Have your say on how we move forward

Every day my inbox receives many suggestions and questions from constituents about how we should be tackling next phase of the fight against Covid-19.

Whilst, it is evident that a number of restrictions are going to be with us for some time yet real progress has been made and, at last, there is some light at the end of the tunnel. Hope is returning to our lives and we should not underestimate how important a driver this is for human wellbeing.

However, the advice in Scotland is unequivocal and clear: stay at home unless you are leaving for essential purposes.

As we approached the end of March, a big fear was that the spike in Covid-19 cases would be so severe that our NHS would be overwhelmed, putting even more lives at risk. Thank goodness, this has not happened. The Louisa Jordan Hospital in Glasgow, built so rapidly to ensure we had additional capacity, so far has thankfully not been required.

Indeed last week, for the first time since the outbreak, in Scotland we recorded a decline in the number of deaths. Things are going in the right direction and hope is building. That is thanks to remarkable dedication of our frontline NHS staff. As well the contribution of every citizen who has stayed at home to save lives and protect the NHS.

We have demonstrated to ourselves that we can do this, that we can help stop the spread of this virus and ultimately save many lives. We now need to move forward with caution in order to ensure we do not find ourselves facing a second wave in infections and deaths.

However, lockdown is hard and it affects us all. It has meant significant time physically away from family and friends, as well as (for most of us) not seeing our work colleagues every day. For me the most difficult bit has not able to hug my grandkids – but that is nothing compared to the grief that many are have had to endure.

Everyone wants to get back to normal but short of a vaccine or effective treatment, becoming widely available, I think we all know we are going to have to be very careful for some time to come.

The discussion about what happens next in building hope for the future is one we should all try to be part off. That is why Nicola Sturgeon, our First Minster, has published a new document to share her thinking about how we will carefully and gradually move towards this ‘new normal’. The document also provides illustrative examples of the steps that might form part of the initial changes to the current lockdown restrictions.

These are not recommendations but examples of what may come next and the kind of preparations that are underway. As she has said, changes to lockdown rules will only happen when it is safe to do so, whether that is in reopening schools or businesses or increasing social interaction.

This is not just because that is the right thing to do but because it will help give us confidence that our families will be safe and our public services protected.

You can find the relevant documents and links on where to give your valuable opinion at : www.gov.scot/ publications/coronaviruscovid-19-frameworkdecision-making-furtherinformation/

This is the sort of input that the Scottish Government needs in order to make informed decisions about what areas we as a society are willing and able to do at different stages as we build hope for the future.

Finally, I want to point people in the direction of a great tool to help keep yourself both mentally and physically active and healthy, and that is the clearyourhead.scot website.

Mental health is so important, and situations like these can be difficult to cope with.