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A Leicester man has shared his family’s experience of being in a multigenerational household during the lockdown.
There has been speculation that multigenerational households were a possible cause for the spike in Covid-19 cases in the city last month.
But for family-man Rizwan Afzal, 39, this is a “disrespectful” assumption and “a lack of understanding for how people live”.
Rizwan, who is a teacher, lives in Knighton with six other family members who are all also key workers.
Throughout the lockdown, the family has stuck to social distancing rules and even when Rizwan’s parents contracted Covid-19, the family isolated to ensure no one else was affected.
The Afzals also decided to designate one person only to do the shopping so no one would have to leave the house unnecessarily.
“All throughout the lockdown we stuck to the guidelines,” he said.
“We made a point of sanitising before we came in the house and went straight for a shower when got in the house – there was no hugging the kids or anything like that.
“We did what we had to do as anyone else would,” He added.
Rizwan has spent the lockdown working shifts at The Lancaster Academy.
The 39-year-old lives with his wife, two young children, a younger brother and his parents.
His 59-year-old mum, who is a factory worker, stopped working when the factory closed due to the lockdown. But his 63-year-old dad continued to work for Royal Mail.
Rizwan said he knew that with more people in the house and most of them being keyworkers, there would be a greater risk of spreading the virus – but felt that some groups were being used as “scapegoats” for the cause of the local lockdown.
“I’ve not experienced any discrimination firsthand, but I do find that there is a disrespectful narrative in the media that is almost being used as a scapegoat,” he said.
He felt that the responsibility was being shifted by the government.
Rizwan said he would go to areas like Highfields and Evington for some groceries, including halal meat.
During these trips, he said that he saw people “sticking to the rules” and people covering their faces and “queuing and keeping their distance.”
The family of seven have also been unable to see extended family and friends for a long time but took comfort in being able to spend rare quality time together as a household.
When his parents both became ill with Covid-19 they isolated in separate rooms and food was brought to them.
None of the other family members in the household contracted the virus and despite his dad being admitted to hospital, both parents recovered.
Although isolating within one household was difficult, the family had rules in place to ensure they were being responsible and safe.
“When my dad was better but still recovering, he was able to play with my daughter while she sat outside the room by rolling a toy car back and forth to each other,” Rizwan said.
It was these moments like this that helped the family get through difficult times.
On some occasions, when they could, they would help neighbours or people in the community who were isolating.
“In Asian cultures, one thing we are is accommodating and when someone is in need our first instinct is to help- so to say people are being careless is quite unfair.
“Especially when people ‘at the top’ are flouting the rules.
“That to me is not in the spirit of national interest,” Rizwan said.
He added: “We’ve got a good thing in Leicester and I believe everyone is doing their bit.
“Comments saying otherwise can be quite damaging.”
