Care homes are still facing deadly threat

IT was one of the most appalling public health scandals in history.

Coronavirus swept through Scots care homes, claiming at least 1,950 lives.

But there are disturbing signs that the country’s residential care sector is once again in grave danger.

Nearly one in ten care homes has recorded a current case of suspected Covid-19.

And as the virus begins to re-establish itself, there are growing concerns about testing delays.

One care home boss likens the system to Russian roulette – a chilling comparison when so many lives are at stake.

Have no lessons been learned since the devastating wave of deaths in care homes during peak lockdown?

We know that dozens of patients who tested positive for Covid-19 were transferred from hospitals to nursing homes in the weeks around lockdown.

Ministers have promised a public inquiry, which has yet to materialise.

Six months on, they should have introduced the safeguards necessary to protect our most vulnerable citizens in the event of a second spike.

Now we are beginning to see the virus strengthening its grip in the community.

Draconian curbs such as the ‘rule of six’ will limit gatherings in a bid to put the brakes on viral spread.

But the sick and frail are once again left exposed to the risk of infection by the inadequacies of the testing regime.

These are deficiencies than can and should be addressed urgently in order to prevent another catastrophe.

Scientists have known since the start of the year that Covid-19 targets the elderly, and tends to spare the young.

But hundreds of older people perished in the most horrifying circumstances imaginable because of a failure to keep them safe.

On the brink of the winter flu season, as Covid cases multiply, that deadly threat has re-emerged.

This time there can be no margin for error.