BLACK Stay at home and save lives
BY PAISLEY AND RENFREWSHIRE SOUTH MP MHAIRI BLACK
Our day-to-day lives have changed in ways I don’t think any of us would have dared imagine just a few months ago.
It’s been a quick, sharp adjustment and I know many of you will be finding it more difficult as time goes on.
It is getting harder not being able to enjoy our usual hobbies, not being able to go to the pub or the pictures, and for some - in what is surely the cruellest consequence of this virus - not being able to visit or comfort loved ones in hospital, or attend funerals of people who have died.
Cabin fever will be kicking in for many of you, and the temptation to flout the rules, to visit a family member to chat through a window, or to meet a pal , gets harder to resist.
About four weeks ago, someone I had been in significant contact with developed symptoms of Covid-19, and thus, I had to enter two weeks of selfisolation.
Just as my isolation was about ending, the lockdown happened.
I must confess, I found the first few days incredibly calming.
Being able to sit in one place knowing that I can still get in touch with all the people I need to.
I found myself with more time to speak directly with constituents since I didn’t even need to get out of my jammies if I felt like it.
It can be incredibly therapeutic having the time to prepare meals and go for exercise whenever you take the fancy.
In the first weeks there can be definite perks to this stolen time at home.
But the cabin fever will undoubtedly begin to creep in for some.
This is where it is important to be strict but fair with ourselves.
Try to maintain some form of routine – getting dressed, going for a walk which leads home, working during working hours.
I share all this because it’s crucially important that people don’t lose resolve now.
I have seen many people try to use the war metaphor to explain why we must be stalwart in our commitment to getting through this.
Let me add that social distancing, staying home, reducing contact, and hand washing are all by far and away the greatest weapon we have in our arsenal against this virus.
It spreads in droplets when people speak, cough, sneeze, etc. It survives on surfaces where it is then carried by anyone who touches that surface.
What can seem harmless, like visiting a friend, can have a chain reaction that ultimately ends with our health service being overwhelmed and life being lost.
If that seems abstract to you, because you are healthy and haven’t been in contact with anyone in weeks, then consider those with underlying health conditions who have been receiving letters advising them to stay in the house for 12 weeks.
Every Thursday at 8pm people stand on their doorsteps to applaud all those essential workers in our NHS and beyond who are taking the daily risk of continuing to work in order that the rest of us can survive.
It is a heartwarming gesture, but it is meaningless without action.
They are going to work so we can survive. Stay at home so they can survive too.
Stay at home and save lives.