Councillor and wife on the mend from coronavirus

R4U Councillor Arthur Coote. Picture: SAFFRON PHOTO. (Image: Roger King)

Arthur Coote, R4U Cllr at Uttlesford District Council, and his wife Elaine, both suffered from lung complications. Speaking to the Broadcast this week, Cllr Coote said the doctors have finally allowed them to go for a walk in the garden. He said: “I am pretty good and my wife is making quite a good recovery but she still has a cough, and the doctors said she will probably still have it for about six weeks. When she walks around the flat she coughs quite heavily.

“We feel we have beaten it. We will be soon walking the streets I think, but we will have to self-isolate for a while.”

Cllr Coote praised the help he and his wife received from the GP and paramedics, who were sure the cause of their illness was Covid-19.

He wishes they could be tested and be told they have antibodies. “The trouble is we have not had a test to see we definitely had the virus, so that we can go out and help people.”

He also talked about the end of his mayorship in Saffron Walden, which is due in a couple of months. He is proud of his achievements, among which are fundraisers for the Children’s Ambulance charity and support for voluntary organisations helping disadvantaged people.

Cllr Coote expressed sadness at the fact that the “last quarter of his mayorship has been wasted with this virus” but said he is “ready to fulfill his duties”.

He also talked about his plans after the lockdown: “Hopefully we will get together for a party on Saffron Walden’s Common to celebrate at the end of this. We will have a big get together with bands and stalls and food. We will give each other hugs. There will be good days ahead.”

He added he would like to commemorate all the losses people have suffered because of the virus: “When I heard my parents and grandparents talking about the war, that was very similar to how we talk about the losses caused by this virus.”