Defiant great-grandmother Maureen from Barnsley has revealed she is ready to ‘get out and live’ after already battling Covid-19 in May.
Maureen Eames, 83, said the illness felt like ‘having daggers through me’ but she ‘refuses to be scared’.
‘I’m too old. And even if I was young, I’d still not be scared. I don’t give a sod. But many people did succumb to these scare tactics,’ she told The Sun.
The plucky pensioner has been celebrated nationwide for her straight-taking views on coronavirus restrictions, which she says are a ‘disaster’.
Maureen Eames, 83, from Barnsley, said coronavirus felt like ‘having daggers through me’ but she ‘refuses to be scared’
On Friday morning she was a breakfast television guest on Good Morning Britain, introduced by Kate Garaway whose own husband is seriously ill with coronavirus
She told the newspaper naps, walks, yoga and paracetomol helped her beat the virus after ten days.
‘Apparently I went viral on social media. But I’m not interested in that. I’m interested in Boris being surrounded by sensible people,’ she added. The pensioner has previously blasted the Secretary of Health, Matt Hancock.
On Friday morning she was a breakfast television guest on Good Morning Britain, introduced by Kate Garaway whose own husband is seriously ill with coronavirus.
Maureen told them: ‘We need the government to get rid of the scientists. I didn’t vote for a scientist. Scientists should go back to their universities and laboratories.
Mrs Eames and her husband Michael, 81, after she became a well-known figure overnight over her lockdown views
‘I didn’t vote for Mr Whitty and I wish Mr Hancock would stop staying things that are foolish. We need to get back to business.
‘I’m glad the British public have awakened from death. They were put into doom and gloom in March
‘Made to be afraid, and I just couldn’t get me ahead around it. When we went into lockdown I didn’t lock down – I went out every day.
‘What I can’t understand we are having these lockdowns, wake ups , lockdowns how many can we afford?
‘Go out and walk, get some fresh air, when you go shopping – be careful.’
Maureen on her travels round the world, pictured in Australia back in 2002. She and her husband travelled across the globe
Maureen told MailOnline she had been overwhelmed by supporters thanking her for her remarks.
The outspoken octogenarian – a Notton parish councillor for 50 years – laughed off the suggestion she should be Prime Minister – but said the current PM needed to ignore scientists – and Matt Hancock.
Mother-of-two and grandmother-of- three Maureen said her electrical engineer husband of 61 years Michael, 81, had both contracted and defeated Covid-19.
She said she had decided to speak out after being infuriated by doom-mongers damaging the economy and terrifying the public.
Maureen, who grew up during World War II, said: ‘Life has to go on. The biggest thing is that all the people are afraid at the moment.
‘I have had the virus, I had it the end of May. I didn’t realise until I spoke to the doctor. I had a dry cough and pains in my lungs and was very, very tired.
‘But I am fit and well and I got through it. After ten days I was back to normal. I didn’t consider it incredible, I am a fit person. My husband has had it too and he has recovered.’
Maureen, who was born in nearby Worsbrough and went to Kirk Balk School, became an overnight celebrity after speaking to BBC News on Wednesday afternoon in Barnsley about South Yorkshire going into Tier 3 of restrictions this weekend.
She told the broadcaster she thought it was ‘ridiculous’, that vulnerable people should be kept home safe and young people should not be saddled with lockdown debt.
Maureen said: ‘We should never have been in lockdown. All the people who were vulnerable should have been helped and kept home safe.
‘And all the rest of us, I’m 83, I don’t give a sod.
‘I look at it this way, I’ve not got all that many years left of me and i’m not going to be fastened in a house when the government have got it all wrong.
‘We need…how can we get the country on its feet? Money-wise? Where’s all the money?
‘By the end of this year there’s going to be millions of people unemployed and you know who’s going to pay for it? All the young ones. Not me because i’m going to be dead.’
She told MailOnline she felt she had to speak out after hearing so many predictions of disaster and scaremongering.
Maureen added: ‘I only went into town and I have been thinking for weeks and weeks when people have been on TV so was pleased to give my opinion.
‘I’m glad that I got the opportunity to speak for the country. I have been inundated with people telling me that’s what we thing.
‘A lot of people are afraid to say what I think. I’m not, I have been a parish councillor for the past 50 years. Prime Minister is a damn hard job – I don’t envy Boris
‘The country can’t afford this lockdown and I have just had enough of this one.
‘My husband retired at 50 and we went around the world and when we came back the SARS pandemic was going on as well – so we got through that one too. A lot of people were wearing masks back then but we didn’t.
‘My solution is to take care, let the hospital and nurses look after the people. Let people wear the masks, get out in the fresh air and go to the businesses and the shops. Take care – but don’t be afraid.
Maureen from Barnsley said she didn’t ‘give a sod’ and thought lockdown was wrong and had damaged the economy
‘I don’t want to be Prime Minister. Boris has been shackled by scientists and Matt Hancock – I think Boris needs to get his head together.
‘I voted Conservative and I don’t blame Boris for this.
‘I blame the people around him, especially Hancock. I think he doesn’t know what he’s talking about, and he’s been influenced by professor Whitty.
‘They aren’t in the real world, they just don’t seem to appreciate what’s going off in the country and it’s harming the country listening to them.’
From midnight tonight the South Yorkshire areas of Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield will move under Tier 3, joining Manchester, Lancashire and Liverpool.
She was speaking following the news that South Yorkshire has secured a £41million deal with the government on entering the Tier 3 bracket – for contact tracing, enforcement and business support.
The sum granted to South Yorkshire is roughly in line with that handed to Merseyside and Lancashire, adjusting for population size.