MLA hits back at News Letter on Covid: ‘Cheap jibes are unfair – Mr Swann is acting to save lives’

(Swann wrong to lay blame for Covid surge at feet of public).

Regions in England, the Republic of Ireland and parts of mainland Europe are facing similar levels of rapid Covid growth. This is a global challenge. It is trite and unfair for the News Letter to make cheap jibes at the health minister and his department in these circumstances.

The actions taken to protect the health service and save lives throughout this pandemic have been backed unanimously by all Executive ministers.

Robin Swann has worked assiduously to maintain a collective Executive approach in the best interests of all the people of Northern Ireland.

He has made clear that he doesn’t want another lockdown because he recognises the negative impacts that it would have on the economy and people’s health in other ways. He wants to avoid that.

However, it is clear that there are those who actively and persistently push a message that is contrary to public health advice and dismiss scientific evidence which now demonstrates the positive public health advantages of wearing face coverings to hinder the spread of Covid-19.

Some of those messages have been actively platformed in the News Letter.

Continued pursuit of these irresponsible actions will lead to the very thing that the health minister and his Executive colleagues want to avoid, which is another lockdown.

All of us in society need to act responsibly.

The health minister was absolutely right to call out those individuals who selfishly and persistently refuse to wear face coverings and push messages contrary to public health advice, and dress it up as an attempt by the state or ministers to impinge upon people’s freedoms.

That is categorically not the case.

These steps are being taken to protect the NHS and save lives. Our hospital bed occupancy is increasing at an alarming rate.

The people who claim that further measures are not needed to hinder the spread of Covid-19 will be the same people who will complain in two weeks time that enough wasn’t being done if hospital admissions are close to capacity, if the infection rates continue to rise at an exponential rate.

They can stick their heads in the sand if they want, but they can’t have it both ways.

The NHS is looking down the barrel at a very dark winter and the promotion of ideas from some self-appointed, unqualified epidemiologists that Covid-19 is no worse than a bad flu is barking mad, combined with being grossly irresponsible. They are straight out of the Trump school of epidemiology.

I acknowledge that the public health message has been undermined by those who should have known better, including politicians, which was grossly irresponsible.

But it still doesn’t provide an excuse for the rest of us to throw the baby out with the bath water and ignore the measures being put in place to protect lives and try and prevent another lockdown.

There are also those who are advocating herd immunity as the silver bullet to solve the Covid-19 pandemic. They need to need to think long and hard about what that actually means and the impact on the vulnerable, the elderly, and the young people who are fending off other health problems.

They would be exposed to even greater risk. They can’t stay locked away until a vaccine is produced. It all sounds very easy, but quarantining all these people for the long term is unfair and impractical.

I would encourage the News Letter editorial writer to listen to what former MLA Jimmy Spratt said on the Nolan radio programme on Thursday morning about the impact that Covid-19 is having on him as he undertakes cancer treatment, the impact of separation from his grandchildren, and his plea for people to wear face coverings.

It’s a small ask, it’s what the health minister was asking for on Wednesday and I’m disappointed that the News Letter now criticises him for doing so.

Alan Chambers MLA, UUP health spokesman

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