Crippled by a lack of ethical beliefs

SCIENCE has provided several different strategies by which to conquer a viral pandemic.

The most obvious policy was to kill the viruses themselves, at the point of their entry into the air we breathe, from the air passages of infected citizens.

We have always known how to do this, since viruses are captured by globules, which can be trapped and killed by masks filtering the expelled breath.

Given that fact, it would have been efficient to manufacture and distribute face masks far superior to a simple thin cloth, seriously to reduce the number of viruses floating in the air currents we breathe.

Since we know that ultra violet light can kill all viruses, it would have been sensible to design and manufacture thousands of such units to kill viruses in air conditioning systems of buildings, ships and aircraft, and also portable units which could be used in every school, to exterminate all viruses successively in every room.

Such tools will not kill all viruses everywhere, but, by positive, aggressive action to decrease the number of viruses in the atmosphere we breathe, it would have reduced the exponential R factor.

The UK Government disapproved of face masks until July, with the result that the maximum number of viruses was steadily expelled into the air. It did talk of wiping hard surfaces clean from viruses which might have been much better killed at source.

Quite different from all that is the wholly passive tactic of social distancing and lockdowns, keeping humans apart from each other and hoping that viruses will die, but that depends on the behaviour of many people, rather than the fixed actions of viruses.

It is therefore less motivated and measured by scientific procedures.

Britain is crippled by the lack of ethical beliefs of its citizens and Government.

CN Westerman Brynna, South Wales