Mr Eshaan

Gender: Male
Ethnicity: Pakistani
Background: Mr Eshaan is 59 years old and is Pakistani. He is married with children, and works as a teacher. Mr Eshaan caught Covid early in the pandemic in March 2020. He became so ill that paramedics had to be called. His wife was forced to make the decision on whether he should be admitted to hospital after being told by paramedics that if they admit him he may not come bac.

Mr Eshaan became ill in March 2020, prior to the first set of lockdowns. Before becoming ill, Mr Eshaan had been attending work as a teacher and choir practice as normal. After choir practice, Mr Eshaan began to feel unwell. He developed a very high temperature, causing him to sweat profusely. It was due to his high temperature that his family decided to call the paramedics.

The paramedics provided Mr Eshaan’s family with masks and recommended they leave him to care for himself to prevent themselves becoming ill. Mr Eshaan found this difficult, though he had already been isolating in the spare room. He had become bedridden with the virus and was able to do very little for himself because of his high temperature and difficulty breathing. Due to the severity of Mr Eshaan’s illness, paramedics asked his wife if she wanted them to admit him to the hospital. They warned her that they didn’t know when he would be seen, and due to the severity of the situation at the hospital and his condition he may not come back Ultimately, after seeking advice from a doctor friend, Mr Eshaan’s wife decided against paramedics admitting him.

During this time, Mr Eshaan admits worrying he may die, leading him to give his daughter details she may require in the event of his passing. Mr Eshaan knew others who had passed away from the virus from his choir, saying Friday evening we actually did the choir itself and by the Saturday or Sunday people were then going into hospital. When you heard that they had gone into hospital because of Covid, and then they had died Mr Eshaan’s church now holds online meetings where doctors provide reliable information on the virus to the community.

Aside from the negative experience of Covid illness, Mr Eshaan was also negatively affected by racism during the pandemic. He feels that the pandemic contributed to some groups being treated like we were worthless and nothing. So if you died, that was it. Just a number When having a routine blood test done, Mr Eshaan felt discriminated against as other patients were prioritised ahead of him. This negative treatment was influential in his decision to receive his vaccinations at his local vaccination centre rather than the GP surgery.

Following his illness, Mr Eshaan and his family have been extremely cautious and have followed all of the guidelines. They have altered aspects of life to protect themselves from the virus, including not going to shops that don’t allow them to socially distance.

Mr Eshaan was advised that if he went to hospital he ‘might not come back’.

Age at interview 59

The worst thing is they said to my wife, “What do you want us to do? Shall we take him in, you know. Take him in. What’s happening at the hospitals, right now just leaving them out there. We don’t know when he will be seen, you know. And if he does go I think as I was saying, he may not come back, you know.” And that was the most frightening thing, you know. When you heard on the news at the time what was going on, you know and then I had a friend who was a doctor and he told me why let, let him stay at home, you know. He had heard of what, actually happening at the NHS. So, my wife made that decision, she goes, “He’s not going nowhere, you know. He’s staying here.”

Embed Print Transcript

Mr Eshaan had Covid in March 2020. He would sometimes cough for half an hour without stopping.

Age at interview 59

You couldn’t even get up, let’s put it that way. Once a cough comes, it was a continuous cough, it would not stop. Once I continued to cough for a good half an hour nonstop, you know. And I think my wife and my daughter they could hear me at night time when I was coughing just to go to the toilet and back, you know. I could hardly walk from the bed to the toilet, you know. Just about to collapse, put it that way, you know. And sometimes yes, you have to drag yourself in drag yourself back, you know.

Embed Print Transcript

Mr Eshaan remembers there being a stigma to saying you had Covid at the start of the pandemic.

Age at interview 59

I think it’s the stigma of saying you had a virus. You had the virus, people thought the virus was some kind of a germ, put it that way, you know. Or you were dirty and that’s why you got the virus, you know or people wouldn't want to know you, you know or they would keep away.

Embed Print Transcript

Mr Eshaan wondered how much of the risk faced by minority ethnic communities was because they lived in areas hard-hit by Covid.

Age at interview 59

I think we got to be careful there because sometimes you be because they are concentrated in one area. It might not be, it might not be a direct discrimination itself, you know, it could be because they’re all clustered together in one area, you know, as opposed to them being not looked at, but if it was in more than others, you know. Obviously the people researching it and monitoring those numbers would see what happened there.

 

Embed Print Transcript