It’s now getting serious, so we all have to be vigilant

HANDS, face and space, the three bastions in the fight against Covid 19. If we all scrub up, mask up and keep our distance we’ll go a long way to defeating, or at least inhibiting, this awful virus which, if we’re not careful, will soon take over all our lives.

If there are chinks in our defences, if someone gets too close or fails to mask up, the opportunity for crossinfection increases and the whole project is weakened.

A house is only as strong as each individual brick. If one or two fail then the structure can collapse.

I was reminded of that when I went to the fish and chip shop the other night. Everyone inside and out was dutifully wearing a mask, we’re all in this together. All except for one chap who decided he’d march in without one. So what’s the point? Are the rest of us mugs?

OK, he may have had an exemption, he may not, but I didn’t know him from Adam so I wasn’t going to share the space with him in such a hot, muggy environment.

And with the virus now establishing itself in our area we have to be increasingly vigilant, otherwise lockdown is coming. I think I’ll be pretty selective about which indoor hospitality venues I choose to visit. Plenty of space and lots of ventilation would be my guidelines if I’m going into a mask-less environment. Now you obviously can’t eat or

drink wearing a mask but surely you should wear one when moving about and possibly mixing with other ‘bubbles’, so I’m right behind the Coach House at Humberston and anywhere else that has a similar mask policy.

It’s tough on those with exemptions, but is wearing a mask for such a short period really out of the question?

And if some can’t wear them because of serious underlying conditions well, shouldn’t they be shielding anyway?

It’s not discrimination, it’s common sense. A business can set its own entry rules for the benefit of the health of its staff and the vast majority of its customers.

And remember, this won’t be forever.

DO you know who left wing Manchester mayor Andy Burnham reminded me of as he stood ‘on the barricades’ in defiance of the Government this week?

Arthur Scargill.

Both men were enthused with passion for their cause, both put their political persuasions before pragmatism, both ended up out on a limb and both were doomed to fail. Whatever the arguments, right or wrong. no-one has taken on a British government on such fundamental issues, whether it be miners, dockers, environmental campaigners or anarchists, and won. But they keep trying.