Mahabuba
Ethnicity: Bangladeshi
Background: Mahabuba is 36 years old and is Bangladeshi. She is married and has three children. Mahabuba has a long-term health condition so was afraid of having Covid. Her relationships with friends and family brought her comfort while she had Covid
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Mahabuba started using a mask during the pandemic because she has a long-term health condition. She was advised by her husband to not go outside as much as she did before the pandemic. She says that she was not “totally not locked, but you can say ninety five percent locked.” She explains that she only went outside to take her bins out. Mahabuba enjoyed having her children at home to keep her company while she was isolating, because it gave her some family time.
Mahabuba sometimes experiences a higher temperature and breathing problems because of her long-term condition. However, one day she felt particularly unwell and then a few days later her husband started to feel unwell. Then her daughter said that she had a headache and felt unwell. So, Mahabuba and her family booked to have Covid tests which came back positive. Before her test Mahabuba says that she felt a bit afraid of having Covid. She also says that it was not nice having to visit the Covid testing centre because there was a lot of people around coughing.
When Mahabuba recieved her positive Covid test result she phoned her mum, dad, and sister. Mahabuba’s mum cried at the news and said things like “what are you going to do? You should call the doctor. Stay at home for ten days. You can’t go outside. You can’t do anything”. Mahabuba’s main concern was not being able to get enough food for the days she had to quarantine. She was also concerned that she had no lemon, ginger, or orange juice in her house which Mahabuba felt would help her family feel better.
Mahabuba wore a mask and avoided going out. She was worried about the impact of Covid on her existing health condition.
Mahabuba wore a mask and avoided going out. She was worried about the impact of Covid on her existing health condition.
We start using mask and that and because, as I got a health condition, so my husband told me not to go outside that much so we, totally not locked but you can say a ninety five percent locked for me because not always. When I got a problem that affects my whole body, start going, you know, like shaking and that, breathing problem. Otherwise, when you see me, I’m totally fine, hundred percent moveable, like you can see.
Mahabuba and her family separated as much as possible while some of them were ill.
Mahabuba and her family separated as much as possible while some of them were ill.
We’ve got just only two bedroom and one sitting and so she come down to that sofa on sofa I’m sitting down now. She, my daughter, sit down on that sofa. I stay on this sofa, my husband in the room and my other two daughter in two beds and I give them whatever, a small towel and that’s everyone separate towels. What I can do is that way.
Mahabuba called a local helpline advertised on TV but was disappointed that they did not call her back.
Mahabuba called a local helpline advertised on TV but was disappointed that they did not call her back.
Oh, we call for Covid-19 help because we don’t want to ask for anyone help so we just, because we just see on the TV you can get help. You can get this and so, you know, sometimes when you related to another social network you get the thing as well, you get the thing for number. We call them for help and that thing. The second day, because we need to buy milk and that, they say, okay, they will call us. Third day, fourth day, we didn’t get any call from them. We didn’t get any help. So, it just gone like a what we see in the news, just like total waste, total waste for us because we didn’t get anyone help.