Construction sites are aiding spread of Covid
I have been closely following the Guardian’s reporting of NHS workers treating Covid patients and their pleas for the public to follow the lockdown restrictions ( ICU medics in London plead with public to follow Covid rules, 9 January). I am a project manager working on a commercial construction site in London. I work in a site office where capacity remains at preCovid levels and no efforts have been made to provide adequate ventilation. I am expected to conduct inspections in confined spaces at close quarters with others. The wearing of masks is discouraged, as is talking about the pandemic or the risks we are all taking. On raising my concerns with my employer, I was told that I was to come to work or I would lose my job.
There are around 500 people working on my site, who travel across London every day. Many are low-paid, with no job security and no incentive to self-isolate or report symptoms for fear of loss of income. The job is for a major developer that can well afford to delay the completion of the project.
I know my experience is not limited to my site and is widespread across the industry. I want to stay at home and do what I can to support the NHS. But if I do so, I will lose my job.
Until construction and all other non-essential activities are forced to close, Covid will continue to spread wildly, and the tireless efforts of the NHS will continue to be in vain. Name and address supplied
• The frantic requests from Boris Johnson (Report, 4 January) and Matt Hancock (Matt Hancock says every ‘flex’ of lockdown rules could be fatal, 10 January) to stay at home to reduce the transmission of the virus have a hollow ring. Have they even given any thought to how workers feel – those who have little financial choice but to keep working, but have absolutely no desire to be guilty of passing on the virus?
To offer financial support while isolating surely would be a relatively inexpensive option when you consider the huge sums of money that have been sprayed around on other initiatives (“eat out to help out” being a prime example). The government cannot bring itself to commit to action that would openly acknowledge the glaring inequalities in our society. Lives are being lost daily on the altar of ideology.Shirley OsbornKibworth court, Leicestershire
• I was shocked to read Jake Jones’s article (Even as the Covid crisis accelerates, paramedics like me see people taking risks, 6 January). I can well believe how demoralising it must be for health workers to encounter people who are not taking the most basic precautions to protect themselves and those close to them.
Of all the government’s failures, the most egregious is the almost complete absence of effective communication. Where are the public health advertisements, on TV, radio or online, making clear how our actions might “drill a hole in the dam” that we are trying to maintain against Covid? Or, more positively, encouraging us to think and act responsibly by enhancing our sense of community – messaging directed at different age groups, diverse demographics and repeated regularly?
Why is guidance limited to politicians’ announcements and dull official information online? This great failure leaves a gaping hole for all the lies and distortions of the internet to come rushing in. When daily fatalities have for the first time since April exceeded 1,000, it is not too late to demand a change in communications. John Lynham
Har