Norfolk doctor says he is still struggling with coronavirus three months after falling ill

Photographer Stuart Goodman who died from coronavirus pictured in 2012 when he was standing for Norwich City Council. Picture: Archant (Image: Submitted)

Previously fit people, who are members of a Long Covid Support Group on Facebook with almost 15,000 members, have told an All Party Parliamentary Group on coronavirus how their lives had been turned upside down by a horde of symptoms weeks after first falling ill.

Dr Jake Suett, 31, an ICU doctor from Norfolk, said prior to contracting the illness in March he had no underlying health conditions and went to the gym regularly.

He said: “I was doing 12-hour shifts in ICU.

“It’s a high-pressure situation, you have to be able to be active. I was going to the gym three times a week regularly.

Stuart Goodman retouching prints. Picture: Adam Goodman (Image: Archant)

“And now a flight of stairs or the food shop is about what I can manage before I have to stop... if I’m on my feet then shortness of breath comes back, chest pain comes back.”

People living with long-term symptoms of the disease told MPs how some doctors do not know how to treat them and called for research into the long-term effects, not just among those who were admitted to hospital, but also for those who dealt with their symptoms outside of hospital.

The virtual meeting of the APPG heard the devastating reality of the long-term effects of coronavirus as well as harrowing stories from bereaved family members who had lost loved ones to the disease.

Grieving people said they felt they were being “swept under the carpet” by the Government, MPs heard.

Jo Goodman from Norwich, who lost her father Stuart after he was diagnosed with Covid-19 aged 72, from the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group, said: “We wrote to the Prime Minister three times beginning on June 11, asking him to meet with bereaved families and also to Matt Hancock, calling for a public inquiry and calling for them to meet with us and hear our experiences.

“At first we only received a two-line acknowledgement and eventually a letter saying they are unable to meet with us due to the current pandemic.

“The fact that they’re able to meet with cycling groups and other groups, it feels as though we are being swept under the carpet.

“We really do want to ensure that other people don’t go through this and we think it is really important that bereaved families’ voices are heard.”

Ms Goodman added: “It’s hugely traumatic and there seems to be very little support available. There is also the sense that the Government doesn’t necessarily want to engage with bereaved families and the scale of loss that has been experienced as a country because it feels like that would be acknowledging that we do have a huge death toll and there are a huge number of people struggling.”

A Government spokesperson said: “This has been an unprecedented global outbreak and every death from the virus is a tragedy

“The Government has acted to protect lives, incomes and the most vulnerable in our society. In the future there will be an opportunity for us to look back and learn some profound lessons. But at the moment, the most important thing to do is to focus on responding to the current situation.”