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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
National
Danny Rigg

Vulnerable people 'thrown to the wolves' as Covid restrictions lift on July 19

Many people are excited at the prospect of almost no more coronavirus restrictions today as July 19 marks 'Freedom Day' across the country.

From today dancing in nightclubs, no more social distancing and masks are just a few of the things set to change.

However some people plan to remain cautious, concerned for their health and the safety of others, as coronavirus cases remain high.

READ MORE: Huge changes to State Pension from next year with people due hundreds

Maria Whelan, 56 from Mossley Hill, has been shielding since March 2020 due to vulnerability from type three diabetes and a partly missing pancreas.

The nurse of 30 years told the ECHO : "We've basically been thrown to the wolves."

Speaking of feeling unvalued as a vulnerable person, Maria said: "I felt absolutely destroyed during the whole lockdown with some of the comments that I would read online, where it seemed the government and a large part of society were saying that really my life wasn't worth anything.

"And to my son, and my partner, my life does mean something. To me it does."

Maria has been vaccinated, but isn't as protected from the virus as others with both jabs.

She was looking forward to sitting with friends in the garden or meeting them for coffee this summer before, as she predicts, a bad winter for Covid.

But now she isn't sure even this will be possible.

She told the ECHO : "By taking these restrictions away, there is no way the majority of us can re-join society in a safe way. So you're making people lock themselves away, and having the effects of their physical and mental health."

Staying wary of the continuing risk of Covid to the health of her young bar staff, and to her business, is Anna Slater, owner for 18 years of The Grapes pub on Roscoe Street in Liverpool city centre.

Anna told the ECHO : "Obviously, the last year and a half has been extremely difficult for us. And financially, we'd love nothing better than to be full and busy and taking loads of money over the bar.

"We've struggled to get to this point. But having struggled to get here, and having got here, it seems foolish to just jump in at the deep end."

The Grapes, one of the oldest pubs in Liverpool, is continuing with seated table service only, with most staff masked, while encouraging customers to wear masks and sanitise their hands, for the first 28 days after restrictions are lifted on July 19.

While the UK has been racing ahead with its vaccinated programme, many people don't have their first or second jabs.

In Liverpool, where a mass vaccination event is taking place in Sefton Park until Sunday, roughly 66% of adults had had their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine, while half had had two, as of Friday, July 9.

Anna, 54, who has borrowed money to survive the pandemic, highlighted that society is reopening before people are fully protected by vaccines.

Speaking of her bar staff, she told the ECHO : "None of them have had their second jab yet, and not because they're lazy or ignored the advice, but because of their age.

"But you want me to suddenly have them with hordes of people breathing over them, shouting at them over a busy bar, and walking around a crowded pub to collect glasses, or even if it's just going to the toilet themselves.

Anne Marie Slater, owner of The Grapes in Roscoe Street (Geoff Davies)

"It's absolutely ridiculous. It's extremely counterproductive. And much as we need the money, I am not prepared to put my profits above the safety and security of my staff.

"It also doesn't make business sense. If I get a member of staff go down sick. We have a very small staff team. You know, if I get a member of staff with Covid, no one else can come to work until they've been tested."

In a twist of fate, a staff member at The Grapes tested positive for Covid on Sunday, July 18, according to a post by Anna on Facebook, meaning the bar isn't open on the day restrictions lift.

Vulnerable people in Facebook groups have been looking for venues like Anna's that will be continuing with distancing, masks and limited capacity. So far the reaction to businesses like The Grapes has been positive.

The backyard of the Glass Onion vegetarian cafe, opened on Allerton Road in 2019. (Glass Onion)

Another business sticking with these measures is the Glass Onion vegetarian café on Allerton Road.

Owner Becky Reid, 36, told the ECHO : "We feel like, come September, there might be restrictions in place again anyway. So we're kind of just sticking with what we're doing, what we feel comfortable with.

"Then, hopefully, in September we'll still feel like things are improving, and then we might review the situation. But I think there's a good chance, everything's going to go backwards again."

A government minister told Sky News that restrictions could be reimposed if the Covid situation reaches unacceptable levels. Solicitor General said restrictions are being lifted because the vaccination programme will protect people when infections rise.

Infection rates are continuing to rise in five of six areas in the Liverpool City Region, while Covid patients occupy a third of critical care beds in Liverpool hospitals.

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