Coronavirus: How our communities will pull through – The Yorkshire Post says

Just getting this title to the shops to keep you informed of daily developments now demands a round-the-clock logistical operation; like you, our staff and team also have health and family needs at this time.

But your continued support – whether buying a paper, having a copy delivered, signing up to our daily digital newsletter or taking out an online subscription for up-to-the-minute news and views – is profound.

And this is because of this newspaper’s civic role speaking up for this county, as exemplified by agenda-setting campaigns like Loneliness: The Hidden Epidemic and Power Up The North.

Yes, it is important that Ministers are held to account and difficult decisions, like the impact of school closures, are scrutinised, but the mantra should be to challenge rather than confront.

But it is also imperative that newspapers provide a public information service. As Britain’s most trusted newspaper, our approach is the same – to inform, check and report facts, from trusted sources.

More so than ever before, the human response to the crisis – the gestures of goodwill and kindness of strangers that are providing so much reassurance and comfort to the elderly, vulnerable and all those who feel cut off from society because of self-isolation – should be highlighted. They may seem minor to all those people who have always looked out for others, but their cumulative value is incalculable.

It is vital that this newspaper, on behalf of the whole county, recognises our collective debt to all those people, notably health professionals, emergency workers, carers and volunteers, putting their own wellbeing at risk to look after the sick and vulnerable. If one lesson has been learned, it is that social care must never be taken for granted.

And it is also key that The Yorkshire Post, in conjunction with church, business, community and civic leaders, champion those small shops – and businesses – whose livelihoods will be at increased risk if they’re not supported. They are this county’s lifeblood and this paper, for one, will be making sure the many measures announced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak reach them as quickly as practicable.

Yes, Covid-19 has brought out the worst in some people, notably the panic buying brigade, but it is already being eclipsed by the humanity that the vast majority are showing towards others.

And while this pandemic is now the biggest threat to established norms since the end of the Second World War 75 years ago, this county – indeed this country – can emerge stronger, with community bonds strengthened, if it remains united. It is this desire that will continue to shape The Yorkshire Post’s coverage, as it has done so through good times, and ill, since its inception in 1754.