Radio star Jo Whiley "scared and sad" after sister tests positive for Covid in Northamptonshire care home

"I'm in a terrible film with bad plot twists," says BBC presenter
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Radio star Jo Whiley says she is "scared and sad" after revealing her sister has tested positive for coronavirus in a Northamptonshire care home.

The BBC presenter, who also lives in Northamptonshire, told Radio 4 of her pain at being offered a Covid-19 vaccination before her sister Frances, who has learning disabilities and diabetes.

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And today (Tuesday) she tweeted: "Feel like I’m in a terrible film with bad plot twists.

"Late last night I got a call to say that Frances, my sister, had tested positive and has Covid.

"Our worst fears realised after keeping her safe for a year and with a vaccine so close. She’s OK so far. Everything crossed."

Following news of the outbreak in the care home, Whiley tweeted: "Staff are doing all they can to keep everyone safe but it’s the stuff of nightmares.

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"She’s distressed and confused, my parents and I never more scared and sad for her."

Radio presenter Jo Whiley. Photo: Getty ImagesRadio presenter Jo Whiley. Photo: Getty Images
Radio presenter Jo Whiley. Photo: Getty Images

The two grew up first in Northampton and then in Great Brington where their father was an electrician and their mother ran the local post office.

Jo told Tuesday's Today radio programme on the BBC: "I feel like I'm living through a nightmare.

"The whole weekend has been awful. It's been really, really difficult.

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"Then, ironically, I got a message to say that I was due to have my vaccine before my sister, who's got learning disabilities and underlying health conditions."

The 55-year-old DJ admitted he had no clue why she had been invited to get the jab although it could be because she was deemed a carer for her sister, who is 53 and has the rare Cri du Chat genetic syndrome.

Unpaid carers for the elderly and people with disabilities are in priority group six, the same as those with clinical conditions.

Whiley added: "I would give up my vaccine in a heartbeat, if I could, for my sister and any of the residents in her house to have their vaccine. It does not feel right.

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"This happens so often, people with learning disabilities are neglected, they haven't got a voice."

Government Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi later told the BBC: "The case you've just described to me — living in residential care with a learning disability — is now being vaccinated in category six. We've just embarked on category five and six, that is happening now so that case will be picked up.

"Of course, we will need to wait 28 days after infection for us to be able to go back. Hence why for residential care we go back four times to deliver the two doses because sometimes people can't be given the first dose until the infection is over after 28 days."

Public Health Northamptonshire had identified active outbreaks — two or more Covid-19 cases linked by time and place within the previous 28 days — at 27 care settings in the county in the four weeks up to February 8, involving 355 cases.