WE learned on Saturday that stocks of vital PPE would run out at the weekend. Dig deeper and you learn that new stocks were only ordered (from China) three weeks ago.
I learned of this virus in early January and started ordering stocks of heating oil, non-perishable food and household consumables then.
How can it then be possible be that UK Government took a couple of months to place orders, even given a bit of slack for scale and organisational efficiency? I don’t think massive incompetence explains it, and neither does that explain other delays in the management of the pandemic. This can’t just be a bit of Boris-type dithering either.
READ MORE: Coronavirus: Dr Philippa Whitford hits out at Michael Gove's PPE claim
I suspect that the British public is being treated to the stealth version of herd immunity. That PR disaster for the Tories never really went away, they just hid it. A cruel and cynical cull is taking place and we are expected to believe that we’re all in it together and that Hancock, Gove and Raab are doing their British best by golly to defend us.
NHS staff have been betrayed and we are asked to applaud this situation. People should be livid and asking for answers, resignations and probably criminal charges to be brought.
Peter E Smith
Aigas, near Beauly
A MORE competent PM might well have commanded respect in this crisis, but as it is we have the “perfect storm” conditions in both the political arena and more importantly – or indeed more tragically – in our NHS. Clapping for frontline services, although noble in spirit, is nothing more than an attempt to hide failings. “Plucky NHS working through the pandemic against huge odds and with scant resources”.
The butchery that successive governments have dealt out by the way of budgetary cuts to the support services that orbit the NHS, and of course the NHS itself, is now coming back to haunt the archipelago. Any and all cuts to NHS England are reflected in kind through the Barnett formula to the other nations. Social services and care in the community again savaged by Westmonster has no spare capacity and that is also under tremendous strain.
It has highlighted for all those who are prepared to open their eyes that Westminster is not the answer as far as Scotland is concerned, because no matter how we vote we always get the government picked by England.
I note someone wrote that the SNP are not the answer, but of course we can see daily the differences in the style of government, with the Scottish death toll being a more complete figure compared to Downing Streets attempt at cover-up. Far too many senior NHS staff have voiced their disbelief at the UK Government’s handling of this crisis, and they are seeing the most tragic results of Westminster policy daily.
Some also say that we should not talk politics during a crisis. For me that is nonsense, as history is littered with change in PMs at crisis moments. Both world wars saw a change in PM and many other examples are out there. According to some reports the petulant PM likes to model himself on Churchill. Well, he has done a very good job because he is most definitely getting his Gallipoli moment.
Cliff Purvis
Veterans for Scottish Independence 2.0
A COVID-19 contact-tracing phone app has been touted as a way of getting us out of lockdown. The app would use the Bluetooth facility on a mobile to record who you have had contact with and for how long. Then if someone you have had contact with contracts Covid-19, an alert will be sent to your phone to inform you. Both Apple and Google are working on such apps.
In South Korea and China such apps have been used to help contact and isolate those who have come into contact with someone with Covid-19. However, not everyone has a smartphone and a contact-tracing app only indicates the proximity of smartphones with the app, not who had the phone. Secondly there are many data privacy issues, so not everyone would want to use it.
READ MORE: Joanna Cherry: Digital coronavirus fight must not hit human rights
However, these are not the biggest problems with the use of a contact-tracing app in the UK, rather it is the lack of testing. Without Covid-19 testing, a contact-tracing app is not effective.
For example, I get an alert saying I have been in contact with someone suspected of having Covid-19. I don’t know they have the virus as there is a good chance they have not been tested. If I feel fine should I self-isolate, or should I continue to take my hour of exercise each day and go to the shops for essential items?
Similarly, I become ill and suspect I have Covid-19. I have flu-like symptoms, but it is mild and so do not go to hospital. I self-isolate, but should I use the contact-tracing app to alert others? I have not been tested so it may or may not be Covid-19.
A contact-tracing app only works if it is used in along with mass testing, otherwise it will set off too many false alarms and be ignored. Until we have a proper testing programme any talk of such an app is a distraction to the essential requirements to fight the pandemic: PPE and mass testing.
Peter Ryan
Ayr
MONICA Lennon in a press release points out that Ireland is doing better than Scotland in controlling the coronavirus. I thought the penny had dropped. But no. She went on to attack the Scottish Government on the issue despite Scotland (to date) doing better than the rest of the UK. Perhaps somebody should tell her. Ireland is INDEPENDENT.
Dave McEwan Hill
Sandbank, Argyll
I HEAR the Brexit negotiations have resumed in the middle of a global pandemic. So much for Unionist respect for the thousands of people who have died from Covid-19, and their grieving families. A lot of people will never forgive or forget this blatant disrespect. The UK economy is already creaking under the effects of Covid-19. A hard, cliff-edge Brexit will finish it off completely.
William C McLaughlin
Biggar
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