Sir, – I am surprised at the myth that young people are safe from Covid-19.
Back in March it was already recognised that in the USA 40% of people who were hospitalised with the virus were under 54 years of age.
That was when most people were taking the recommended precautions.
Now though large numbers of people both here and in the USA are challenging and ignoring the precautions.
This is resulting in people being infected by a much greater viral load.
In the USA it was reported this week that more younger people are being admitted to hospital.
Of those patients admitted to hospital aged 18 to 34 some 21% required to be treated in intensive care, 10% needed to be put on ventilators and 2.7% died. On top of this an increasing number of young people go on to suffer long-term effects of the virus, known as Long Covid.
The message is that nobody is safe from this awful virus.
Harry Key.
Mid Street, Largoward.
‘Cowed and fearful’ is the overall aim
Sir, – Some of the comments from Tory MPs as a justification for not extending free school meals to children in England have been so morally repugnant and venal they make Victorians seem reasonable.
This was demonstrated by the fact that after they voted to deny working class children they then gorged themselves on subsidised meals in the House of Commons restaurant.
None of this is new.
Such greed is rational.
They want those at the bottom to be in perpetual fear of destitution.
Tories want; no pensions, no paid holidays, no NHS, no maternity or sick pay, no trade unions, no free education.
They want a low wage, low skill economy with jobs that are transitory and fleeting. The aim of this is to have a population unorganised, cowed and fearful.
Alan Hinnrichs.
Gillespie Terrace, Dundee.
Keeping food out of the mouths of bairns
Sir, – The refusal to provide free school meals for children in England during their half-term break is surely a new low even for Boris Johnson’s administration.
The Scottish Tory MPs who voted to support him should hang their heads in shame!
Public disgust will surely force yet another humiliating prime ministerial U-turn.
What makes the whole affair even worse is the fact that the Tories are happy to dole out billions to private sector companies for a test and trace system which is failing abysmally, but will not spend a tiny fraction of this to keep children from going hungry.
Alan Woodcock.
Osborne Place, Dundee.
Absurd Welsh rules should focus minds
Sir, – I am greatly encouraged by the decision of the Welsh Government to ban supermarkets from selling ‘non-essential’ items, not because this measure will do any good – it will not – but because it will lead more people to question the wisdom and effectiveness of the current approach to Covid-19.
The average age of death from a Covid-19 infection is around 80 years old and for healthy children and working-age adults the risk of death from this disease is very modest indeed.
The Welsh ‘non-essentials’ ban is a sort of reductio ad absurdum measure taking the proposition that the whole nation is at serious risk of death from Covid-19 to its logical conclusion.
Fortunately, it is also a lead indicator that policy will soon change to take a much more realistic and economically less harmful view of this disease.
Otto Inglis.
Ansonhill, Crossgates.
Tier zero should mean no restrictions
Sir, – For some time it has been reported that many people find it difficult to understand the rules.
The planned future rules would be clearer if in Nicola Sturgeon’s proposals zero level meant no restrictions and the others were numbered from one to five.
Perhaps she could explain her thinking.
Garry Barnett.
Campsie Hill, Guildtown.
