The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Spring of discontent is small price to pay to keep people safe
Forget your Radio One Big Weekends, forget your summer of fun at Slessor Gardens, forget your schools-out parties, forget mass egg rollings for Easter, forget the spring sporting calendar and, dare I even say it, forget your title celebrations at Tannadice. Because they ain’t happening folks.
While not all of these events have yet to be officially called off, the simple truth is the organisers are going to be left with no choice but to cancel.
No, the months ahead are not shaping up to be a lot of fun.
If I was to make a prediction, the only real winners from this crisis are likely to be Netflix and Amazon Prime.
But while our lives are set to be disrupted probably beyond our immediate imagination and comprehension, what we will have to thole in order to slow down the coronavirus crisis is a small sacrifice indeed.
If the prospects for a vulnerable elderly person with underlying health conditions is improved by sticking by the new guidelines, then that is reason enough to do so.
Similarly, if a child or an adult with a compromised immune system is able to sleep a little easier in their beds at night, then that is worthwhile.
But coronavirus respects no boundaries and no age profiles.
There are few people fitter or generally healthier than Chelsea FC footballer Callum Hudson-Odoi, but he is fighting the condition.
Coronavirus is not someone else’s problem.
It is everyone’s problem and every single one of us has a responsibility to be part of the solution.
Schools are likely to end up with the longest summer holiday in history.
Workplaces will empty as home becomes the new office.
The NHS will be placed under incredible strain.
This is a not a charter for skivers, it is a real, unified and sensible response to a virus which has no vaccine and to which no one – apart from those who have been exposed to it in recent weeks and recovered – has immunity.
There will be myriad other consequences, some thought of and some not, as the days, weeks and months roll by.
Like it we may not.
But lump it we will have to if we have the best chance of keeping people safe in our communities and far beyond.
Be sensible, keep hand-washing and carry on.