Robert
Gender: Male
Background: Robert is 62 years old and is Black Caribbean. He is married, with children, and works as a community nurse. Robert thinks he caught Covid from visiting a patient at home who was later diagnosed with Covid. He remembers thinking that he was going to die from Covid.
When Robert first heard of Covid he was quite worried because of his job working within the community. He says that him and his team were not receiving the information that they needed. They did not have access to Track and Trace and were unsure who in the community had Covid. Robert was worried that he could catch Covid and bring it home to his family.
Robert caught Covid in January of 2021. He says that he was visting a patient at home who had to go to hospital for further monitoring. Later that day, Robert was told that the patient had Covid which sent off alarm bells because Robert was not wearing PPE (personal protective equipment) at the home visit. He also learned that the patient’s son, who was upstairs at the time, also had Covid.
A week after visitng this patient, Robert developed a continuous cough and his throat was very sore. He tested himself with a home kit which came back positive for Covid. Robert tested his wife and son who both also tested positive. The family decided to isolate at home during this time and asked their daughter to deliver food and other necessities to their front door.
Robert remembers thinking that he was going to die from Covid. He explains that his symptoms were quite severe, he had no appetite for food, he was vomiting a lot, and could not breathe. As he puts it, I had to gasp for breath at times and the experience became worse and worse Robert also had some unsual symptoms such as a sensitive head and excessive sweating. He still had some symptoms, like a tight chest and night sweats, at the time of interview.