Hartlepool physiotherapy entrepreneur on lockdown in USA gives important advice to stay healthy

Paul Gough owns and runs Paul Gough Physio Rooms which has a base in Raby Road in Hartlepool as well as branches in Durham, Darlington and Guisborough.

He now lives in Orlando, Florida where he runs another of his businesses. His town was in lockdown before this week’s restriction which has now been placed on the entire Florida state.

He spoke to the Hartlepool Mail to describe life under lockdown in the USA as well as how the coronavirus has affected his companies.

“The USA is about ten days behind the UK,” said Paul who provides a coaching service for other physio businesses in America.

“It is getting worse every day and it is not too dissimilar to the UK.

“But the US is massive and it is places like New York which are really feeling it.”

The USA had more than 186,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus earlier this week with 3,600 deaths at that stage. Large cities such as New York have been hardest hit.

Paul described the situation in Orlando where he lives.

“I live in Florida. I can still go to the grocery store but all the bars and restaurants are closed. Everything non essential has closed.”

Interactive map showing the latest number of COVID-19 cases around the UK.

He fears Florida could be next to be hardest hit and said: “It has the highest population of the over-70 group in the USA. All of the retirees live here and many are here now having flown down from the New York City area to avoid it.

“It is also a huge state so there's already lots of social distancing going on naturally in many areas, but Orlando and Miami will be hardest hit because of the tourists and cruise ships.”

His physio business in the UK has also closed but staff are being paid under the Government furlough scheme, while his media company in the UK (which is a marketing business for healthcare professionals) is being run by staff from home.

But Paul is keeping in touch with all of his team as his concern is to keep morale high.

And he described life under the Coronavirus as a ‘mental game.’ He urged people in the Hartlepool area to keep themselves as active as they can.

“The biggest problem is our daily habits and becoming sloth like,” said Paul. “It is daily habits like sleeping in and watching rubbish on TV.”

He said that, unless people are careful and make sure they eat healthily, there could be a rise in cases of diabetes and other health issues.

He added: “The biggest problem will be daily discipline.”

He urged people to “do something that keeps your brain stimulated every day. If you don’t do that, you won’t be able to get through this.”

He urged people not to spend all their time on their mobile phones and look to do something which will keep them healthy.

In the meantime, follow this link for the latest news and for an update on the numbers of Coronavirus cases in the North East.

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