Common enemy
I was disappointed to see a letter accusing Dominic Cummings of “bringing the plague 260 miles closer to Scotland”, when it mattered not a whit whether he was two miles or 400 miles away if he went into quarantine or isolation.
The UK Government has made mistakes, as has the Scottish Government, who released elderly patients into care homes without testing them for Covid without instructions that the patient should be quarantined for 14 days and without appropriate PPE for patient or staff.
Care homes deaths in Scotland are double the level of deaths in England, although the overall death rate from Covid is currently lower in Scotland than England.
It is time we accepted that each government and politician is trying to do what they believe is correct in a situation that has never been experienced here before. Each day, as governments and scientists learn more, decision-making should improve.
The time for an analysis of what went wrong will come, and then it needs to be evidence-led, with political prejudices set aside. Until then, let’s all work together to bring life as close to normal as possible, recognising there are differences of approach. The differences are based on what the individuals making them believe balance the protection of the population from the harm of Covid against the
harm being done in so many areas by lockdown.
Let’s believe those making decisions today are using their judgment with the best of intent.
BRIAN BARBOUR Yewlands Gardens, Edinburgh
As the hatefest against Boris and all things Tory gets into its third month, isn’t it time to ask if any of these critics were better prepared for Covid-19 than was this government?
Who among them saw what was coming and used their columns and airwaves to beat the warning drums? Which of them picked up on the speech five years ago by the then world’s richest man, Bill Gates, who assured us from the evidence available that a global virus attack was inevitable and soon; with others to follow if we didn’t prepare for it?
Any offers? No? I thought not. What’s that Biblical expression about: “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone”? The word “hypocrisy” comes to mind.
TIM FLINN Garvald, East Lothian