By Deidre Brock MP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith
It’s a game we’ve been playing with ourselves for almost two years now, a game called “Do I have the cold or is it Coronavirus?”
A high temperature and a tickle in your throat and your heart sinks.
Luckily, free testing has enabled us to quickly find out whether we’re in the clear and can go about our business, or if we have to self-isolate and protect others.
Boris Johnson has announced that in England, not only will people not be required to self-isolate if they have Covid-19, but free testing will soon be coming to an end there too. Two million people in the UK don’t qualify for statutory sick pay and they are the workers who will be forced back to work, either because they feel okay, despite having Covid-19, or because they’re unable to test themselves in the first place.
Needless to say, The Scottish Government wants to continue removing the few remaining restrictions slowly and steadily instead of throwing caution to the wind and our NHS to the wolves. Although devolved nations are responsible for Health, they have no overall say in these UK Government funding decisions.
Just as the furlough scheme was only introduced with south east England was crying out for it, the four nation approach means we have to sit tight and await Westminster’s instructions.
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
