A YEAR ago today, two people fell ill at a York hotel - and Britain started its chaotic slide into lockdowns, deaths, quarantines, masks, economic crises, overwhelmed hospitals and closed schools.

A Chinese national and a member of his family were taken to hospital from the Staycity aparthotel next to York Barbican by paramedics wearing white hazmat suits.

They suspected the pair might just have the new coronavirus which had been wreaking havoc in China. Tests quickly confirmed they were right: they were the first people in the UK to have contracted the disease. Suddenly, StayCity and then the University of York found themselves at the centre of a national media storm.

York Press:

This is how the storm developed:

The focus initially, on January 30, was not on StayCity but on Natalie Francis, a York mum working in Wuhan, China, who had been offered a flight home to the UK but was initially told she could not bring her three year old son with her.

By the following day, with two cases confirmed at StayCity, journalists and TV crews gathered at the hotel, as health officials urgently tried to trace people who had come into contact with the pair.

York Press:

Attention switched to the University of York after it confirmed that one of the pair was a student, and more than 240 calls were made to a helpline it had set up.

In early February, shoppers were still shrugging off any worries and thronging York city centre – in contrast to the deserted streets of weeks later, while the university said the cases had left students and staff experiencing abuse and racism.

There was then a calm before the storm. The Staycity patients left hospital by February 19 and thanked NHS staff for their care and support. But nationwide, numbers of cases were gradually rising and on February 29, a passenger on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship became the first British person to die from the virus.

By March 4, the Prime Minister had unveiled his virus battle plan, which included retired NHS staff coming back to work and the cancellation of non-urgent operations.

The following day, a person who had returned to York from Italy was found to have the disease and was self isolating at home. The York hospital trust’s first positive Covid test for an inpatient came on March 10.

York Press:

By mid-March, the WHO had declared the virus a ‘pandemic, the Lib Dems had cancelled their conference at York Barbican and a York businessman was warning that the virus could ‘finish off’ local firms. By March 20, York was moving closer to lockdown, with all pubs and cafes ordered to close, and by March 26, the first York coronavirus patient had died. Residents’ lives were about to be thrown into a turmoil that continues to this day.