‘I’d rather be alone this Christmas than risk catching virus’ – Yorkshire Post Letters

From: A Ward, Leeds.

I CAN’T believe so many people are saying “family first” when it comes to Christmas.

Of course family comes first and we all want to be with them at Christmas, but how would these people feel if, as a result of spending time together, those precious family members end up with Covid-19?

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My son and his wife, living in London, have both caught it, despite never using the Underground or the bus. They either walk or cycle everywhere and are generally very fit and work from home.

Leeds - and the rest of England - is now in a four-week Covid lockdown.Leeds - and the rest of England - is now in a four-week Covid lockdown.
Leeds - and the rest of England - is now in a four-week Covid lockdown.

My son is now in hospital and has been on an oxygen mask  and antibiotics for a week. The only symptom he had was a bad headache for seven days. It was only when he contacted the doctor and had his oxygen level measured that the full extent of the illness was diagnosed.

The headache had been caused by a chest infection/pneumonia,  which meant he wasn’t getting enough oxygen to his brain.

He’s still on oxygen and we have no idea when he’ll be well enough to come home.

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If this can happen to a relatively fit man, what do you think would be the result if your elderly relative caught it and how guilty would you feel knowing that you had passed it on to them?

Do you back Boris Johnson's handling of the lockdown?Do you back Boris Johnson's handling of the lockdown?
Do you back Boris Johnson's handling of the lockdown?

My husband died this year and I can’t wait to see my sons (one of whom lives in the USA), but I’d rather spend the Christmas period alone than run the risk of being as ill as my son has been. We still have the phone and the internet, thank goodness. And, by the way, this is not “just a bug” or “a touch of flu”.

From: John Anthony Gadie Patrick, Brompton, Bedale.

WHY is everybody so reluctant to tell the truth and say that the answer to the length of the new lockdown is in your hands?

Like many of my generation, (post war), I find the recent behaviour of young people in the evenings to be ‘beyond the pale’ and if they or others continue to ignore advice and pretend it won’t happen to them, then there will be little chance of lowering to ‘R’ rate below 1.

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In all the news broadcasts and speeches by Ministers and politicians, I have not heard one comment on this behaviour or importantly the need to curtail it.

I suspect that this is because the media are hell bent on pointing fingers and finding fault over the delay in its introduction, and politicians are scared stiff to upset potential voters.

Let us all hope that the message will at last get through, and the whole country will embrace the ‘wartime spirit’.

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