Supporting care homes will get us all back to work sooner

The Scottish Government is suggesting an easing of the lockdown restrictions in Scotland may lag behind the rest of the UK because Scotland's infection rate is higher. It has also proposed support for the idea of self-isolating vulnerable groups and more generally of social bubbles, as mechanisms to contain the epidemic. Currently the Government’s statistics on deaths and infection rates do not differentiate between different population groups. They simply refer to the overall numbers. I think this simplification is a mistake that may lead us to prolong the lockdown unnecessarily. We know the infection and death rate among the elderly in care homes is particularly high. This is very unfortunate and distressing. But it does not necessarily impact directly on the rest of society. It also skews the overall data, giving a misleading picture of the presence of the epidemic in the general population. If the infections in care homes can be contained and managed, the infections there need not spread into the wider community. My suggestion is that more resources are applied to care homes to achieve this and that the data published by the government in future distinguishes between infections and deaths in care homes and those in the wider population. This might allow more of us to get back to work sooner, safer.

To minimize deaths in care homes and get us all back to work sooner.