‘It nearly killed me’ – Woman still shields at home four years after first Covid lockdown

(Credit: GETTY)

A woman continues to live in isolation and unable to hug her grandchildren for fear it could kill her – four years on since the first Covid lockdown in Britain.

Then Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the first national lockdown on March 23, 2020.

But the pandemic wreaked havoc, claiming more than 233,000 lives.

Some ignored lockdown rules, including staff at Number 10 Downing Street, which eventually led to the Partygate scandal.

Since then, society has largely returned to ‘normal’, but many clinically vulnerable people and those with long Covid still live in fear and isolation.

Nicky Myers, 51, from Cambridge, continues to shield because last time she caught Covid it almost killed her.

She said: ‘I have almost become used to it, almost.

‘I have six grandchildren who I don’t see, and that is really painful.

‘They are all under ten and they are germ monsters.’  

Contracting Covid again or any another disease is no joke for Nicky, who is clinically vulnerable and disabled.

She has a genetic condition, a lung disease called bronchiectasis and she was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis in 2016.

Nicky needs supplementary oxygen (Credit: Nicky Myers)

It means her lungs work at only 14% capacity so she doesn’t move much and uses supplemental oxygen.

Before Covid, Nicky used to get around to see friends with an oxygen tank strapped to her wheelchair.

But since contracting the virus in October 2022 during a routine hospital appointment, she finds it difficult to get out of bed.

She recounted the life-changing moment: ‘I was in hospital for two weeks on anti-virals and it was very touch and go.

‘Then I got pneumonia as well. I don’t know how I survived.’

People hunkered down for months after the first Covid lockdown was announced on March 23, 2020 (Credits: JeffJMitchell/Getty Images)

Nicky said the start of the lockdown was ‘absolutely awful’.

‘To start with, my lung disease was not on the list who were asked to shield, which is ridiculous because people with my disease die or need a lung replacement.

‘It took the government a month to recognise we need access to these services shielding people are getting like food delivery slots.

‘I knew if I contracted early Covid I would not survive.’

In March 2020, 2.2 million people were told to shield as they were clinically extremely vulnerable, with 1.7 million added to the list by February the following year.

Last time Nicky went out socially before shielding started was on March 13, 2020 to a Senegalese drumming workshop (Credit: Nicky Myers)

Getting into the wheelchair and moving with it is difficult so even her garden tends to be out of bounds.

‘I have no resistance to anything anymore because I stopped going out.

‘I no longer go to hospital now because of what happened last time.’

Nicky hasn’t been to the shops for years.

A testament to human strength and resilience, Nicky has managed to ‘carve out a life’.

She learned to paint, teaches music and production as a volunteer, remains active in the union – all from her bed.

Nicky said: ‘I don’t hold it against regular people going about their lives, because that’s what the government says to do. It says it’s all fine, carry on.

‘But I do think the government has forgotten about us again.

The deserted National Gallery and Trafalgar Square on April 2, 2020 (Credits: AFP via Getty Images)

‘Things are not in place to keep us included. Like mask wearing, even when numbers are high people don’t bother, even in hospitals.’

Clinically vulnerable people live with a ‘low level fear all the time’, she said.

She continued: ‘‘I know it’s not just me, there are thousands and thousands.

‘There are so many immunocompromised people in this country.

‘They were always having to be careful but even more now because more people are walking around that could make them extremely ill or kill them.

‘I’ve build a life around it out of necessity’.

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