Easter perspective as lockdown takes its toll – The Yorkshire Post says

AS the Queen made a rare televised address to the nation last weekend, the 5,000th hospital patient in the UK was succumbing to Covid-19.
Britain's coastal resorts will be deserted this Easter due to the Covid-19 pandemic.Britain's coastal resorts will be deserted this Easter due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Britain's coastal resorts will be deserted this Easter due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Now, as the country prepares for a peacetime Easter like no other, the coming weekend is likely to see national death toll reach 10,000.

Behind these faceless numbers are families enduring a traumatic Easter – and each and everyone of them should be uppermost in our collective thoughts at this traditional time of reflection.

Social distancing means very few people will be on Britain's beaches this weekend.Social distancing means very few people will be on Britain's beaches this weekend.
Social distancing means very few people will be on Britain's beaches this weekend.
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And with the number of new cases rising sharply, all while Prime Minister Boris Johnson is being treated in hospital, it is implausible for Ministers to sanction the lifting of the UK lockdown.

All this would do is compromise the measures taken so far to contain the spread of the virus so the NHS – again the focal point of last night’s celebration of hospital staff and key workers – is better placed to give the best possible care to each and every patient.

This will, of course, be immensely difficult in regions like Yorkshire which are effectively closed to visitors on a landmark weekend that normally marks the start of the tourism season, a sector that underpins the wider economy.

It will be even more challenging for those tourism-related businesses – and, in fact, thousands of other enterprises – whose viability is compromised by the lockdown.

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But the fight to combat coronavirus is a national endeavour and the official advice – to stay at home to save lives – remains even more pertinent on an extended weekend when the first inclination of many families will be to make the most of the warmer weather and great outdoors.

It is a temptation that must be resisted. Not only will be jeopardising their own health, but they will be putting the wellbeing of others at risk and undermining the ability of the NHS to respond to this national emergency.

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

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And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing [email protected]. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country.

Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

Editor

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