NHS bosses need to come clean on Covid

From: Nick Martinek, Briarlyn

IT was reported that there was a total of only 119 patients with Covid- 19 in the Huddersfield and Calderdale hospitals. The number in intensive care was a tenth of that.

Across England there are some areas with fewer patients, some higher, with evidence of a decline of cases in badly affected localities. But how bad is bad?

Bear in mind this is cases, not deaths. The Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Trust caters for around 453,000 people. That means the Covid cases in hospital here number less than 0.03 per cent of the local population.

And for that tiny number of cases, both local MPs, Jason McCartney and Barry Sheerman, want to destroy the health of the unaffected majority, the livelihoods of vital local businesses, and to decimate the national economy, with another lockdown.

Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS management also claim that these patients prevent them treating non- Covid patients – who are the vast majority. That can be true only if either Covid patients are given priority, or the local NHS is overwhelmed.

But both are denied. Even if it were true, the Nightingale hospitals should be taking local patients using help from retired medical staff who have already volunteered.

It seems that most MPs have rolled over without asking searching questions of NHS management who use lockdown as an excuse for being unable to cope with a few extra cases.

The national lockdown must be halted before it does even more national damage, and replaced by local lockdowns again – but only if the situation is a lot more serious than it is in Huddersfield and Calderdale. From: Liz Waelan, Bromley.

WE have finally arrived in the Orwellian future of 1984.

A surveillance state where formerly innocent gatherings such as student parties and large weddings are punishable by draconian fines; periods of selfisolation are forcibly imposed on those who may have the virus; tourists are turned back at the border by police; and citizens are encouraged to report their neighbours for “misdemeanours”.

No wonder our four nations are riven by division, and people are full of fear, suspicion and distrust. Yes, we are all in this together, provided we remain apart. What untold damage will this do to social cohesion and mental health once the pandemic is over?