Why it is right to crack down on alcohol in time of crisis

IT has been fascinating watching the coverage of the Scottish Government’s Covid-19 latest restrictions on us all and the outcry from the licensed trade in particular (“Backlash against Sturgeon over ‘cataclysmic’ shutdown”, The Herald, October

8). What is absolutely clear is that there is the potential for the successful reduction of Covid-19 harms to go pear-shaped after months of us all successfully enduring varying levels of inconvenience to keep us safe and alive. The latest curbs on hospitality especially where alcohol consumption is concerned, has some people screaming blue murder and accusing Nicola Sturgeon of being anti-alcohol, with her pioneering unit pricing of alcohol strategy and now the imposition of opening and closing of pubs and restaurants selling alcohol. But I think she is wiser than many of us realise.

It is argued that this is driving people into their homes to consume alcohol without restrictions, when they could have been safely and comfortably in the caring arms of the alcohol trade, who claim that pubs are a safer environment than home drinking. A place where the licensee can keep us under control and safe from Covid-19infection?

Well, we should never forget that alcohol is a powerful drug, albeit a legally available drug, that has caused more damage to individuals and families in Scotland than any other drug, now that smoking is almost off the scene. The nature of alcohol is that it disinhibits us, it can relax us and allow us to come out of ourselves, be a wee but more friendly or affectionate, a better karaoke singer or joke teller. But it also disinhibits our darker side, allowing us to break the rules of the road, letting our anger or emotions get out of hand, in domestic or sexual abuse and other terrible behaviours. Whether we are in the pub environment or with friends at home any loosening of our vigilance in sticking to the latest Covid safety rules is never going to be enhanced with alcohol consumption. Once Covid has gone we will have plenty time to return to Scotland’s favourite drug: alcohol.

Max Cruickshank, Glasgow G12.

IT is entirely understandable that the proprietors of hospitality venues should feel unfairly blamed for virus spread. The statistic from Test and Protect that a quarter of people testing positive had been in such a venue previously, is maybe too small to seem significant, at first glance. However, this fails to take into account two critical and consistent features of the way the virus spreads, as seen all round the world. The first is the finding that “super-spreaders” are involved and the second is the role of indoor, poorly ventilated and noisy environments.

People are now hearing about the R-factor, which measures the average transmission of infection over a large population. This factor might be misleading if it is taken to mean that that transmissions of the virus from one to others is always occurring at around the R-value. For example, if R is 3, every infected person might be expected to pass it on to three others. That’s not how this virus works. The evidence is that the majority of people will not pass it on at all, while a very few, the superspreaders, will pass it on to large numbers of others, in one step. Identifying super-spreaders via Test and Protect might be difficult as you have to go backwards in tracing rather than forwards. The signature of super-spreaders is that these infections usually occur in clusters.

On the question of environments, a major way in which superspreading occurs worldwide is by airborne transmission over a period spent in crowded, indoor, noisy spaces which have minimal air changes. These conditions can apply to nightclubs, pubs, restaurants and choirs, for example. Yes, they’re observing all the guidance on social distancing, sanitising and so on, but these rules unfortunately are not always enough to keep the airborne virus out of the breathing zones of patrons. Serving staff, who are obliged to wear face coverings at all times, may be in a safer position. Of course, these very same conditions can also apply to household social gatherings.

It is good that the Scottish Government has published some figures on where transmission may be occurring and it needs to do more of that, so that the rest of us know what is going on and what to avoid doing. At the moment there seems to be too much sensitivity to the release of information, to avoid finger-pointing. But such knowledge could do more to improve Covid-19 control than any number of “rules”.

As stated in a recent publication, “countries that have ignored superspreading have risked getting the worse of both worlds: burdensome restrictions that fail to achieve substantial mitigation”.

Thomas GF Gray, Lenzie.

FOR the first time in my 74 years I feel so incensed that I have to voice my view. There is a certain percentage of the population who will flaunt any restrictions or laws that are brought into place and because of this the rest of us are being penalised. I and the majority of the population are capable of doing our own risk assessment, particularly those of the older generation. I feel as if I am living in a cross between a dictatorship and a police state. Covid-19 is going to