I want the Covid inquiry to give those who have lost loved ones, like me, a voice to ensure that history doesn’t repeat itself

This week, the Covid Inquiry began. Harriet, 20, a student & councillor from East London, lost her Grandad, Colin, to COVID-19. Since this bereavement, she’s been fighting tirelessly for justice. Here, she tells GLAMOUR what she hopes the Covid Inquiry will achieve.

Coming from a vulnerable family, the pandemic was always terrifying and brought a lot of anxiety and fear to those around me. I spent a lot of time growing up with my Grandad, Colin, who was always full of life. He was always optimistic and a people person – he loved being around those who loved him – so the isolation he faced during COVID-19 devastated us all. When Coronavirus

restrictions meant that my Grandad passed away, in hospital, alone, we were devastated. For a man that was so extroverted and outgoing, passing away alone was not the situation any of us wanted. This was especially hard for my Nanny; who was battling the virus at home, alone and couldn’t even visit my grandad due the risk of spreading the virus.

I joined the COVID Bereaved Families for Justice, a campaign group holding the UK government to account, as an outlet to understand the loss of my Grandad. I didn’t know how to deal with the grief, especially when it was impacted by something that nobody knew much about. The Bereaved Families campaign Group started on Facebook as a way for the bereaved to connect and share their experiences –  it proved particularly important in dealing with grief through the lockdowns and through restrictions – when there were no face to face connections.

I felt the government let my Grandad down from the beginning, for a man in his 80s, even of good health, to have not received any notification to shield and protect himself during the pandemic was the starting point for the disaster that hit our family.

My Grandad passed away on 8th December 2020, at a time where the government gave mixed messages about which areas were in lockdown tiers. They [the government] were not protecting the elderly to the extent that they could have. I had COVID at the time of his funeral, so could not find any closure at this point.

It was bittersweet that the day my Grandad died was also the day that the 1st vaccination was administered in the UK; it hurt us that he was potentially days away from being protected from the very thing that hospitalised him. A year later, we found out (on the day of his anniversary) that the government had partied throughout the pandemic (now known as Partygate). Three of these parties occurred in the same week my Grandad passed with COVID-19.

The COVID Inquiry, which started on Tuesday 13th June, is the only way I can give my Grandad the voice he deserves. He was a man that fought everyone else’s battles and I felt that he deserved someone to fight his. The Inquiry is going to highlight the bits that everyone and the government got wrong. I hope that the Inquiry will help me prove that there are faces and people behind the death figures we are given, and prove that we could have done so much more to prevent so many losses of life throughout the pandemic. In turn I hope that this highlights the things that we can learn, and help to protect other people and their families in the future – so these tragedies do not happen again and more people do not have to lose loved ones this way.