Emma
Gender: Female
Ethnicity: African Caribbean
Background: Emma is 69 years old and is African Caribbean. She is a retired librarian and lives with her daughter and niece. Emma felt like the pandemic was racialised and informed by racism. She spoke about the different Covid variants and how they were called the Chinese virus; and the Indian variant.;
Emma tested positive for Covid in December 2020. She says that she had terrible headaches, muscle pains, and generally felt awful. Emma says she felt terrified because she did not want to end up in hospital. Emma’s mother was also in hospital for Covid during this time.
Emma phoned the hospital every day to check on her mother. Her mother was invited to participate in a randomised controlled trial. Emma tried to find out more information about the research but eventually said no. As she explains, there’s the historical record of black people being experimented on
Emma suffered some longer-term symptoms of Covid, which were eventually diagnosed as long Covid. She hopes that she doesn’t catch Covid again, because she suffered so much the first time she had it.
Emma feels like the pandemic was racialised/ informed by racism. She thought that public health images associated the virus with black people, and she noticed an increase racist abuse in general. She reflects on how different variants of Covid were called the Chinese virus; and the Indian variant.; As Emma explains, they;ve stopped that now. They are no longer calling it the Indian. They are called it the Delta because they must have realised how racist and sick that was