Shielding from Covid: 'I couldn't face going back to work'

The pandemic has caused Barbara Owen "anxiety and depression", she says

Concerns about contracting Covid-19, even after being fully vaccinated, prompted Barbara Owen to quit her job at a petrol station.

The 61-year-old has criticised comments by Wales' top doctor that vulnerable people should not need to shield again.

She and husband, Len, 76, shielded for 12 months until March and continue to be "cautious" after both having cancer.

Wales' deputy chief medical officer said asking people to shield was an "extraordinary" measure.

Dr Chris Jones said it had been required at the time but it was no longer needed due to the success of the vaccine rollout.

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Ms Owen said: "While there are less deaths, which they are putting down to the fact that people have had their injection, it still means that you can become seriously ill with it.

"I don't fancy spending days, weeks in the hospital."

Wales is in a third wave of the pandemic, and although case numbers have fallen in recent days, those needing hospital treatment remains much lower than in the second wave last winter.

Ministers had asked 130,000 people in Wales to isolate at home during previous lockdowns.

But based on current evidence, Chief Medical Officer Frank Atherton has written to people on the shielding list to say he did not expect them to have to do so again.

However, there are exceptions and some patients may be asked to shield by their own doctors.

Ms Owen said it was unfair to put more pressure on the NHS which, she said, could not be praised enough.

She had been due to return to work following treatment for breast cancer when vulnerable people were told to isolate.

Ms Owen said she also had concerns that her husband, who has had treatment for bowel cancer, would continue to be at risk to the virus even though they have both had two vaccination doses.

She said while there were Covid safety measures in place, Anglesey was a "holiday island" with lots of visitors.

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"I just could not face the thought of going back to work and not knowing who was coming in, what they had," she told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast

"It's caused me to have anxiety and depression.

"My anxiety has presented itself, I start coughing, and that actually puts me on edge when I go out to places because I think that people are looking and saying, you know, 'has she got the Covid cough?'

"It is going to take me time to get over this. It's not going to beat me."

A total of 130,000 people were previously asked to shield by the Welsh government

She added: "But when it came to March this year and they were talking about me going back to work, I just couldn't."

Dr Jones said he understood why people might be worried, but encouraged fully vaccinated people to "regain their confidence" and "join the majority who have been fully vaccinated" in society.