About us
Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK formed in April 2020 when our co-founders, Jo Goodman and Matt Fowler, met on Facebook.
In the previous weeks they had both lost close members of their family to Covid-19. The pair found themselves not only united in their grief, but also in the belief that their awful loss could have been avoided if different decisions had been made in Government, and a determination that others shouldn’t have to go through the same horrible fate that they had.
Today, there are nearly 7,000 members of the group, from every part of the United Kingdom. All bound together not only in their tragic loss, but their determination to ensure that lessons are learned from their suffering, and the awful mistakes of the pandemic are never repeated.
We fought to bring about the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, and won. Now we are fighting to make sure that the learnings from the inquiry turn into life saving policy.
Since the inquiry began the group has worked tirelessly to ensure that the voices of the bereaved are at the core of all of the inquiry’s work, to raise awareness of the appalling evidence that is emerging from the inquiry and to ensure that the learnings are turned into legislation that saves lives in the future.
Aside from the inquiry, the group is responsible for the creation of the Covid Memorial Wall, a 500 metre long mural with over 200,000 hand sized red hearts painted on it to mark each of the deaths suffered in the UK from Covid-19. The Wall has become an international landmark for Covid bereavement, recognised around the world.
