A woman lost her mom and dad to Covid-19. She feels that her mom's helpers gave them the virus. These helpers were not tested often. Hazel Gray spoke at the Covid Inquiry for Northern Ireland Bereaved Families for Justice.
Her mom, Violet, and dad, George Little, died just over a month apart in late 2020 and early 2021. The group was looking at how the UK and other places tested, traced, and kept people away from others during Covid.
Hazel said, "The helpers who came to my mom were not tested. Nor were many health workers. That made no sense to me. This was not at the start of Covid, but nine months in."
"At that stage, these workers could have spread the virus, and nothing was done to stop it." Her mom got help four times each day since she had been in a chair for 18 years. Her dad used to care for her mom before Covid. When her dad got Covid, Hazel said she was sure she did not give it to him. She had a test, and it was clear.
Her mom also got tested and later caught it. Hazel said, "I'm sure I did not bring the virus to them. The only ones in the house at that time were the helpers."
Hazel was shocked that helpers were not tested. She sent a text to the Health Minister, Robin Swann, whom she knew.
The group heard parts of her text from 7 December 2020. She said, "When I got my dad's result, I asked my mom's helpers when they last had a test. They said, Never." I called their boss. It's not the rule for helpers in the home to be tested often.
"I feel this is most likely how the virus got in. My dad hardly left the house, and I do not know how those who help the weak are not checked often." The lawyer, Sophie Cartwright, spoke of the worries from families in Northern Ireland. They named problems with tracking, letting sick people out of hospitals to care homes, and not having a good system to test, track, and keep the virus away. She talked about how hard it was for those left alone when told to keep away from all.
She asked that for the next time, they should think about when to keep people alone. She said that when she was told to stay home and wanted to be with her parents, she felt it must be a right to have someone with you when you die, if it can be done. If it was an animal, the pet's owner could be there at the end. "I missed my parents' last moments twice. Many have had this too. That pain will stay with me."
At the end, Hazel called her parents' death "terrible," and it hurt "me, them, and the whole country." "We need things to change so that no one has this pain from a virus again. "It is better to stop than to cure. We need to have things set up now, because this could come again at any time," she said.