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'It's changed everything' - Covid-19 five years on

Harry Whitehead
BBC News, Guernsey
BBC A white women in her mid 30s smiling. Her long brown hair is scraped back off her face. She is wearing a cream v-neck jumper and four thin black stripes going horizontal across. She is standing in front of a water feature which has wooden spiral stairs over it.BBC
Tamara O'Brien, who has Long Covid, says she has to plan every small detail of her life

A Guernsey women who caught Covid-19 in 2021 says it has changed everything she "can and can't do".

Tamara O'Brien developed "long Covid" after contracting the virus during Guernsey's second lockdown. She said: "I struggle to walk too far, up and down the stairs, I get pins and needles all over my face and my eyes."

Following her diagnosis, Ms O'Brien set up an online group for other island people with the condition.

Ms O'Brien is one of the islanders who have been speaking to BBC Guernsey about the pandemic's long-term affect on people's health to mark the fifth anniversary of the island's first Covid-19 lockdown on March 25 2025.

'Have to plan everything'

Planning ahead for even the most mundane tasks is now a necessity for Ms O'Brien.

"Once the kids have gone to school and things need doing around the house I have to think, what can I do and what can't I do":[]}