is in a bind. “Do I heat the house, do I get food or do I get Covid tests? I get good food for the girls; I don’t want to get them cheap rubbish. That’s the choice we have.”
‘I had two weeks of a horrible illness’
“I had two weeks of a horrible illness but managed to avoid hospital,” says 39-year-old Jeremy, who is immunosuppressed because of the medication he takes for psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis. “The shortness of breath really got to me but I monitored my oxygen saturation and it never dropped to dangerously low levels.”
Jeremy, who lives in Oxfordshire and works in animation, says he thinks he caught Covid after a local home education get-together for his daughter in March. “Since September we’ve been home educating but started attending some primarily outdoor gatherings last month.”
“We were more relaxed by this stage because I’d had four vaccines, and antivirals were now theoretically available to the immunosuppressed.”
“Living with Covid does not work for people like me. I was ill and still struggling with breathlessness. Covid has shifted the landscape for vulnerable people significantly.”
‘My head is completely blocked’
Seventy-year-old Clair Chapwell, from north London, says she’s “worried we’ll all be permanently sick”, with people testing less and being more relaxed about taking preventative measures against Covid.
Chapwell, who is semi-retired, said she thinks she caught Covid travelling back from France last Tuesday. “We were masked up but people are so casual now,” she said. “My wife tested positive on Wednesday but I was negative. I had achy muscles and diarrhoea but thought it was something else.
“On Sunday I tested positive using an LFT. My whole head is blocked.”
She has a birthday party planned for Saturday but doesn’t think it will go ahead. “I’m testing every day but if I’m still positive we’ll have to reschedule.
“I’m glad we went to France but maybe we took too many risks. Covid is unavoidable though. We’ve been very careful but you can’t live your life behind a mask or indoors.”
*Name has been changed
