A Welsh author is collecting personal stories of the pandemic in Wales. What has the lockdown taught people about their lives and communities?
During the pandemic, one mother was in Cardiff while her son, living in Manchester, fell seriously ill with pneumonia and slipped into a coma. Travel restrictions meant she could not be by his side. For many, such moments were hard to put into words. This particular story shared during an interview reveals the deep emotional challenges people faced and was captured by a Welsh author.
Aled Gwyn Job, an author from North Wales, is traveling across the country to collect people’s stories about the pandemic for his book Covid Cymru: A Nation Put to the Test. He aims to document the experiences of people in Wales during the lockdown and hopes these stories will provide lessons. He has spent three days in Cardiff conducting his interviews.
“The pandemic had a huge influence on Wales, I think it is important for us to collect people’s memories and make it into a learning experience for everybody, and helping people learn from the experience of the lockdown is the motivation for me to write this book,” said Aled.
In 2021, there were 4,272 deaths in Wales where COVID-19 was a factor, with 3,650 of those directly caused by the virus, according to Office for National Statistics, the prevalence of underlying health conditions and the development of the healthcare system are also linked to the death rate during the pandemic. “Wales lost a lot of people during the lockdown, I think that can be attributed to the higher levels of illness and poverty in Wales,” said Aled.
The deterioration of mental health is also a situation people may have to face during isolation. During the pandemic, it was common for people’s mental health to be affected by the Welsh government’s lockdown policies.
As schools were closed and students had to learn online at home, the psychological impact of the pandemic was social isolation for them. “I had people of all age groups saying that they think that their mental health did go down during the pandemic. Especially the young people, mainly because the education was disrupted, they didn’t have their usual routines,” said Aled.
Some local organisations emerged to provide people with moments of relief during the long time of isolation even with some restrictions on social activities. “People participated in local park groups, where they gathered to discuss what was happening. Since the situation during the pandemic was so complicated, the fact that people could come together to have a talk was a very warm side,” said Aled.
As the situation for the homeless was particularly tough during the lockdown, charities like food banks have gained increasing importance in Cardiff after the pandemic, weekly food distribution events were also organised, according to Kervin Julien, the project coordinator of Bute Town Community Centre in Cardiff.
“After the lockdown, it seems that people have placed more value on community organisations, I believe this is one of the things people have learned from the pandemic,” said Aled, “In 2020, people felt a sense of community, believing that everyone needed to come together and do something for their neighbours.”
Although Aled is unsure how long the sense of community that developed during the pandemic will last in the post-pandemic period, it is something that has brought people together and strengthened connections. “Many people felt it was a positive experience, some of them said they made lifelong friends,” said Aled.
Aled believes that a sense of community cohesion is important, especially for Wales, a country in the post-industrial era. Wales was known for its coal mining, slate quarrying, and steel production. However, many of the heavy industries that drove Wales’ economy in the 19th and 20th centuries have shut down, according to the UK Parliament.
“There’s a lot of the old industries that used to be in Wales have disappeared, and they have not been replaced. So, lots of communities have fallen into a state of despair, because the old pattern of life has gone. Under this situation, we really need to be more cohesive as a society to deal with challenges,” said Aled.
Aled explained that people did learn something from the pandemic. They began to realise that no matter what crisis occurred, they had a way to face it and find a new way of life. “There are many people now who don’t want to return to the kind of working life we had before the pandemic. They want more flexibility and value life more than constantly chasing money,” said Aled.
Compared to England and Scotland, Wales did not conduct an inquiry into the pandemic, so it has not assessed the full impact the pandemic had on society. “I hope people will read my book, and then we might create a collective Welsh record of the pandemic, because we hope readers can learn something from these experiences. I think now is the time to do it before people forget about it all,” said Aled.
“These years have gone by so quickly, and I know some people are saying we’ll forget about it and move on, but we can’t forget. We really need to remember,” said Aled.