{"id":12979,"date":"2021-02-10T10:02:03","date_gmt":"2021-02-10T10:02:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/?p=12979"},"modified":"2026-04-18T19:34:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T19:34:31","slug":"emergency-close-the-gap-between-real-life-and-government-facts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/2021\/02\/emergency-close-the-gap-between-real-life-and-government-facts\/","title":{"rendered":"Emergency: close the gap between real life and\u00a0government\u00a0\u2018FACTS\u2019\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"First<\/a><\/p>\n

Tested positive?\u00a0 Stay at home.\u00a0 Can\u2019t afford to take time off work? The Scottish Government has an answer. From 16 February more people on low pay can apply for a \u00a3500 grant to self-isolate.\u00a0 But is that enough?\u00a0 Will it help to stop the spread of infection and reduce deaths from Covid?<\/p>\n

Such questions \u2013 and the\u00a0time-consuming bureaucracy<\/span><\/a>\u00a0attached to the \u00a3500 grant \u2013 reveal the gap between the harsh realities of daily life for low paid workers, and the\u00a0\u2018FACTS\u2019<\/span><\/a>\u00a0of government rules and regulations.<\/p>\n

A strongly worded report\u00a0published in the BMJ<\/span><\/a>\u00a0at the end of January\u00a0urges the UK Government to make support for self-isolation a top priority.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The lead author,\u00a0Dr Muge Cevik<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0an expert in infectious diseases and medical virology at St Andrews University,\u00a0has described\u00a0self-isolation as our “weakest link” in the battle against the coronavirus.<\/p>\n

The charge applies across the UK.\u00a0\u00a0In Scotland, as elsewhere, many people in low paid jobs \u2013 staff in care homes for example \u2013 cannot afford to take time off work.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe next phase of the public health response must align testing strategies with people\u2019s lived realities,\u201d say Dr Cevik and her colleagues, Stefan Baral, Alex Crozier and Jackie Cassell. \u201cUltimately, people need to be able to isolate without fear of a substantial damage to their work, income, family, or caring responsibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why so slow to act?<\/h2>\n

Covid has exposed the link between poverty, inequality, ill health and infection. As long ago as last May,\u00a0National Records of Scotland<\/span><\/a>\u00a0showed that people in Scotland\u2019s most deprived areas were twice as likely to die of Covid19 as those in the least deprived areas.<\/p>\n

Yet, in\u00a0January this year<\/span><\/a>, well into Scotland\u2019s second lockdown, Richard Leonard, former Scottish Labour leader, was still pressing the First Minister on the need to improve support for low paid workers.\u00a0\u00a0Fewer than a third of applications for emergency welfare payment were approved, he said: \u201cWill the First Minister agree today to further widen the Government\u2019s criteria so that, at last, the money reaches those people who are in greatest need?\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nicola Sturgeon promised to \u2018look at it\u2019. Less than a month later, on 2 February,\u00a0Social Security Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville\u00a0confirmed<\/span><\/a>\u00a0the \u00a3500 self-isolation grant would now be available to everyone\u00a0in Scotland earning less than the Real Living Wage (\u00a39.50 an hour), eligible for Council Tax relief and in receipt of various benefits \u2013 increasing the reach by perhaps 200,000 people. \u00a0However, as\u00a0Mark Griffin MSP<\/span><\/a>\u00a0pointed out during the Scottish Parliament debate, people still have to provide documents to prove they receive benefits, can\u2019t work from home and will lose income if they self-isolate. \u201cIt is a devastating irony that those who are most at risk have to do the most to get help.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

It simply doesn\u2019t take account of real life, as Dr Cevik told\u00a0The Herald<\/span><\/a>: “You can’t just expect people to sit at home with no money, no income, and then get \u00a3500 two weeks later, or four months later.\u201d<\/p>\n

A post-industrial disease<\/h2>\n

Scotland is not alone. The impact of post-industrial decline is revealed in bleak statistics across the UK\u00a0 \u2013 this week, Public Health Wales reported some of the UK\u2019s highest Covid death rates in old mining communities where home-working\u00a0 is simply not possible.\u00a0 \u00a0In the UK\u2019s former industrial areas, the Covid death rate is 30% higher than the national average and 50% higher than London, according to a study<\/span><\/a>\u00a0by Sheffield Hallam University published in January, reported\u00a0The Guardian<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Stark disparities are evident within and between Scottish cities too. Why is Glasgow harder hit by Covid than Edinburgh?\u00a0BBC Scotland\u2019s Andrew Picken<\/span><\/a> gave some answers:\u00a0\u00a0Glasgow is more densely populated, has a higher concentration of people in poverty living closely together in flats and \u2013 significantly \u2013 more people employed in manufacturing and lower skilled services, often travelling to work by public transport.\u00a0 According to the Centre for Cities “an estimated 31% of jobs in Glasgow can be done from home, while in Edinburgh that figure is 43%”.<\/p>\n

Yet Scotland\u2019s capital also has troubling pockets of deprivation as revealed in the work of\u00a0Edinburgh Poverty Commission<\/span><\/a>\u00a0(End Poverty Edinburgh is currently developing a plan approved by City of Edinburgh Council in collaboration with local communities).<\/p>\n

Longer-term solutions will require a radical shift in government economic policy, transferring both power and money from the centre to local councils and local communities.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Right now, Dr Cevik says, \u201cThe focus should be on those working in high exposure occupations living in overcrowded housing, or without a home, and should include free and safe accommodation alongside adequate income support, job protection, and help with caring responsibilities\u201d.<\/p>\n

Protecting high-risk communities<\/h2>\n

Other countries show what can be done, according to the BMJ report, and it reveals the value of local action.\u00a0In the US imaginative schemes have helped to reduce community transmission.\u00a0New York City contact tracers automatically offer free hotel rooms to anyone testing positive.\u00a0Vermont designed a response with the needs of high-risk groups in mind. Its community and public health led scheme includes protection from eviction, state supported housing for homeless people, hazard pay, meal deliveries, and free pop-up testing.<\/p>\n

The result, says the BMJ report, is \u201chigh rates of test uptake, number of contacts identified, and adherence to self-isolation, contributing to reducing total household and community transmission.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo-one is safe until everyone is safe,\u201d says Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organisation. He has been calling for international collaboration to share humanity\u2019s skills and resources in research, medicine and vaccines. But in a tightly interconnected world, collaboration is also urgently needed within and between the four nations of Great Britain.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

By mid-February the UK\u2019s (so far) remarkably successful vaccination programme is likely to have given a first dose to the most vulnerable members of society. Yet vaccination \u2013 which must also respond to the challenge of new Covid variants \u2013 is not a cure-all. In a time of alarming headlines, the authors of the BMJ report provide a sense of balance.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs\u00a0<\/span>vaccines are rolled out”, they conclude, \u201ceven small improvements in people\u2019s ability to quarantine and isolate can have an important effect on slowing transmission, hospital admission, and death, especially among those most at risk of covid-19.<\/p>\n

“We can\u2019t wait for vaccine mediated decreases in morbidity and mortality to manifest. Too many lives have been lost or destroyed. Integrating equitable support services for those most at risk for covid-19 is a national emergency and governments should act accordingly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Featured image: First Minister Nicola Sturgeon presenting Covid-19 press\u00a0 briefing May 2020. Creative Commons CC By 2.0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Further reading: MPs urge Boris Johnson to extend benefit increases worth \u00a320 a week.BBC website<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Too many lives have been lost or destroyed. Integrating equitable support services for those most at risk for covid-19 is a national emergency and governments should act accordingly\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":12980,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[125],"tags":[604,174,94],"class_list":["post-12979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-covid-19","tag-health-inequality","tag-poverty"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12979"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12979\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18600,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12979\/revisions\/18600"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}