SCIENCE doesn’t always get it right, but it is enhanced science that always corrects previous errors. There is a huge amount we know about Covid that is as indisputable as the fact that smoking can cause lung cancer.

We know, for certain, that Covid is a highly transmissible airborne virus that has been significantly more virulent than seasonal flu; more than five million have died globally and more than 147,000 have died in the UK.

Scientists have also sequenced the genome of the virus and know exactly how it spreads and attacks the human body and how vaccines can protect us. Of course, virologists don’t often know in advance the exact extent to which a particular variant of Covid will impact on the community but, given the history of the virus, it is not unreasonable for a precautionary and preventative approach to be adopted.

READ MORE: 'Prepare for the worst case scenario': FM to attend urgent Cobra meeting on Wednesday

We take preventative action all of the time rather than wait to see what damage ensues. During the Second World War, air-raid shelters were erected and gas masks issued before any bombs rained down.

Yes, indeed, there is a severe economic cost to be borne in order to mitigate the harm inflicted by Covid, but there is also economic damage – people dying, off work sick, self-isolating, potential customers avoiding social interaction, concerned about catching Covid – if the virus is allowed to spread and mutate rapidly. We must be alert to science sceptics, often applying the selective principle and with vested interests, who downplay facts and sow the seeds of doubt, as the tobacco manufacturers previously did.

Stephen McBride
Largs

TWO excellent letters in two days. One from Ann Ferguson, the other from “name and address supplied” in response.

I am in complete agreement with them both. I have not actually been travelling by train since March 2020, and Ann’s letter gives me scant encouragement to start again now.

I had been travelling from Lockerbie to Edinburgh to be with my ageing mother in her final days, and to sing in a choral society there. In truth, I had never been happy with using the Manchester airport train which stopped in Lockerbie, as it was invariably crowded to standing room only, and people in winter were thinking nothing of coughing out unrestricted. The last time I used that train was in March 2020, and I vividly remember arriving in the auditorium with a very sore throat. That was just a whisker before the announcement of the pandemic, and, mercifully, this remained as “just” a sore throat and congested ear. But it could easily have been otherwise. And there was no inoculation at that time.

READ MORE: UK records highest number of daily Covid-19 cases since pandemic began

A previous correspondent asked: “Where are the British Transport Police?” Where indeed? If nobody is prepared to enforce rules on mask-wearing, then there’s no point in having rules at all. But I would go further than Ann. I have long been against the pernicious culture in Britain of allowing standing in trains at all. This is certainly not ubiquitous – other countries do not allow it. It’s all about selling more tickets than there are seats. This is unacceptable at the best of times, and must surely beg serious questions of health and safety, but in times of pandemic it is outrageously irresponsible.

Come January I am told that we will have a publicly operated railway in Scotland. This is no panacea, as British Rail also allowed standing in corridors, but is a golden opportunity for the Scottish Government to outlaw the practice entirely. Will they step up to the mark?

Brian York
via email

I WOULD like to thank Jenni Minto MSP for presenting her first motion in the Scottish Parliament on the question of defibrillator deployment. Jenni spoke with passion and personal experience on the issue. She spoke well.

There are four issues. Who provides/funds them, where they are placed, whether the Scottish Ambulance Service etc know where they are, and whether or not VAT should apply.

I would also like to thank MSPs from across the political divide for their heartfelt support for the motion. (It would have been incredibly powerful if the Tories had offered to speak to the Treasury about the VAT issue. Perhaps behind the scenes they will do so.)

READ MORE: UK is facing 'two epidemics from Delta and Omicron', Chris Whitty warns

Defibrillators are community funded despite the Scottish Government target of 20% of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests having access to a defibrillator. Relying on charitable donations to achieve important government targets is not right.

Jenni Minto has raised an important issue. It appears to have cross-party support. The debate was an example of collaboration where even the SNP and Conservatives from Aberdeen were in agreement, and that doesn’t happen too often.

If only it was matched by the Scottish Government. The minister responding – Maree Todd, Minister for Public Health, Women’s Health & Sport – read out a pre-prepared statement, no doubt prepared by her civil servants, that completely missed both the points that were raised and the atmosphere in the chamber.

The fight goes on.

Professor Alan Boyter
Inveraray, Argyll