How people in Sunderland say they've coped with 100 days of lockdown
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It was March 23 when Prime Minister Boris Johnson first imposed stringent conditions to control the spread of the disease, with Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab adding further rules in April.
People began to come to terms with a radical change in their lives and, while the restrictions have been relaxed since, the country is still far from a return to pre-lockdown normality.
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Hide AdSo how have people been coping in the 14 weeks and two days since the rules were imposed?
Devastating diagnosis
Sixty-seven-year-old Terry Stephenson was waiting for wife Janet outside Primark in Sunderland city centre.
Terry, from Southwick, found himself forced to self-isolate when he received some devastating news after the rules were imposed.
“I was diagnosed with cancer while the lockdown was on,” he said.
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Hide Ad“It just came out of the blue. I have had two operations and so I had no choice but to self-isolate.
“I was told I had to stay in for three weeks anyway and people were not able to come and visit me. I’m all right now – I have been given the all-clear so that is fine.”
The early days of the lockdown had been hard, Terry admitted.
“We literally stayed in for the first five or six weeks without going out,” he said.
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Hide Ad“It was a bit hard not being able to see sons and daughters and other relatives – it was pretty hard at first, but because we did not have any kids at home, it was all right.”
Fears over pub reopenings
Customer services adviser Aaron Evans also has health issues and has been self-isolating at home in Red House with his fiance Shannon.
“It has been alright, to be honest,” he said. “It has been a bit frustrating, but it is what it is.
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Hide Ad“I have been abiding pretty strenuously by the rules and I have only just started going out. I only came into town for the first time last week – otherwise, that has pretty much been it.”
Aaron, 28, has been horrified by recent scenes of people flocking to the beach as lockdown is eased and believes this weekend’s opening of pub beer gardens has come far too soon.
“It is absolutely ridiculous,” he said. “I don’t see how it will work.
“I want to go to the pub and have a pint as much as anyone else, but I just don’t think it will work.”
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Hide AdAaron is convinced there will be another peak in coronavirus cases: “It is not if, it is when,” he said.
“I am 100 per cent certain that we will get a second wave, but that will not be until September or October. and it is going to be a lot worse as well.”
Missing family has been the hardest part for most
Husband and wife Stephen and Beverly Elliott, from South Shields, have been making the most of their time together, with Stephen having spent a long time working away from home.
“I worked at Sellafield and I took semi-retirement a couple of years ago,” he said.
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Hide AdStephen, 63, has not had to go away for work since the end of last year and the couple were lucky enough to squeeze in a holiday just before lockdown started, with a break in Thailand in February.
“This is the first time we have been shopping other than essential food shopping, since the lockdown started,” said Beverly, 62.
The couple have missed spending time with family.
“We have had the kids round from time to time to sit in the garden,” said Beverly.
“But my mum is 89 and we did not see her for ten weeks – that was pretty hard. I think she struggled with that, but she is part of our ‘bubble’ now.”
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Hide AdThe couple have been appalled by the scenes of people rushing to the beach over the last week, but Stephen said he realised not everyone was as lucky as they were.
“We have a garden to sit out in,” he said. “If I had been cooped up in a 20-storey tenement with my kids for three months, I don’t know what I would do.”
Criminal justice system delays
Former Mayor of Sunderland Coun Lynda Scanlan has been busy throughout lockdown with her role at Scanlan’s Solicitors.
“I have been working since the lockdown started,” said Lynda, 66.
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Hide Ad“To be honest, it has kept me sane. If I had had to stay in the house by myself day in and day out, it would have driven me round the bend.”
Lynda, 66, has been unimpressed with how the judicial system has coped with the challenges of lockdown.
“People on remand in prison are being dealt with because they can do that via video call,” she said.
“But people on bail are having their cases put back to the end of the year. For people who are innocent, that is a long time to wait.”
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Hide AdStaff at the office have been doing their bit to support the community during lockdown, working with voluntary organisation Chance, putting together food parcels for vulnerable people and providing a free will-drafting service for frontline workers.