Population query

In his letter of 9 July, Jos Seligman raised the question of population density as a factor in the ongoing comparisons between the performance of the Scottish and Westminster governments in respect of the Covid-19 pandemic.

This is something which has rarely, if ever, been mentioned

in the many letters which have appeared in the The Scotsman over the past months, but is something which must be a significant factor.

England’s population density is 407 people per square kilometre, the third highest in Europe after Malta and the Netherlands. In Scotland it is 68.

Not only that but there is a vastly different ethnic mix.

Taking those together, the percentage infection and death rates in Scotland should be significantly less than England, but that is not the case.

In the same edition, Mary Thomas claims that Scotland “has a much better record than England in dealing with Covid”. That certainly does not apply to deaths in care homes. As a percentage of total Covid deaths the figure for England

is just under 30 per cent while in Scotland it is 45 per cent!

Also, she berates Boris Johnson for being too late in introducing lockdown. While that may be so, that was on 23 March.

Am I not right in thinking that that is the same date as the lockdown in Scotland introduced by Ms Sturgeon?

Surely if that was an issue she could have introduced it earlier, which she had the power to do? Did her failure not also devastate businesses and threaten jobs?

RONALD IRELAND

Loaning Wood, Peebles