Northamptonshire health boss received Covid-related hate mail

Lucy Wightman said she received hate mail and was trolled on Twitter while trying to combat the pandemic

A public health director has revealed how she received hate mail and had her address placed on a police watch list as she worked to tackle Covid-19.

Lucy Wightman was speaking ahead of leaving her Northamptonshire role for a similar job at Essex County Council.

Ms Wightman has faced high profile Covid challenges including an Omicron outbreak and a factory closure after hundreds of workers tested positive.

She said the job had been "scary, but exhilarating and rewarding".

Although Ms Wightman has held the position of Director of Public Health Northamptonshire for six-and-a-half years, it is since the start of the coronavirus pandemic that she has faced her greatest challenges.

The Greencore factory in Northampton had to be closed down in August 2020 after an outbreak of Covid-19 among workers

In August 2020, sandwich-maker Greencore made national headlines when it was forced to close after almost 300 people were found to have the virus.

Northamptonshire was also at the epicentre of the rise of the Omicron variant, with an outbreak in Brackley, while the county declared a major Covid incident at the start of this year.

At various times the area's largest towns, notably Corby and Northampton, have had the highest rates of Covid cases in the country.

Ms Wightman said during the pandemic she had experienced "extraordinary extremes of emotion".

"There have been points where I've very much felt out of my depth," she said.

"It was like trying to build a plane while flying it. The learning curve was huge."

Ms Wightman said at the onset of the pandemic there were "gaps" in resources.

"Initially it was really challenging because we weren't getting the data," she said.

"Understanding where the infections were in Northamptonshire and trying to make sure we got the right number of tests etc when they were first introduced.

"As it became more of a steady state, availability of resources dramatically improved."

Corby, pictured, and Northampton have both featured regularly at the top of tables of the highest coronavirus infection rates in the country over the past two years

Ms Wightman said at times she had been "trolled on Twitter" and received hate mail.

"I've had emails accusing me of doing harm to people or potentially being responsible for the deaths of people," she said, adding they had come from both anti-vaxxers and those who thought the authorities were not doing enough.

"Having my address on police watch lists in case anti-vaxxers or whoever it might be turn up at my front door is daunting.

"I just had to concentrate on trying to do the right thing."

Ms Wightman said she had "very many" sleepless nights as a result of both the threats and the pressure of dealing with the pandemic.

She paid tribute to the way public health services and communities in Northamptonshire came together to face the virus.

Lucy Wightman said she was incredibly proud of the success of the vaccine programme in Northamptonshire

"It's been a cast of thousands," she said, heralding the work of everyone from community leaders to those who led the vaccine roll-out locally.

With regards to the high rates of Covid in the county's towns, she said: "I don't think we'll ever get to the bottom of everything."

But she added other areas that had experienced the same issues have similar characteristics to Northamptonshire, including areas of high deprivation, high numbers of people who could not afford to self-isolate or had manual jobs meaning they could not work from home, and very close knit communities in which transmission rates were high.

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Although she still wears a mask in public, she said it was down to "personal choice".

She urged people to "keep on being cautious," adding: "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should."

Ms Wightman said her move to Essex, where she will be the county's director of public health, in early-April was exciting.

She said the "completely different region", which is more than double the size of Northamptonshire, will bring fresh challenges, including having large rural areas and disparities between extremely affluent and very deprived areas.