A year like no other -the story of lockdown in two very different Welsh communities
| Published date | 23 March 2021 |
| Date | 23 March 2021 |
| Publication title | WalesOnline (Wales) |
Yet the pandemic has not hit everywhere equally. The impact on the countryside has been different from the impact on cities. The effect on the wealthy has been different from the poor. This is not just in terms of finances, although it has been a large part of it. Access to local amenities in walking distance, strong family and social networks, a spacious home and garden have all made a huge difference to people's experiences of lockdown.
As the UK marks a year since Boris Johnson announced, at 8pm on March 23, 2020, that the UK was going into the fiercest restrictions on our liberty known in peacetime, we've visited two communities in Wales hit by coronavirus in different ways. One is a seaside town dependent economically on tourism. The other is one of the nation's most deprived communities in the Valleys.
Both have seen deaths from coronavirus. Saundersfoot in Pembrokeshire has had 13 of its residents die with the virus, 11 of whom lost their lives in the second wave. Penrhiwceiber in Rhondda Cynon Taf has lost 28 residents, 22 since September. You can see how many died in your community here.
But they are different. Saundersfoot is is among the more fortunate areas of Wales in terms of its residents' health, safety, housing, physical environment, education and finances. The Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation ranks it in the 20% least deprived parts of Wales. Yet it has been torn by the desire to reopen to the visitors it depends on economically and the desire to protect itself.
Penrhiwceiber on the other hand is one of the most deprived parts of the nation with some of the highest levels of child poverty and whose residents don't enjoy the health, education levels or housing quality of their counterparts on the Pembrokeshire coast.
“It's so hard to self isolate unless you live in a really large house": The story of lockdown in Penrhiwceiber
Penrhiwceiber in the Cynon Valley is a vibrant and wonderfully supportive community where people look after one another and close family ties and friendships manage to fill the gaps left by lack of financial support and austerity. A previous WalesOnline investigation in the village of Penrhicwber showed how, despite below average income levels, these communities don’t just survive, they thrive.
Yet like so many communities across the coalfield, these qualities that have defined communities for generations have left people vulnerable to a virus that sees close family networks as its greatest opportunity to spread.
Deprivation and coronavirus have been lethal bedfellows. A recent analysis recently brutally debunked the idea we are all in this together. People in the less economically fortunate parts all across the UK have been the hardest hit by the pandemic.
This delightfully welcoming place, and any one who has been their can attest to how kind the inhabitants are, has been devastated by the disease.
With 621 confirmed cases, more than 10% of people in Penrhicwber have had Covid 19 in the last year. The death figures are also heartbreaking. In just November a total of 19 people died from the disease in the council ward. That is one of the highest monthly totals in Wales.
So why was Penrhicwber so badly hit Well first let’s look at the occupations of people who live there.
Gemma Lloyd-Jones, 29, is a mum of two living in the area. Both her and her husband work. Gemma works night shifts at a care home and her husband is self employed and can not work from home.
This is not unusual as this part of Wales has far more people who are key workers who are not able to work from home because their vital jobs can not be done without leaving the house.
With a five year old daughter and seven year old son, Gemma also has had to also juggle homeschooling with working full time.
“I work 7pm to 7am,” Gemma told WalesOnline after kindly giving up a few precious spare minutes to speak to us. “I'd normally be home by about 7:10am, my husband will then go to work at 7:30 so I will need to homeschool two children and still be awake then he comes home about 4pm.
“If I am doing two night shifts in a row it's not a good combination. I will only sleep for about three hours and then I have to try and function all night then on very little sleep.
“ I have homeschooled them. Well I have tried! You need a lot of coffee in the morning when you get home, that is the main thing!” she added laughing.
Under normal circumstances, with the kids in school, Gemma would be able to sleep during the day then wake up to pick them up. Also in normal times she would be able to rely on her mother who lives a few doors down.
Support from grandparents across the area is vital as many parents can not afford to not go into work or pay for expensive childcare.
But because of Covid, this vital lifeline has been cut off.
“It's been very hard,” Gemma said. “My mother is high risk so we have not being able to see her. She is someone who would normally help me so obviously it has been hard not seeing her at the moment. But it's one of those things you just have to get on with it and hope for the best.
“Obviously the kids are asking why can't we see her it's hard to explain when they are only five and seven.”
Gemma has seen the devastating impact Covid can have through her own experience because he lost her dad Huw in November.
“His birthday was in October so he was 61,”...
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