Highlands cannot afford to be complacent about coronavirus, region's medical chief warns
Although lockdown measures appear to be slowing the spread of coronavirus in the region, the Highlands is almost certainly just a week behind the Central Belt when it comes to the statistics.
And NHS Highland’s director of public health, Dr Ken Oates, told a board meeting that in terms of the spread of the virus Scotland as a whole was about two weeks behind London which has experienced the highest number of cases.
Yesterday afternoon there were 58 confirmed cases of coronavirus across the NHS Highland area, compared with 632 in Greater Glasgow and Clyde and 311 in Lothian.
“We are benefiting greatly from the social distancing measures and self-isolation because those measures were started here when we were earlier in the curve, but it is clear that the epidemic won’t go away – the virus won’t disappear,” Dr Oates warned.
“It will come in greater numbers and it’s vital that we continue to get our public to adhere to the social distancing guidance and don’t become complacent and assume that because we are a rural area it will be fine – because it will still challenge us severely, probably the most significant challenge we have ever had to our local health and social care services.”
Dr Oates pointed out that the reported number of positive cases was almost entirely made up of people tested after being admitted to hospital, with figures taking no account of people in the community who might still have the condition and the ability to pass it on.
Meanwhile, as arguments continue to rage nationally about the speed at which equipment is being rolled out to frontline health and social care staff to help protect them from infection, a number of local businesses and individuals have been doing their bit to help.
