'It's important to realise impact our actions have on others' warns Sheffield health boss

Attending a friend’s funeral made me realise how much incentive we all have to maintain discipline to contain any further spread of the coronavirus.
Columnist Graham Moore is hoping we can maintain self-discipline and avoid a second spike impacting our NHSColumnist Graham Moore is hoping we can maintain self-discipline and avoid a second spike impacting our NHS
Columnist Graham Moore is hoping we can maintain self-discipline and avoid a second spike impacting our NHS

It was heart breaking to see how precautionary measures drastically affected the atmosphere, not as dignified as normally is the case, with limited time, to allow for sanitation between funerals.

It made me realise how individuals affect the lives of others - more coronavirus spread puts frontline workers at more risk, more job losses, education disrupted, economy further damaged and more lives lost.

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Another concern of indiscipline is the growth of waiting lists for non Covid-19 ailments, causing, at the very least, more pain/suffering and worse more lives lost. And more pressure on hard-pressed NHS staff.

Graham Moore, Westfield Health chairmanGraham Moore, Westfield Health chairman
Graham Moore, Westfield Health chairman

There has been much publicity about foreign holidays being curtailed due to the growing impositions of post-holiday quarantine measures – this not only affects employees, but also their employers too, the very last thing they want while trying hard to recover their businesses.

After frustration at lockdown restrictions, the easing was a green light for some to throw caution to the wind and show a lack of regard for others to pursue their own leisure-time activity, without following advised distancing measures.

As the elderly and vulnerable are most at risk, this indiscipline does disadvantage them and I thought it appropriate one lockdown town coined the phrase ‘protect your granny’, to remind of the consequences of thoughtless behaviour.

So, in this period before autumn, surely we can return to normal working and enjoy less restrictions, while still maintaining social distancing and wearing masks as appropriate, which for me added to the necessary precautions at my recent funeral attendance.

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All this, of course, begs the question did we start the lockdowns with too much timid advice, as well as mixed messages when more enforcement and making precautionary measures mandatory could have been more appropriate? Certainly if thousands of lives lost does not justify stricter measures, I’m not sure what does.

Let’s hope winter does not bring a second spike and we all enter it in better shape to prevent it and live and work with less fear and trepidation.

Certainly any reoccurrence would be disastrous for jobs and the economy and prejudice a well-overdue return to normal education and working.

With no vaccines yet available there seems no realistic alternative to us maintaining the habits of sensible self-discipline.

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