A man says he remains stuck in his own personal lockdown despite Covid restrictions easing as the rest of the country enjoys life as normal.
Joseph Wright is one of half a million Brits who has not been able to resume life as normal since the lockdowns were eased and the Covid rules were ripped up.
The 40-year-old from Manchester takes immunosuppression drugs after a kidney transplant in 2014.
When the pandemic hit the UK in March 2020, Joseph along with wife Michelle, also 40, started walking a tightrope to keep him safe, but let his daughter, Eliza, live as normal a life as possible.
The lengths to which he’s gone to look after his life and protect his health has put serious strains on his relationships with loved ones, especially his brother.
Today, while the rest of the country has moved on, Joseph and his family are still living in their own personal lockdown, massively limiting who they see and where they go.
Speaking to the Mirror, he said: “If anyone wants to come in the house, and spend time with us, they have to isolate for five days then take a lateral flow the morning that they come see us.
“It might sound crazy, it might sound too much but what’s the alternative? They could spend two or three days meeting up with people and seeing friends and we saw how quickly covid spreads.”
This wasn’t a decision the family took lightly, well aware they were weighing up any and all interactions with other people against Joseph’s life.
It also became a sticking point with loved ones, especially in seeing Joseph’s mum who used to provide childcare for Eliza.
His mum is unable to take the time to isolate before visiting them so they only get to see her a few times a year.
Joseph said: “The hardest part is that my mum had childcare for Eliza one day a week and my partner’s mum did one day a week too
“But they also have other grandchildren they look after so they couldn’t separate the time because it would make it really difficult for my brother and his family, or my wife’s sister and her’s.
“They rely on the childcare more than we do because we work from home and we can do it, however tough, but it can be done.
“We will settle and accept that during the school holidays there’s a chance we’ll get to spend time with my mum as they won’t need the childcare,” he said.
Joseph added: “We get to see my mum a couple of days at Christmas, a couple of days in the June holidays and a couple of days in August and that’s it.”
“We’ve missed birthdays because of it, we’ve seen people from a distance without getting a hug.
“We’ve seen only Michelle’s mum once in a house for Christmas 2021 for the past two and half years, because they couldn’t, or didn’t isolate for our requirements.”
The self-imposed isolation rules particularly became a point of tension between Joseph and his brother.
Joseph said: “Me and my brother get on so well. He gave me my first kidney transplant. But it caused a bit of falling out for a period.
“He didn’t understand where I was coming from and I didn’t understand where he was coming from.
“He thought I was overexaggerating the risks, but I personally thought he didn’t understand what would truly happen to me if I caught Covid. I don’t think anyone can unless they’re truly living it.”
“We did go through a stage of not speaking, and having to just accept that we weren’t going to see my mum.”
The brothers made up, and have since been trying their best to find a way forward.
One of Joseph and Michelle's biggest worries was trying to ensure their daughter could live as normal a life as possible whilst not endangering him.
She goes to school, her martial arts and swimming club still and attends parties whenever possible.
But whenever Eliza gets back from school she goes straight into the “quarantine box” where she strips off her uniform and immediately has a shower.
Joseph said: “Eliza comes home from school, we’ve got a quarantine box where she takes off her uniform in the hallway.
“We put all her school clothes in there and straight upstairs and shower straight away. She knows the drill. She’s so good.
“We’ve only got one daughter and she’s everything to us, you never know how it’d affect her if we tried to restrict her it would only make it worse.”
However, despite their best efforts, at one point during the pandemic their worst fears came true and Eliza tested positive for Covid. After a persistent high temperature Joseph was forced to isolate from his own family in the house.
Thankfully his daughter only had it mildly but after it spread to his wife, Joseph had to flee his own home, risking moving in with his mum, for his own safety.
However, instead of being able to wait out the virus there, she had to care for his nieces and nephews so was forced to temporarily move out of her own home to a friend's house, who was conveniently away.
Joseph was able to wait out the virus there until it was safe to return home.
Fiona Loud, Policy Director at Kidney Care UK, told The Mirror: "Whilst everyone is keen to move away from the pandemic & we're told that we need to 'live with Covid-19 ' immunocompromised kidney patients still need better communication and more support from the government.
"Significant numbers of immunocompromised kidney patients have done all they can to keep themselves safe, including having all of the vaccines they are eligible for.
"However, a lack of clear guidance for the general public and a lack of access to preventative treatments - that enable them to have the same protection as the general public - means that the pandemic is far from over for thousands of kidney patients."
