“They’ve got my mum’s blood on their hands and the blood of thousands of other people – and we need answers as to why they let this happen.”
That’s the view of Sean Taylor, whose mother – a pub landlady – died after contracting coronavirus, and whose father is still suffering the effects of the virus.
He believes the blame lies squarely with the government for their “shambolic handling” of the coronavirus crisis and for encouraging people to return to work after the first lockdown exposing them to risk.
His comments come as figures show the UK industries hardest hit by Covid deaths, including leisure and service occupations.
“My mum and dad only reopened their pub because the government said it was safe to do so and they did everything by the book by socially distancing the tables, putting screens up, wearing masks and visors – and my mum still died.”
Husband and wife Ann and Brent Taylor had been running the White Lion pub in Rawtenstall, Lancashire, for 14 years until coronavirus hit. Like pubs around the country, they closed their doors during the first lockdown.
When pubs reopened last July, the couple welcomed their regulars back in – but took care to follow government guidance by socially distancing the tables, putting screens up, using the test and trace system and only taking bookings.
“My dad even shouted at some of the regulars and fell out with them as he enforced social distancing,” Sean, 35, told HuffPost UK.
“They were very careful and wore masks and visors. It is just a wet pub so doesn’t serve food, but my mum and dad took coronavirus very seriously and took all the precautions.
“It is a traditional pub and is quite big, so they could still get plenty of people in while socially distancing and they made sure they took bookings only.”
Sean, who is married and has an 11-year-old daughter, said everything was going fine – until October 12 when a member of staff suffered symptoms. Their Covid test was positive.
Subsequently, the landlords took tests, only to find out they were positive too.
“It was my birthday on October 16 and my mum sent me a text saying: ‘I know this isn’t a good birthday present, but my Covid test has come back positive.’
“They shut down the pub straight away and urged everyone who had been in to get tested.”
At the time when his parents were tested, they were showing no symptoms, Sean revealed. But that changed within days. “They both became really ill and my mum was suffering from hallucinations, a high temperature, a relentless cough and was really weak and couldn’t get out of bed.
“My dad also had symptoms but wasn’t as bad as my mum. He says he is glad about that as at least he could look after her.
“They lived upstairs at the pub so I would drop off shopping for them outside. I was very worried about my mum.”
Ann, 66, deteriorated over the coming days and on October 20, an ambulance was called out. However, Sean says after examining her, paramedics told her she wasn’t ill enough to go into hospital and to take paracetamol.
Only days later, on October 24, Ann weakened further and this time an ambulance took her into hospital where she was admitted to the resuscitation ward and then into intensive care.
“Once they got my mum’s condition under control at hospital, we began video messaging her and chatting to her over the phone and by text” said Sean.
But by Thursday October 29, Sean began to worry as his mum didn’t answer any of his messages.
The following morning, his dad called him to say the hospital had informed him Ann had taken a turn for the worse and was going to be put on a ventilator.
“I just collapsed on the floor in tears and then my wife and daughter found me and we were all crying together.” said Sean.
A couple of hours later, the hospital told the family to get there as soon as possible. Sean and his dad arrived to be told that Ann was on 50% oxygen, and she had a blood clot to her lung.
They had no choice but to switch the machine off.
Ann died on October 30, leaving behind her husband of 37 years, her sons Sean and Matthew and her three grandchildren.
“I was begging the doctor and asking if there was any chance and to keep the machines on. But they explained she would not live,” recalled Sean. “She was only on a ventilator for two hours before she died.”
Ann was also a carer for her father, who is in his 90s and suffers from dementia. “My brother went to break the news that she had died to our grandad and he was absolutely distraught and in tears,” said Sean.
“But due to his dementia, a few minutes later, he had completely forgotten and he has no idea she has gone and keeps asking after her.
“Now we just tell him she is out whenever he asks as we don’t want to break his heart every single day.
“My dad is also in bits and feels lost without my mum. They had only recently celebrated their 37th wedding anniversary before she died.”
On the day of Ann’s death, Brent posted on the White Lion pub’s Facebook page: “This is the most difficult thing that I have ever done.
“Due to Covid-19 and complications that followed, my darling wife Ann passed away at 2.30pm this afternoon.
“I am absolutely devastated and don’t know how I will survive without her. I had to let you all know. Brent.”
Ann had worked at the mills in Rossendale before becoming a florist. She then set up a business making homemade wedding tiaras which was a huge success and they were sold all over the world.
She and her husband then bought the White Lion pub which is a real hub in the community in Rawtenstall and Sean says his mum was “welcoming and friendly to anyone and everyone.”
He told HuffPost UK how his mum had been looking forward to retirement and receiving her pension – but was one of the women who missed out when the government increased the pension age for women.
“My mum should have retired a few years ago, but she missed out by a month,” said Sean. “She had only received one payment from her long awaited pension before she died.”
Sean feels robbed by his mum’s death as he says her side of the family were all long lived and he believes without coronavirus, she had “at least another 30 years in her.”
“My mum’s grandmother lived to over 100 and her side of the family lived to a ripe old age,” he said. “The only condition my mum had was mild asthma and without Covid, I know she would have lived for many more years.”
Sean is angered at the government and believes they have “blood on their hands”, not only because of his mum, but for everyone who died since the second wave of the pandemic.
“In my opinion, every death that happened after the first lockdown is a murder,” said Sean.
“When they opened everything back up again, the government knew full well that deaths would go back up again.
“Tens of thousands of people have literally been sacrificed for the economy. I think the government should be held responsible for these deaths.
“You can understand deaths that happened during the first wave more as it was a new virus and blunders were made.
“But after that, the government knew the consequences of what would happen.
“We need a full public inquiry to shed light on the government’s complete incompetence in its handling of this crisis.”
Sean, who is training to be a teacher, will be going into a secondar school for placement from this week and admitted to HuffPost UK that he is “absolutely terrified.”
He feels there are many occupations where people are put at greater risk of contracting coronavirus – and he believes those working in hospitality such as pub staff and teachers are among them.
“My dad felt very strongly all along that schools shouldn’t open in September,” he said. “We were all worried about that and if you now look at all the graphs, cases and deaths began spiking after that.
“I was working in a school as a learning mentor and attendance officer before beginning teacher training and I know that you cannot physically keep children apart. It would be like herding cats.
“But the problem is, all these children will have gone home and spread the virus to their families. The regulars who came into the pub would have had children and grandchildren who were contracting the virus and spreading it.
“Adults for the most part will socially distance and wear masks, But children will have been going home and spreading the virus and that just undoes everything else.
“By telling pubs they could reopen and by reopening schools and universities when they did, the government caused my mum’s death and tens of thousands of other deaths.”
Analysis from the National Education Union (NEU) reveals teachers are almost twice as likely to catch Covid-19 as the wider population.
The NEU research says that teachers in primary and secondary schools have been 1.9 times more likely to have coronavirus.
Sean, whose wife Amanda is a hospital pharmacist, says he now lives in fear of his family’s exposure to coronavirus.
“However, at least she wears all the PPE from the moment she steps in the door and they are all tested for Covid twice a week,” said Sean.
“But I believe teachers and staff working in schools are lambs to the slaughter. They are not being tested and children don’t wear masks in class so their risk of exposure is high.”
The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK group was set up by those who lost loved ones too soon to the virus.
Jamie Brown, a member of the campaigns team, told HuffPost UK his dad Tony Brown, 65, died of coronavirus on March 29 last year after becoming ill with the virus before the first lockdown.
“My dad was an engineer and lived on the east coast of Essex. He travelled into London once a week for work on trains and the underground.
“He last travelled on March 12 and began feeling ill about five days later.
“His death spurred me on to join Families for Justice and at that time, there were 14 members. We now have almost 2,300 members who have lost loved ones to Covid.”
Brown told HuffPost UK that their members show that there are many occupations where people seem to be at higher risk of dying of Covid-19.
“We have members from care staff and healthcare settings who have lost people after working directly with Covid patients. We also have those whose loved ones were bus drivers or cleaners going into workplaces and people working in pubs and restaurants.”
Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK initially wanted a public inquiry to prevent further deaths in the second wave but Brown admits that as we approach 100,000 deaths, it is clear we “have failed to do that as a country.”
“We are pushing for a statutory public inquiry into the government’s handling of the pandemic.” he said. “We are seeking accountability for what has happened and to learn lessons.
“The pattern we’ve seen throughout this pandemic of locking down too late and lifting restrictions too early follows the argument from the government that they were acting to ‘protect the economy’ as if this was a directly competing priority to saving people’s lives.
“The government’s failure to control cases and their decision to encourage people back to work and school while cases were still too high means we saw avoidable deaths from Covid.”
He added: “We did not get here by accident; we are here as a result of choices made by the government.”