Life Under Lockdown: The private struggles in a public lockdown - from at-risk youngsters to lonely older people
ITV News has spent the last month in Nottingham, learning how England's Covid-19 lockdown has affected people there.
Correspondent Geraint Vincent met Pete, Sheila and Keiren who have been unable to do the things they want - or need - to do
As lockdowns have stretched across 2020, the cost of their legacy can only be guessed at. What will become of the people whose struggles weren’t seen, or whose troubles weren’t heard?
Throughout the last month of lockdown in Nottingham, I have been in touch with people who work along the edges of society, taking care of others who might be at risk of being lost or forgotten.
Keiren runs a basketball club which is meant to protect young people from some of the threats which they can face in the city, most urgently from the violence which can be generated by gang culture.
A second lockdown means the club’s meetings are suspended once more, and Keiren fears for what might happen to the youngsters he no longer sees.
Pete helps to run a cafe for recovering addicts. Or at least he did until it too had to close again. He is himself a recovering alcoholic, and now has to work hard to maintain a daily routine which keeps his head in the right place.
At Radford Care Group elderly daycare centre, they have managed to stay open during the second lockdown period, but only by adhering to strict social distancing rules. Regular visitors like Sheila Green can now only come once a week. A weekly visit that is a vital lifeline.
Even as the lockdown period nears its end there is further bad news for people in Nottingham — the city will be put into Tier 3 status, so heavy restrictions still apply.
Keiren doesn’t know if he will be able to restart his basketball meetings, while Pete certainly will not be able to reopen the cafe.
These might not be classed as ‘essential services’, but for the people who use them, they can make a huge difference.
And yet more weeks without them will mean their private struggles will continue, for who knows how long.