This Christmas, more than 900,000.00 people have chosen to spend their holiday in isolation after being diagnosed with coronavirus.
As the number of Covid-19 cases continues to soar, hundreds of thousands of Brits have had to shelf their festive plans to see loved ones in the country’s second Christmas in the shadow of the pandemic.
Leslie Choudhary (47), a warehouse worker from Brinington, Stockport is among those that will have to be isolated from his wife Hayley and their grandchildren.
He declared, “Christmas has been cancelled.” It’s horrible.
“My daughter just moved into a new place and I was going to visit her. The excitement was overwhelming.
‘I have a two-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter and it would have been the first Christmas where she knew what was happening.
These are the important things to keep in mind when your children are young.
Emma Sydall, a self-employed beauty therapist from Bolton aged 29, was to spend Christmas Day at home with her family. She then tested positive for Covid. James, James’ boyfriend.
According to Mr Choudhary, he is now able to accept the reality of Christmas being spent alone.
But he decided to stay away from his wife who doesn’t have the virus so she could still enjoy their celebrations with family and friends.
He replied, “I will only stay in mine so she can enjoy some,”
I’ll spend Christmas eating chocolate and watching garbage TV. Video calls are the only way to communicate with anyone.
To be honest, I like being alone. My partner finds it more difficult to deal with my solitude, and is less comfortable speaking to others.
After testing positive last weekend, Stacey Roberts (41), from Rochdale had to cancel everything.
She said, “We had planned to invite our family to stay with us but have to say no.”
“I purchased everything for Christmas dinner but it’s too late now. My husband, I and my three children are the only ones left.
“They won’t come near me, because they aren’t watching to catch it.”
“Everyone is disappointed. We have all said that we would do it New Year’s Eve. But it is not the same.
“I cannot even have my granddaughter Boxing Day.
She said that all her presents were in the house. However, she would have to wait until next Monday.
“It will be a bad year. It’s not something I would wish on anybody.
Leslie Choudhary (47), is from Brinington, Stockport. He said that he will become self-isolating from his wife Hayley. It’s horrible.’
Stacey spends Christmas morning with Mark, her husband, and their three children. After that, they head back to her home to enjoy Christmas dinner together.
Stacey, however, is facing an unhappy festive period and waiting for her isolation time to end.
A scaled down Christmas dinner will not be possible as she has lost her energy and her sense of smell.
Emma Sydall, a self-employed beauty therapist from Bolton aged 29, was to spend Christmas Day at home with her family. She then tested positive for Covid.
Although it was heartbreaking to have to tell her nephew, three years old, that she couldn’t make it anymore, she said she plans to enjoy every moment of this day.
James, her boyfriend at 29 years old, and the young woman were excited to spend their first Christmas together. However, James is now in self-isolation, until Boxing Day.
She explained that although it was a little sloppy, she said that they were just going to make some calls with their family.
“We’ll make the most of it, have a cozy Christmas and enjoy some board games.
“It’s not what we planned, but it’s something that has been thrown out of our hands.”
Stacey Roberts, 41, from Rochdale, has also had to ‘cancel everything’ after testing positive for the virus last weekend – and won’t even be able to taste a scaled back Christmas dinner as she has been sapped of her sense of taste and smell
Emma began feeling cold-like symptoms with her boyfriend last Friday. Emma took PCR test on Saturday which was positive.
She said, “We were disappointed.”
“I felt quite stressed as I am a self-employed beauty therapist, so this week was my busiest of the year.
“I have had to cancel all my customers.
“This is our first positive test.”
“We managed to catch it for 22 months and it was caught at the most inconvenient time.
“The new variant of the virus is widespread, and many people will be affected.”