Coronavirus: NHS couple move into motorhome to protect family from COVID-19

Two junior doctors who were preparing to buy their first house as a married couple before the coronavirus crisis began have moved into a motorhome to protect their families from becoming infected.

Jared Leggett and wife Amy Kitchen had been living with their parents, but they are now staying in the vehicle in their hospital’s car park so that they can continue working without fear of spreading COVID-19.

They work at The Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital in East Lancashire, and have been deployed to wards where coronavirus patients are being treated.

While community transmission of the disease has declined significantly since the UK lockdown began, the R value, which measures the rate of infection between people, has risen slightly in recent days.

Government scientific advisers say this is because of the scale of infections in care homes and hospitals, meaning health and social care workers remain at a much higher risk of contracting the illness.

More than 100 healthcare staff have died in the UK since the pandemic began, including doctors, nurses, carers, porters, cleaners and paramedics.

The coronavirus can be so contagious in settings like care homes and hospitals that most patients have not been allowed to say goodbye to their loved ones before passing away.

It has also put huge pressure on supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE), with one recent survey suggesting that almost half of doctors have had to source their own gear or relied on donations.

There have also been other examples of healthcare workers going to extreme lengths to avoid potentially bringing coronavirus home to their families.

Like Jared and Amy, paramedic Danny Hughes moved out of his home and into a campervan.

The 28-year-old, from Newhaven, said he decided to move out because he deals with coronavirus patients every day and many of his family are in the high-risk group – including someone who is pregnant.

With one member of his household having developed symptoms, Mr Hughes explained he “thought it was more advantageous to isolate myself temporarily”.

He moved out in March so that he could continue working for the South East Coast Ambulance in East Sussex.

Since then, the UK has become one of the worst-hit countries in the world, with more than 241,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 34,500 deaths.

Only the US and Russia have had more cases and only the US has reported more deaths, according to official figures being tracked by Johns Hopkins University.

(c) Sky News 2020: Coronavirus: NHS couple move into motorhome to protect family from COVID-19