'There's a killer out there' says Wisbech man currently in hospital with covid-19

A Wisbech man who hit the headlines with a video urging people to take the virus seriously admits he is amazed at how far his words spread.

Brian Tawn, who is currently on a covid ward at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn having tested positive for the virus in a routine test, posted his words of wisdom on Wisbech Discussion Forum yesterday (Monday).

In his brief video he described the situation on his ward, one of six covid wards at the hospital, and how two of his fellow patients were struggling to breath through oxygen masks.

This morning (Tuesday) he has posted another video praising staff at the hospital, who he described as "brilliant, helpful and kind", and expressing his amazement that his previous post had been shared 100s of times as well as hitting the headlines in this paper.

Yesterday he was urging people to take the virus seriously explaining he had been self isolating at the bungalow he shares with his 75-year-old wife since March, and adding they had barely been out any where and yet he had caught covid-19.

In today's post Brian explains how he has taken the mask, he is wearing 24 hours a day as a "mark of courtesy" to the staff, off briefly to record his video and urges everyone to wear a mask when they go out and about.

"I'm wearing a mask in hospital 24 hours a day, as a patient I don't actually need to but I do it as a courtesy to the nurses who do have to wear a mask for 12 hour shifts amongst other protective equipment.

"If I can wear a mask for 24 hours excluding silly little breaks like now or when I'm eating, it's not that hard to stick a mask on to go into town or go into one of the shops, it's a simple thing to do and the cost is minimal and it might help stop the spread of this dreadful disease.

"I'm also not showing any symptoms, now I have been two or three days covid positive. I didn't know, if I had not told other people they wouldn't know either. If I was not in hospital I could be walking among you spreading it.

"If I can be in that stage so could the person next to you, so think on when wandering into Tesco or into town, you maybe just fine when go out but you might be in the company of somebody who doesn't know he's got it and very kindly gives it to you.

"It's not a matter of the rules defining what you can actually get away with because of little loop hole. It's down to you and me and everybody else to keep our distance, not to mingle in crowds, to not force against other people in the shops, to not go swanning around the country especially like the crazy people who thought it was a jolly good idea to leave a heavily affected area in London to go to Wales.

"We would all love to go to Wales, have a walk up Mount Snowdon, but for God's sake not during a pandemic let's not spread it. I don't know the latest figures but I imagine they are pretty high, higher than the previous wave and unless we take action as individuals that is not going to change and we are in it for the long haul here, we have to knuckle down.

"As far as catching its concerned as I say it's invisible. As someone very neatly put it during the previous wave of the pandemic, if someone told you there were half a dozen snipers in town ready to take a pot shot at anyone who took their fancy, would you go into town? No of course you wouldn't, you would be crazy. Well this pandemic is the same situation there is a killer out there and you can't see it, so why go near it if you can avoid it.

"I love our little town of Wisbech and I love the people in it. It's a good place to live, I don't care what anybody else says, so enjoy yourself there, stay happy, stay safe and wear the mask it's not that bigger deal.

"Spread smiles where you can make everybody feel good and if you have a neighbour in trouble give them a hand if you can, if you can't that's quite understandable perhaps you could just point them in the direction of someone who can help, or call one of the various helplines and the help will be there. Together we will get through this and it will be a memory."