Two Isle of Wight health leaders have added their names to a letter penned by senior clinical leads from across the Region, reminding the general public that the Coronavirus “pandemic is still here”.
“The virus remain infectious and dangerous”
Alistair Flowerdew (Medical Director, Isle of Wight NHS Trust) and Dr Michele Legg (Clinical Chair of Isle of Wight CCG) join other health leaders to say,
“The virus is still in our community. It is in higher numbers now than when this all started from a few people returning from holidays in Italy and elsewhere.
“The virus remain infectious and dangerous. It kills the young, the old, the healthy, the fit, those with ill-health and those in their prime.”
“Nothing has changed, a huge risk remains”
They go on to add that although we are in a place of relative safety, “we must not confuse this with a mistaken view that this is over, that everything has changed”.
The letter says nothing has changed, a huge risk remains,
“We are seeing second peaks elsewhere in the world and the return to lockdown in Leicester”.
“Our Dunkirk moment”
The health leaders say this is our Dunkirk moment.
“When the army was trapped on the beaches of Dunkirk, the authorities and the Navy were unable to rescue them. The ships could not get close to the shore and were too vulnerable to air attack.
“Victory was snatched from complete defeat by the effort of individuals in small pleasure boats coming to the rescue. It was through the actions of the people, individuals acting in the interest of others, that so many lives were rescued.”
“Most of us need to do this”
The letter carries on,
“How many people die prematurely from the disease, how much more damage there is to our economy and futures, how much freedom we lose over the coming months, can swing on some simple things.
“We don’t need to be perfect, we don’t need to to do everything all the time. We do need to act and to do some simple things most of the time and most of us need to do this.”
The ‘wash, walk, wear’ message
The letter finishes by pushing the ‘wash, walk, wear’ message.
“We need to wash our hands as often as possible; walk apart when you can; wear a face covering where you can’t walk apart.
“Walk, walk, wear, will maintain our freedom now, and save lives. We need to support our national leaders, we need to do our bit, only we can.”
Read the letter in full below (click on the image to see larger version).
Image: united nations under CC BY 2.0
