Public is far from helpless in Covid fight

Scotland has now suffered more than 6,000 deaths from coronavirus. The grim milestone - which represents just the tip of the Covid illness iceberg in Scotland – came just days after the UK death toll total ticked over 100,000.

It is a tally too terrible for most people to quantify.

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought about a national tragedy the likes of which only a very few members of society, such as those who lived through the war years, could claim to have any real relatable experience.

The statistics show that the UK’S Covid experience has been particularly bad, especially for a small island, albeit one that is a global trading and leisure hub.

Governments, and the politicians that head them, are rightly being scrutinised for their response and leadership throughout the Covid crisis.

And those that are found to have been wanting will have their day of reckoning at the polls.

But that is for another time and it does not help the families who have lost loved ones from coronavirus, or who are currently waiting for updates from hospital and care home bedsides, desperately hoping a parent, spouse, brother or sister will pull through and recover.

Sadly, the death and severe illness from Covid is not over.

Despite the roll-out of the vaccination programme, we are far from that point.

But we must remember that we, as individuals, are not helpless in this fight.

Our personal actions as we go about our daily lives matter.

Indeed, in a rare glimmer of light, they helped Scotland to push the reproduction rate of Covid downwards during January.

That is something to hold on to in this most difficult of moments and it is a trajectory for the virus that we should all be striving to maintain.

If we want to avoid more tragedy and heartache in Scotland then we must continue to be mindful of the lockdown rules for a while longer and break those person-to-person transmission channels.

Otherwise the thousands of deaths that we have endured to date will have been in vain.