the Guardian
The pandemic has been a constant backdrop for me. I live alone with my 10-year-old child. Who will support us if I fall ill?
I am a single parent working in the NHS as a therapy assistant. I help patients get back on their feet and provide rehabilitation support to get them home. During the pandemic they’ve needed me more than ever because they face longer hospital stays, complicated by staff absences and a lack of family visits. I have done my best to offer them extra support during these unprecedented times. It’s paradoxical, then, that there’s no safety net for me.
Covid-19 has been a constant backdrop to my family’s every waking move since the pandemic began. I live alone with my 10-year-old child, who has spent the past two years terrified I will fall ill, leaving him with no one. Sometimes he asks me to stop work and find a job I can do from home. But I cannot. It took me long enough to find this job in the first place.
Now there’s a new surge. For many, it’s old news. Perhaps they’ve already had Covid, or they are reassured by the comparatively low hospitalization rate. Many, no doubt, have paid sick leave to rely on in hard times, or perhaps a partner who can pick up the childcare if they have to isolate. But for us, it’s the same nightmare it’s always been.
