Table 4 Impact of “shielding” on health and wellbeing of interview participants
Quote 1 | “It hasn’t done much for my physical health… and I suppose towards the middle I was, sort of losing a bit of motivation… I don’t think I was getting the same kind of exercise I was getting before, so that’s not great” (Shield 7) |
Quote 2 | “I think when you’re stuck in the house and someone has told you that you cannot leave your home, you feel a bit trapped. I am really lucky, I have quite a big house, I’ve got a lovely garden and we had nice weather so I could go outside but it’s just not the same as going out and interacting with other people and just getting a bit of fresh air… When you are told for a really prolonged period that you’ve got to stay at home, it does make you feel like a caged animal because you’re trapped in the house. You can't speak to anybody, you can't go out or do anything.” (Shield 13) |
Quote 3 | “I couldn’t practically shield from [our children] but they still needed to have regular exercise and be outside, so that caused some anxiety.” (Shield 13) |
Quote 4 | “I’d probably have another course of medication to treat the mental illness I could have suffered and I’m not exaggerating that one I don’t think. No, I would have gone you know it was bordering on the crazy I think just being locked up for three months in isolation it wasn’t going to be for me.” (Shield 1) |
Quote 5 | “I seemed to get more emotional. I tend to worry a lot and then when you watch the news and you see people in – and I think, why am I worrying, because they’ve got a far worse deal than me? So, I’ve got to sort my head out.” (Shield 9) |
Quote 6 | …as someone shielding, some of the advice – especially as things started to relax a little for the general population – it became a bit depressing actually.” (Shield 8) |
Quote 7 | “The government’s bumbled along and hasn’t really got a grip on it and we’ve got a load of the public now thinking they can make it up as they go along as well and that is anxiety provoking for people in the shielding group.” (Shield 3) |