I AM confused.
Nicola Sturgeon's route map says that in Phase 1 from May 28, more outdoor activity (able to sunbathe, sit in parks and meet people from other households – adhering to social distancing) will be permitted. People were indulging in all these activities across Scotland's beaches yesterday, with many having travelled out of their local areas for recreation, although this isn't supposedly allowed until May 28.
Phase 1 also envisages agriculture and forestry resuming but in the fields of lambs I see from my house the farmers have never – thankfully – stopped working.
Phase 1 also encompasses "no longer discouraging takeaways and drive-throughs from opening" but again thankfully, takeaways in Anstruther, Cupar and St Andrews have been open for some weeks.
It seems to me that Ms Sturgeon's route map is behind the curve, and she needs to get in step with what the great Scottish public is already doing.
Otherwise this intricate, and illogical staggered plan of dos and don'ts will only undermine the credibility of the First Minister and empower ever more people to go their own way.
Linda Holt (Independent Councillor, East Neuk & Landward), Anstruther.
MISHAL Husain of BBC Radio 4 interviewed David Nabarro from the World Health Organisation last Friday.
I was shouting at the radio in total agreement with his addressing the issue of personal behaviour and personal responsibility in this pandemic.
He raised the very important question, does the population get it? Do we really understand what is going on and how we need to behave? Clearly, we should only unlock when the answer to this is yes. I fear, too many of us believe that unlocking is "back to normal".
The success of this virus, if you want to call it that, is in its ability to exploit weaknesses. The resulting pandemic has certainly exposed the underlying health issues in our population as well those in our systems, our key services. These in turn have also exposed weak and slow political decision-making and in some cases incompetent messaging, the consequences for which in terms of death will have political and financial cost which will play out in due course.
Dr Nabarro stated that "it's personal behaviour as well that's extremely important in reducing the likelihood of explosive outbreaks developing over the summer and into the autumn".
When asked about the setting of dates for reducing restrictions he continued: "My request to all countries, that rather than giving precise dates, they say we'll release the lockdown when we know that we've got the defence mechanisms in place, when we know that our people understand the severity of this virus."
Before we take the next small unlocking step, we need to check that we all know what we have to do. My fear is that we are nowhere near putting a tick in that last box. I think the politicians need to be honest and pay more attention to the messaging. It feels like too many of us have the impression that unlocking is a binary event that puts us back to normal. Let's face it, we aren't going back to normal any time soon, certainly not this year. Our ability to understand where we are with this, to understand what we need to do and to adopt those behaviours is the next test. If we fail here, that is a weakness the virus will exploit next, for sure.
Let's stop and think it through, what effect is my behaviour having on my family and others, perhaps more vulnerable? Could my behaviour make others anxious? Is my behaviour helping or hindering the transmission of this virus?
I'm sure though that we are smart enough to get our heads around this and start really caring for each other so that perhaps we'll never get back to normal, but to something much better.
David Morrish, Banchory.
PANDEMICS are not like other global crises. They are dynamic, full of uncertainty, spread very fast as a result of modern transport and communications; and affect whole populations. Yet we routinely ignore these low probability, high impact threats without thinking broadly and deeply about the disruption and cost. And we often quickly forget afterwards or fall rapidly into previous behaviours.
I hope that the Scottish Government will commission a public inquiry in the near future so we can all learn the lessons – good and bad – from Covid-19 and its aftermath.
Such an inquiry needs to draw on evidence, opinion and good ideas from all segments of our society; from the public and private sectors and from academia and research and development. It must be impartial and transparent.
It needs to consider what can be done in the future by those at the coal face as well as in Holyrood and all parts of our citizenship in between. Input needs to be collected now; not when this pandemic has subsided.
Lastly, lessons captured need to be learned and converted into best practice by an organisation set up especially and dedicated to ensure we improve resilience across our society and are better prepared for the next similar challenge.
Malcolm Warr, Prestwick.
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