With growing COVID-19 restrictions putting the UK into further epidemic turmoil, many individuals all across the country will be wondering when they can return to work, attend the gym next, or safely use public transport once again.
But for some, the troubles only continue to mount in such difficult times, especially for the self-employed.
Trade unions and a former cabinet minister have urged that financial help is urgently needed for the five million self-employed workers hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak, who announced the support package on Friday at the daily coronavirus briefing with the PM, said closing pubs, gyms and restaurants would have a “significant impact” on businesses.
Ryan Williams, 23 from Gloucester, is a strength and conditioning personal trainer based within Cheltenham, and says the coronavirus has “seriously effected” his life and routine.
Ryan, who has a recent new-born baby daughter, and a partner of four years, does not know when his next source of income will become available, labelling his current employability status as ‘critical’ and ‘worrying’.
The Gloucester born and bred PT says: “To not only lose my job, but to lose my lifelong hobby and passion of exercising and teaching others to become better with themselves, it’s very hard and troubling at the moment.”
“I’ve been a personal trainer since I left college at 19, and I haven’t looked back since. I’m constantly learning and helping others.”
“It’s the best job I could have asked for, but right now, as you can understand, it is very dry and unrewarding. My gym that I co-own and therefore my business has closed indefinitely, and the worse bit about it all? I don’t know when this will all be sorted.”
Ryan has been a gym-goer since he was 14, and describes his time away from his ‘second home’ as ‘worse than he could have ever imagined’.
He says: “I understand completely the government’s advice to close gyms, but for a lot of people, the gym is a way of self-meditation.”
“The gym has improved my mental health hugely since I joined, and I think a lot of people are going to struggle more than ever during this quarantine stage, both financially and mentally.”
As the prime minister has publicly stated, “The more effectively we follow the advice we are given, the faster this country will stage both a medical and an economic recovery in full.”
Jack Murphy, Park Life Sport.
