Look at the Tories’ history – do you trust them with your data?

Her stance, that though she has reservations our civil liberties are already being curtailed so why not give more away, is right out of Orwellian doublethink. The Scottish Government will not be in charge of this app or it data, so it comes down to how much you trust the Tories with your social and human rights.

During the last census the questions asked rose from the basic “name, address, occupation”, which was all the info ever required before, to a hefty sheaf of papers containing 50 or 60 intimately personal questions about you and even about others around you. Questions such as “on the day of the census, how many adults are sleeping in your house?” and others such as “do you have a spare bedroom and if so, how many?”

Now call me suspicious by nature but at the time I felt that your head would have to button up the back to give up all that info to an English Tory government freely but many people did and what was the result? The Bedroom Tax and the most murderous changes to the benefit system since Thatcher. This app has the potential to be that census on steroids.

Ten-thousand deaths to Covid-19 is an appalling tragedy but what of the 150,000+ that have been killed off by these Tories “tough choices”? And how many other tough choices will they have to make with our rights and civil liberties after the virus is gone? The economic impact of this virus will likely kill far more people than the virus itself. This is certainly true in the West. The world we will live in after this virus passes, and it will pass regardless of apps, will be a changed world.

Good changes may come in America, for instance, where they might finally wake up to the limitations of their healthcare system and adopt an NHS. But how many people really believe Boris Johnson and his cabal of shark-eyed psychopaths give two shits about the average man and women on the street and see them even capable of positive change? Do you really believe they won’t find some way of using this data to gouge money or fine people or worse? Curtail the independence movement? Arrest and fine individuals for meeting with others under the banner of “public health”?

When people are scared they tend to stop thinking and only wake up when it’s too late. We simply cannot trust this English Tory Government with any further power over us than we have already. Look at their history, look at what they have evolved from. We WILL get past this virus and do not need to throw away our civil rights to do it.

RB
Glasgow

TESTING is certainly, as Les Mackay states (Letters, April 15), an important part of the arsenal that can be deployed against the spread of Covid-19. However, WHO’s policy on testing (and that of the European Centre for Disease Control) is much more flexible than he suggests.

The policy is geared to circumstances, taking account of testing capacities of different countries, but also the stages the epidemic has reached. The policy of contact tracing, testing and isolating those infected works best in the initial stage of an epidemic when cases are relatively few. Once the epidemic takes hold and community transmission is established, testing becomes less effective as a control measure and WHO recommends that testing may need to be prioritised towards people at high risk, healthcare workers and suspected cases in closed institutions such as prisons and care homes.

This is especially true with Covid-19 because the test currently available is slow, only works within a narrow time window, and some persons infected do not have any symptoms. In these circumstances, which apply to Scotland, the single most effective control measure is staying at home. As Scotland moves past the peak of the epidemic and cases start declining, contact tracing, testing and isolating those infected will again become a key part of the strategy to exit from the lockdown.

Hopefully more rapid diagnostic tests will become available. Much is also written about antibody tests, which tell you whether you already have had the infection. However these do not yet seem to be accurate, and in any case scientists are not yet certain whether having had the infection means you can’t get it again.

One of the realities of the Covid-19 epidemic is that hard decisions need to be made in conditions of great uncertainty. So far the Scottish Government has risen to the challenge and has mapped its own path: it made Covid-19 a notifiable disease early, banned large gatherings, closed schools and building sites sooner, undertook early diagnostic testing at a higher rate. It has also convened its own team of scientific experts to provide advice tailored to Scotland’s conditions, and is publishing more complete data on deaths attributable to Covid-19.

Paddy Farrington
Edinburgh

THE First Minister and the SNP wanted me to send in a video of myself clapping for the carers on Thursday night. Yes, I could easily have done that – but I didn’t. Instead I used the time to write to the First Minister to ask her to get a strategy of test-trace-isolate off the ground as quickly as possible, whilst there are still some carers to clap for!

Jean Kemp
St Andrews

IN response to Daniel McBride’s letter Friday 17 April – “Capitalism has brought benefits to the rich and poor alike” – I will make it short and sharp. Mr McBride – which planet are you from exactly?

Frieda Burns
Stonehaven

Scotland is in lockdown. Shops are closing and newspaper sales are falling fast. It’s no exaggeration to say that the future of The National is at stake. Please consider supporting us through this with a digital subscription from just £2 for 2 months by following this link: http://www.thenational.scot/subscribe. Thanks – and stay safe.