Gender: Female Ethnicity: White British Background: Dawn is 40 years old and is White British. She is married with two children works as a school teacher. Dawn was worried about catching Covid because she has diabetes which makes her higher risk. When her and her family did get Covid, she was surprised how different everyone's experience was.

Gender: Female Ethnicity: Indian Background: Sunita is an ovarian cancer survivor and a writer. Sunita experienced Covid while recovering from ovarian cancer.

Ethnicity: Bangladeshi Background: Mahabuba is 36 years old and is Bangladeshi. She is married and has three children. Mahabuba has a long-term health condition so was afraid of having Covid. Her relationships with friends and family brought her comfort while she had Covid

Gender: Male Background: Paul is 44 years old and is White British. He is married, with two children, and works as a tour guide. Paul was not tested for Covid, but he thinks he had it in February 2020. His symptoms were a constant cough and a high temperature.

Gender: Male Background: Emdad is 49 years old and is Bangladeshi. He is married with three children and works in transport services. Emdad developed Covid while working as a key worker, and his household tested positive for coronavirus too. His wife, who lives with physical health problems, took longer than him to recover from the virus.

Ethnicity: Middle Eastern Background: Medhi is in his 30s and is Iranian. He is married and has a baby. He is currently a student. Medhi heard about Covid in March 2020 but experienced it himself when he and his wife developed Covid symptoms in January 2021. Medhi found it difficult to be away from friends but feels that it's important to follow the government guidelines.

Gender: Female Ethnicity: White British Background: Sue is 61 years old and is White British. She is a charity worker and trainer. Sue provided care for her parents who were unwell with Covid. When she caught Covid herself she was sick for about a week. She was advised to take paracetamol when she had Covid. However, she says that this did not improve her symptoms much.

Ethnicity: White British Background: Jessica is in her 30s and is White British. She lives with her husband and child, and is a respiratory doctor. Jessica was worried about having the Covid vaccine because of being pregnant. However, being a doctor, she also wanted to be a role model for others and show that the vaccine was safe and worked.

Jenny Douglas is a Senior Lecturer in Health Promotion in the Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies at the Open University. Jenny's research has concentrated on changing policy, practice and approaches to research in health promotion and public health. She has published widely on public health, health promotion and black women's health. The key theme unifying her research and activism is intersectionality – exploring how race;, class and gender affect health. Jenny Douglas established and chairs the Black Women's Health and Wellbeing Research Network.

Moazzam fell ill with Covid in October 2020, and was in hospital with for 4,5 months, including 2,5 months in ICU. He moved in with his 80-year-old mother in her ground floor flat after his discharge, because his own home had stairs he could no longer climb. Time of interview April 2021

• Intensive care with COVID-19: First wave, March–April 2020