Table 3 Interview participants’ attitudes and behaviours in response to the shielding advice

Quote 1

Primarily “The governments advice, to be honest that whilst it was comprehensible, it wasn’t necessarily easy to follow. Which is basically, if you were shielding and you’re living with somebody else who has not been asked to shield, the advice then went on to say you need to keep two metres distance from them at all times. Ideally sleep in different bedrooms, make different arrangements for your meals, use different toilet facilities etc. etc. And we read this through, and we said well we couldn’t actually do that over an extended period of time. It would be absolutely awful you know we’re a married couple. We have a shared life; we couldn’t be basically isolating from each other within the house for weeks on end… and I said to ((spouse)) just think about it if we’re both shielding together there is no need to do that if we are both taking exactly the same precautions, we’re not introducing risk into the household… so that was the basis on which we decided largely we were going to shield together” (Shield 3)

Quote 2

“I think you kind of had to follow the guidelines really. I just tweaked them in a bit of a way that I guess suited me at the time. I read the bits that I wanted to read, and I believe I kept to the guidelines as sufficiently as I could for me” (Shield 4)

Quote 3

“As lockdown progressed, I found the urge to go out. I mean I’d be ultra-cautious; I wouldn’t go out into crowds; I’d go out at odd hours when nobody was around. I’d wear nitrile gloves and face covering but it was something I had a need to do just to get out from the four walls that sort of it became a bit of a prison I suppose. And I exercised that sort of covert, that sort of outside activity, I felt like I was creeping out put it that way and I did that about once maybe twice a week maximum.” (Shield 1)

Quote 4

“[Local] council were fantastic. After I’d registered as shielding I had a phone call from somebody to say ‘You know we’re here if you need us ring through?’ etc. etc. and that was really good and then they followed up a couple of weeks later saying ‘Is everything okay?’” (Shield 3)

Quote 5

“I found the community in my street really helpful. I didn’t call upon them a lot but it was lovely to know that they were there if I needed them. I found it absolutely vital that we were prioritised for supermarket slots, that would have been very difficult if we hadn’t had that.” (Shield 13)

Quote 6

“We welcomed the fact that we were legitimised to shield so it’s had a positive effect. And also it sounds a strange thing to say in a national emergency but in a strange kind of way we’re actually certainly for the first couple of months quite enjoyed it because not only was the relief okay we can now sort of stay safe but there was also the fact that right now we’ve got chance to get on top of all sorts of projects and things that we’ve been meaning to do for a long time but maybe haven’t found time” (Shield 3)

Quote 7

“I don’t want to shield again, that’s one thing I know, I don’t want to do it. I will definitely moderate my behaviour for going out, but I don’t want to shield. I don’t want anybody to say to me again, you are locked in your home for the foreseeable future” (Shield 12)