Latest news with #Covid.She
ITV News
13-05-2025
- Health
- ITV News
Northern Ireland couple who died weeks apart 'picked up Covid' from carers, daughter claims
A woman whose parents died of Covid a month apart during the pandemic has told a public inquiry she believes the infection was taken into their house by Gray, from Northern Ireland, told the UK Covid-19 Inquiry that the virus was spread by 'people doing their jobs,' caring for the said the trauma of not being able to be with her parents when they died will stay with her forever, adding that her mother and father 'disappeared'. Module seven of the inquiry is examining test, trace and isolate policies adopted during the Gray's parents, George and Violet Little, from Co Fermanagh, died in December 2020 and January 2021. They were 80 and 78 years Gray, a member of the Northern Ireland Covid Bereaved Families for Justice group, told the inquiry on Tuesday that people in the region had presumed that 'things were being done' to prevent the spread of said: 'Only when it came to my own doorstep did I realise that what I presumed was not happening at all.'People who were working with vulnerable people – carers coming to my mother – were actually not being tested, nor were other healthcare workers.'To me, it seemed to be a total lack of common sense; this was nine months into the pandemic.'These people were actually spreading a virus and nothing was being done to counteract that.'The inquiry heard that Ms Gray's parents lived in a rural area and depended on carers who went to their house four times a day to move Mrs Little, who used a to the inquiry Sophie Cartwright asked Ms Gray if she was confident Covid was taken into her parents' house by the Gray said when her father first tested positive for the virus, she took a test said: 'I immediately went and had a test and I was negative, so I knew that it wasn't me that had passed the virus to them.'My mum, we got her a postal test. Hers came back positive as well and then mine was positive.'I am fairly confident I didn't bring the virus to them and nobody else would have been in the house other than the carers.'She said she spoke to the carers' manager and asked when they had been told the inquiry: 'His answer was, it wasn't the hospital trust policy to actually test carers who were going into the homes of vulnerable people.'That was the shocking realisation that this was what was happening in the country – carers were going into the homes of people who were not tested.'Ms Gray said she sent a text message to then-health minister Robin Swann about the situation and he responded that he would look into told the inquiry that her father died first, in December 2020, while her mother was in said: 'I can't begin to imagine what it must have been like for my mother, knowing that my father had passed away and nobody was there with her to comfort her.'They said on the day of my father's funeral she watched the clock.'Ms Gray also raised concerns about paramedics who attended to both her father and mother while wearing 'basic PPE'.She said: 'When I asked them did they get tested, they said no, who would do their jobs if they were going to be tested and come back positive?'It was this attitude – 'If we don't get tested we won't know whether we are positive or not'.'This virus was being spread by people who were doing their jobs and caring for people who were already sick.'The process to me just did not make sense.'Ms Gray said she was not able to be with either of her parents when they died because of Covid said: 'If it had been an animal, a vet would encourage the animal's owner to be there with them to the very end.'I, twice, didn't get that opportunity and so many people have had similar experiences.'The trauma of not being there for your parents' last breaths will stay with me forever.'My parents disappeared, I never saw them again.'Ms Gray added: 'My parents' lives were cut short. Their experience was horrendous – for me, for them, for the whole country.'All those who were lost, their lives must not have meant nothing, they cannot have died in vain.'We must have changes in this country that people never have to experience this kind of trauma over a virus again.'
BBC News
16-04-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Gene Hackman's wife Betsy Arakawa Googled flu and Covid symptoms
Betsy Arakawa, the wife of actor Gene Hackman, searched the internet for information about flu and Covid symptoms and breathing techniques in the days before she died, police records have asked Google questions including whether Covid could cause dizziness or nosebleeds, according to files released by the Santa Fe Sheriff and reported by the Associated Press and New York 65-year-old pianist died of hantavirus, which can cause flu-like symptoms and develop into a life-threatening lung believe she died around 12 February, and her husband, 95, who had Alzheimer's disease, died on 18 February. Their bodies were found on 26 February. The Sheriff files include details of the police investigation along with photos of the couple's cluttered house in New Mexico, and bodycam show that on 10 February, Arakawa searched online for "can Covid cause dizziness?" and "Flu and nosebleeds".The following day, she emailed her massage therapist to cancel an appointment, saying her husband had woken up with "flu/cold-like symptoms" but had tested negative for also ordered oxygen canisters from Amazon for "respiratory support".Police have previously said Arakawa made multiple calls to a health clinic on 12 February for medical treatment, which she never was found to have contracted hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a rare respiratory illness carried by rodents. Nests and some dead rodents were found in outbuildings of the couple's believe Hackman died on 18 February - the date of his last recorded pacemaker activity, which showed an abnormal rhythm of atrial cause of death was severe heart disease, with advanced Alzheimer's disease listed as a contributing factor. Experts believe the Oscar-winning actor's Alzheimer's may have prevented him from realising his wife of more than 30 years was dead in the home where he was bodies were discovered more than a week later by neighbourhood of the couple's three dogs, which had been in a crate while recovering from surgery, died from starvation and couple's children had tried to block the release of the latest sheriff's records by Santa Fe County, but news organisations challenged that under New Mexico's freedom of information laws."The New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA) placed the County in a difficult position," said County manager Gregory S Shaffer."On the one hand, we deeply understand the family's need for privacy during this painful time."On the other, the County has a duty to follow the law and faced potential lawsuits, damages, and attorney's fees under IPRA if we withheld the records."
BBC News
19-03-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Royal Liverpool nurse 'still shudders' over memories of Covid
In October 2020 Liverpool's Covid rates were rising at a terrifying rate and the city was about to become the first area in England to enter the strictest of the government's new three-tier system of country had already seen one lockdown beginning early that year in March, with restrictions that had been gradually eased over the summer but, in many areas, the beginning of autumn had seen a sharp jump in cases of the then, local hospitals were on the verge of being overwhelmed and on the eve of the new lockdown staff from the Royal Liverpool's critical care unit appeared on BBC News urging the public not to have one final night muffled behind masks and layers of PPE, they spoke of their dismay and disbelief that it was all happening again, and their fears for the weeks ahead."This is not sustainable. This just isn't sustainable," nurse Louise Lightfoot told the and a half years on, looking back at that TV report, Louise gives a little shudder. "Seeing it now brings back the memories of working in that intense environment and reminds me of how resilient we were," she said."It was a very scary time – unprecedented. However, we came together and we worked together the best way we know how."The pressure on critical care units became ever more intense as patient numbers increased."I think there was a lot of adrenaline pumping. A lot of us didn't really stop to process how stressful it was at the time," said once that adrenaline had ebbed, many critical care staff around the country struggled to process what they had gone through and the beginning of the pandemic in particular the death rate in intensive care units had been more than twice the normal also struggled with the fact that relatives were unable to visit patients until the end - and sometimes not at said some of her colleagues had ended up with post-traumatic stress disorder and others had left nursing altogether."The aftermath just impacted too much on their own lives so they just came away and did something completely different. "I just think the critical care environment is quite a stressful environment anyway day to day so I think with Covid on top of that, the immense pressure people were feeling was just too much for them to carry on day to day."Louise still works on the unit but changed her job to work as a staff trainer, a fact she partly puts down to having worked through says she uses the pandemic and examples from it during her teaching sessions but other than that: "We don't tend to talk that much about it. I think it's because people don't want to think about it."The Royal Liverpool moved to a new hospital building in 2022. 'Never again' The old building, which sits opposite the new, is currently being torn down. Louise said the move had made it easier for staff to break with the past."They don't want to look back at that. I think the staff just want to look forward now rather than back"But some changes made during the pandemic have control, always important in critical care, was tightened during Covid and remains so said staff were now more vigilant in asking patients' relatives to wear masks if they had a cough or a cold."Now we are thankfully in a place where we can put it behind us but also I just want people to be aware," she said."Hopefully we will never see anything like this again in our lifetime but we can never say never. We don't want to see anything on that scale again." Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram and watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.
