Why more testing is needed to counter climate of fear over virus – Yorkshire Post Letters

IT seems to me that either the Government, or someone behind the scenes, was extremely irresponsible in commissioning the report from the Academy of Medical Sciences on the worst possible scenario for a possible second wave of Covid-19, and then releasing it without proper qualification. We have all come across fragile people who are already frightened by the virus and to introduce a climate of fear in this way is unnecessarily cruel, so why do it?

What has been needed from the start is mass testing for the virus, so that the number of people with the infection and their location can be identified precisely, whether or not they have symptoms. This would enable treatment and precautions, such as quarantine, to be properly targeted and would improve the accuracy of the scientists’ predictions that, without data, are just educated guesses.

I do not want this disease, have my masks at the ready and will obey the rules, but the last thing I want is to live in a climate of fear with no end in sight. We need to test, test and test again so that protective measures can be accurately targeted.

Unlike the view of this dire report, we need to believe the light at the end of the tunnel is actually getting nearer and that civilisation will return.

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

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Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

Editor