A man who should have taken extra isolation precautions because of a health condition said he did not receive a letter advising him to do so until a month after it was dated - and he caught coronavirus in the meantime.
The local authority worker was one of thousands of people who should have received a letter from Wales’ chief medical officer, advising them on the need to take greater precautions because of their higher vulnerability to Covid-19.
The man, from the Vale of Glamorgan, takes immunosuppressants for a skin condition, which meant he was identified as being in the target shielded group.
Those individuals received letters telling them to to stay at home for 12 weeks, as well as being advised to take stringent precautions, including isolating from other family members in the same property, and not to share bathrooms.
Thousands of the letters were actually sent out in error, but the man, in his forties, said he did receive one, but only belatedly. It was dated March 24, but he did not receive it until April 30, by which time he had experienced symptoms of coronavirus.
He said: “I hadn’t had the test for coronavirus, but I had a fever, and a sore throat for 15 days, and I was coughing.
“My tongue was dry and my throat was sore. I was staying at home from the start of lockdown, after speaking to my consultant for advice.
“I should have had the shielding letter at the end of March, but I did not have it until the end of April.
“It was over a month late, by which time I was very unwell”.
As a recipient of the ‘shielding letter’, he should also have been eligible to sign up for priority deliveries of food boxes from supermarkets, but discovered after contacting stores with a view to ordering deliveries, he was not on the list.
“So, if I’ve wanted supplies, I have had to run the risk of going out myself."
A Welsh Government spokesman advised the individual to contact them directly with his concerns, and added: “This relates to individual and confidential information, such as someone’s medical circumstances and personal data, and understandably we cannot comment to the media on that”.
