Matt Hancock deserves forgiveness
Unlike Matt Hancock, Kloe Avon has never eaten a camel’s penis — but toothpaste tastes about the same to her.
Avon catches the highlights of ITV’s I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! on social media whenever she can.
‘It is a strange situation’, she tells Metro of the former health secretary’s appearance on the show. ‘I was interested to see everyone’s reactions.’to Matt Hancock’s mid-life crisis.
Avon is a 28-year-old who founded the skincare brand KZ Organics because of her parosmia, one of the conditions of long Covid that haunts her.
Parosmia is a funky and little-understood condition that warps people’s sense of smell and taste.
‘I was unable to use daily essentials like shampoo, conditioner, body spray, toothpaste without making myself sick,’ the Staffordshire local says.
‘Every morning became a task. I would then get sick from the smell of roadworks, motorbikes, petrol stations and people cutting the grass.
‘Everywhere I went was becoming a problem including the majority of foods except rice and potatoes.’
Matt Hancock’s appearance on I’m a Celeb is a ‘mid-life crisis’, says one political expert (Picture: James Gourley/ITV/Shutterstock)
Avon is among those who aren’t exactly sure that Hancock is a ‘celebrity’.
She, as so many Brits do, knows Hancock as the man who oversaw the UK having one of the highest death tolls in the world from Covid-19.Most people don’t think that Matt Hancock deserves forgiveness
His second claim to fame: quitting after breaking the Covid rules his government enforced when he was caught canoodling an aide.
Now he has another one. Three weeks on a reality show alongside actors, presenters and pop stars being covered in creepy crawlies in an Australian jungle.
‘I was shocked to hear that he was appearing on the show whilst two million people in the UK are left with long Covid and the relatives of those who lost people during the pandemic which appear to now be old news,’ Avon says.
‘I was disappointed to see he is using the show to become a celebrity and has left politics but I hope he can make amendments to his awareness campaign of dyslexia and use his position for the good.
‘Nobody can change what has happened and the devastation which has been done but he can change the future.’
Avon first sensed something was off when for months in 2020 all she could smell was cigarette smoke and burning.
Kloe Avon feels Covid-19 (and the government’s response to it) turned her life upside down (Picture: Supplied)
‘By June 2020 everything started smelling of rotting meat regardless of content or old lemons,’ she says.
Avon thought that year would be different. It was going to be a ‘year of giving’, she says, and did humanitarian aid work abroad.
Then she got Covid-19. After initially being told it was nothing to worry about — probably was just asthma, 111 told her — an anti-body test as part of a research trial would confirm she was infected.
Two years on, scientists are still trying to understand what long Covid is. Symptoms linger for months or appear out of the blue, some studies have found.
Scientists knew even less when Avon realised her Covid symptoms weren’t clearing up. ‘I was treated like I was dirty, infectious, and unhygienic,’ she says, adding that her GP’s receptionist refused to let her in.
‘When I finally saw the GP he told me not enough is known about long Covid, I remember leaving devastated, I just wanted to get better.’
Kloe Avon lives with long Covid and now struggles with several conditions that can make daily life a washout (Picture: Supplied)
Daily life can feel like a washout for Avon. Since being infected with Covid, she’s been diagnosed with the neurological condition dysautonomia and the automatic dysfunction known as POTS.
She would then face a 70-week wait for treatment on the NHS for her long Covid, with a September 2023 appointment being the earliest.
Avon feels the government’s mixed messaging throughout the pandemic and the law-breaking parties that would emerge are reason enough for Hancock not to be on I’m a Celeb.
The UK’s initial response to the pandemic ‘ranks as one of the most important public health failures the United Kingdom has ever experienced,’ a parliamentary inquiry reported last year.
‘Many thousands of deaths could have been avoided,’ the two committees said in the 151-page report, pointing to the government’s failure to impose a swift lockdown, carry out widespread testing and its vein attempt at ‘herd immunity’.
‘It is now clear that this was the wrong policy, and that it led to a higher initial death toll than would have resulted from a more emphatic early policy,’ the report concluded.
Around a third of Britons have been infected with Covid-19 (Picture: PA)
Nearly one in three Brits have had Covid-19 since the pandemic began. Nearly 208,000 people have died from the virus, according to the Department of Health.
Of those who have survived Covid, some two million have said they have long Covid, figures from the Office for National Statistics show.
Mid-life crisis
It’s hard to imagine Hancock ever bouncing back from a track record like that, says Dr Jon Dean, a politics academic at Sheffield Hallam University.
‘There’s a certain mid-life crisis aspect to the choice to go on I’m a Celebrity,’ he says.
‘That’s quite galling to the public, given the mass criticism he received for his handling of the pandemic, from saying that a protective ring had been thrown around care homes, to manipulation of the test numbers, early on, to the fact his affair broke lockdown rules.’
Much like a camel’s penis, Hancock’s appearance on I’m a Celeb might leave some viewers with a tour taste in their mouths.
Matt Hancock and his aide Gina Coladangelo were caught having a steamy embrace last year (Picture: Getty Images)
On yesterday’s episode, Hancock said he is looking for ‘forgiveness’ for his handling of the pandemic.
‘We all make mistakes. I made a pretty big one,’ he said.
‘I believe that he does deserve forgiveness as he is only a human dealing with something which has never been seen in our lifetime,’ Avon says.
‘But we will never forget the people who have died or the two million who are now left with long Covid.’
Avon is one of the millions who are waiting for scientists to realise what long Covid is and how their lives will look for months or even years to come.
‘While his life will continue as normal and while I would forgive him,’ Avon says, ‘I wouldn’t want that to be forgotten.’
‘Matt Hancock deserves forgiveness – but we’ll never forget Covid deaths’
