The pandemic has affected everyone, our lives and our health, but it is the elderly and vulnerable residents in care homes who have borne the brunt of restrictions.
Care homes have been in the news from the very beginning, and almost always for the wrong reasons.
We can breathe a little easier now. After our second vaccine dose we should be able to look forward to some freedom; to be able to welcome friends and family, go out for a walk, if we are mobile, and enjoy a quiet lunch or even a drink at the local pub.
But it is still just a hope and it is not good enough.
The fault does not lie with the care homes; Sunrise Cardiff is brilliant as I am sure are most homes with their dedicated staff.
It is the timidity of governments that is inhibiting our lives. They are over cautious, probably fearful of repeating past mistakes.
In England, care home residents who venture out face quarantine.
We elderly, especially those over ninety, have had experience of dark days, bad times, and we have learned how to cope with them. To be treated like children and told what we can and can't do is a blatant infringement of our liberty.
It is not only illegal but dangerous. It shocking that that the pandemic has created an enormous backlog of treatment for other illnesses - estimated at 4.7 million, threatening more deaths than the pandemic.
It affects so many of us. I have now been waiting for three years for an eye operation and almost two years for three more important clinic appointments Yet the possibility and fear of another wave is dictating government decisions, even though the number of deaths has plummeted and the number of hospital patients is down to 2,500 - amounting to one large hospital.
It is time to weigh the level of risk to old people, and give us our lives back.
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