Some treat the pandemic as a distant memory

Pandemic? What pandemic?

As I took a trundle through County Square and down the High Street last Thursday with the help of my ‘mobility aid’ (essentially a Zimmer frame with wheels and a seat), I might easily have thought the Covid business to be over and done with.

Yes, there were a few people wearing face coverings. These were mainly elderly folk and a few sub-teenagers. Not many individuals masked up as they entered shops and the idea of social distancing had clearly been entirely forgotten.

It seemed evident that many people, particularly older teens and 20-to-40 yearolds, were putting their personal sense of freedom before the wellbeing of the public. This is despite the fact that, as shown regularly on TV news and in last week’s KE, there are almost 400 new Covid infections in

Ashford every week.

Being double-jabbed may well give the individual considerable protection against the disease, but even with this protection people can still catch the wretched thing and, though it might be a minor or symptom-less infection, it can still lead to ‘long Covid’ which, as one who has it, I can tell you is not a pleasant thing.

‘Not many individuals masked up as they entered shops and the idea of social distancing had clearly been entirely forgotten’

Is there any chance at all that our Home

Secretary will find the smidgin of humility to admit that Napier Barracks is a disgusting place in which to house perfectly innocent people while they wait to have their immigration status confirmed? As more people arrive at our shores, some in search of safety, some looking for a better life, and since we are suffering from a shortage of workers, would it not make sense to speed up asylum applications and give some incomers a chance to work?

Brexit has made things difficult in many sectors, hospitality and agriculture among them. The preposterous rules that have excluded a swathe of EU workers need to be changed or the gaps filled by other means.