Dealing & living with COVID-19

Difficult to know where to start with this week’s column.

Such a hard time for so many people, with genuine concerns for themselves and their families about getting through this public health emergency.

Also difficult to know what to write, as we are in a situation where discussion and planning is constant through government and health professionals, with advice being updated regularly.

By the time this column is printed things may well have changed.

Certainly this week brings emergency legislation to both Holyrood and Westminster Parliaments, to allow governments to be more prescriptive in dealing with this pandemic.

What won’t change though is the gravity of our situation and the recognition that there is no ‘quick-fix’. We’ve all been asked to make changes to our lives that would have been unimaginable a few weeks ago: taking extra special care in personal hygiene and our own health, self-isolation and social distancing and watching out for symptoms in our own households. This all must be stated and re-stated, it’s so very important.

If somebody does have symptoms of COVID-19, they should isolate themselves for seven days and reduce contact with other people in the house as much as possible.

In addition, anyone else in the household where someone has symptoms should isolate for 14 days – this covers the seven days for which the first person is infectious, and a further seven days to see if they or anyone else gets the virus.

Social distancing can be hard – we’re generally a gregarious bunch and used to being in company and crowds.

We have to minimise social contact as much as possible though – this applies to everyone, not just people with symptoms.

It’s all very well saying “yes, but I’m young and fit, so I may fall ill but I’ll get over it”– just think though, not only does COVID-19 know no barriers, but the at-risk person to catch it could be your gran, your great-uncle, or your pregnant sister.

Whilst schools, colleges etc. are closed and education being delivered in a different way, there are measures in place for childcare for key workers. We certainly all need these key workers.

Our NHS, for example, is now on an emergency footing for at least the next three months, with the first goal being to double the intensive care capacity.

The Scottish

We all have our part to play in social distancing...

Government’s contingency planning for the supply of oxygen both in hospital and in the community is in place and necessary steps are being taken to increase current bed capacity of 13,000 by at least a further 3000.

Situations like this certainly bring out the best and the worst in people. Most people will have been horrified by some of the scenes reported when folks turn into panic-buying mode, and by the empty shelves in supermarkets.

There is no need for this. Scotland’s national retailers have confirmed that they have sufficient stocks to provide enough food and other essentials for everyone.

Because demand is so high it’s difficult to keep up with replenishing the shelves, so this creates a perception of food shortages – a false picture.

That’s the worst, but there’s also the best, and that’s the amount of people who are getting on with it, doing their best, not only for themselves and their families, but for their community and society generally.