Sir, – According to the National Records of Scotland (NRS), as of 27th September, there had been 4,257 deaths registered where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, 46% of which occurred in nursing homes.
Who ordered infected patients to be sent from hospitals to care homes?
The Scottish Government.
Who is the government’s final decision-maker on the issue? Nicola Sturgeon.
Nicola Sturgeon, who wants all the praise but accepts none of the responsibility.
In the week of September 7 to 13, there were five deaths where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, although not necessarily the primary cause.
This is consistent with the number of weekly deaths since mid-July.
Of those who died between March and August, 92% had pre-existing medical conditions, Alzheimer’s disease being the most prominent.
The median age of the deceased, as of July, was 81 for men, 85 for women, largely in line with life expectancy for the respective genders in Scotland and victims in other countries.
For comparison with the period which saw the major impact of this virus in Scotland, the number of deaths registered in Scotland between April 1 and June 30 2019 was 13,652. That’s three times as many as for the whole period Covid-19 has been present and an average of 1,050 deaths per week.
Since mid July, we have had roughly five deaths per week where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.
Five, out of a population of 5.5 million. Over 1,000 more people died each week from other causes last year.
Nicola Sturgeon should isolate herself for two weeks, or preferably much longer, and the real world can get on with sorting out the mess.
Prolonged silence from Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock would be very welcome too.
Hamish Hossick.
Strathern Road,
Broughty Ferry.
Fewer reasons to vote Conservative
Sir, – With Prime Minister Boris Johnson announcing Britain will be entirely powered by wind turbines in 10 years, we are fast running out of reasons to vote Conservative.
As we head for a record-breaking £300 billion increase in the national debt this year, we can no longer view them as financially prudent.
After months of a harsh lockdown and with increasingly bizarre restrictions, such as the 10pm pub curfew, we can no longer look to them as friends of liberty. Nor can we view their handling of the pandemic as competent, given that despite the lockdown, we have a higher Covid-19 death rate than no-lockdown and no-mask Sweden.
As the French Navy regularly escorts illegal immigrants to the middle of the English Channel where they are met by the coastguard and the ironically named ‘Border Force’, we have long given up believing that they have the will to control our borders.
Nor have they stopped running down our armed forces. The latest humiliating example is HMS Queen Elizabeth sailing round the world with five British and 10 American warplanes.
Perhaps in Scotland, at least, there is still one reason to vote for them; after a fashion they oppose the SNP’s obsession with destroying the UK.
Otto Inglis.
Ansonhill, Crossgates.
Crisis of governance as much as health
Sir, – With fines of up to £10,000 for those opting not to self-isolate, with the lunacy of the appositely named Operation Moonshot mass-testing project, and with masking mandated only after almost three months of it being deemed unnecessary, it is now clear that we are faced not nearly so much with a health crisis as with one of governance.
George Morton.
Hudson Road, Rosyth.
Star is a fair weather nationalist it seems
Sir, – Dundee-born actor, Brian Cox, a long-time New York resident and passionate supporter of Scottish independence loves to visit us, but ‘it’s too damp to live in Scotland’.
Fair weather nationalist?
Martin Redfern.
Melrose, Roxburghshire.
