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Your support makes all the difference.The government needs to take great care with the new NHS coronavirus app. If it works, then it might provide a way to safely lift the lockdown.
Speaking to Sky News on Sunday, Grant Shapps described it as “a fantastic way to ensure that we are really able to keep a lid on this going forward and we don’t get that second wave” of Covid-19 infections, ahead of a trial of the app on the Isle of Wight. Sadly, I don’t think he is likely to be right.
The transport secretary gives the impression that contact tracing by testing will be guided by the app, but how would the app know whether a person was infectious? If a person has no symptoms, would they have been tested? If a person had previously been infectious and self-isolating, why would they need the app?
Were I not confined to my home as “very vulnerable” to Covid-19, and if I had a working smart phone anyway, I would not be installing an app that I have sound reason to believe may be counterproductive. This feels, to me, more like “theatre” to reassure the public, and with an approach that in this instance may backfire badly.
Watch this space, I guess.
Ian Henderson
Norwich
Retail and VE Day
The VE Day bank holiday is fast approaching for Friday 8 May.
The UK retail sector would gain huge respect by closing its doors – or at the very least shortening opening hours as a gesture of respect and recognition to this very special “one-off” bank holiday.
Such a move would give the necessary time and space for retail workers, their families and indeed society at large to quietly reflect upon the contributions and sacrifices made by the HM Forces and the Commonwealth in securing peace in Europe 75 years ago.
John Barstow
Address supplied
All in it together?
A report by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has found that death rates from Covid-19 are more than double in the poorest areas of England than those in the richest. The country’s most deprived areas experienced 55 deaths per 100,000 in contrast with 25 deaths in the wealthiest regions.
The Covid-19 pandemic has aggravated an existing trend within capitalist society.
If you’re poor you can expect to die sooner than the rich.
Last year the ONS reported that men living in poorer areas of the country could expect to live nearly 10 years less than those living in affluent areas and women living in poorer areas lived on average seven years less than women living in rich areas.
Can anyone believe that class “doesn’t matter” in the 21st century?
Does anyone believe the lie that “we’re all in it together”?
Can anyone defend the inequality which is at the heart of capitalism?
Sasha Simic
London N16
Misleading figures
No one should be surprised by Matt Hancock’s disgraceful misuse of information around the distribution of tests for Covid-19, which reportedly entailed leaning on unsustainable boosts from Amazon and the Royal Mail.
It reminds me that not so long ago, private school fees were included in the total spent on education. How long before we include the money spent on buying cars in the transport expenditure figures, or the purchases we make in pharmacies in the total spent on health?
Remind me again why don’t we trust politicians?
G Forward
Stirling
On the testing target, it is important to maintain the increase. 100,000 tests per day doesn’t mean hitting the target on one day (whether figures are massaged or not). It means continuing to perform 100,000 tests every day from now on. Only when we can show that is happening consistently will we know if the target has been met.
Equally important is who is being tested. A test by itself is of little value unless it contributes to controlling the spread of the disease: eg by tracking and tracing. This is in danger of being forgotten.
David Maynes
London E4
‘Pre-order’ and other offences
I really look forward to John Rentoul’s Mea Culpa. Today was another good one for that warm glow of shared pedantry.
I have another unnecessary use (not just in your paper) of “pre” I’d like to see stopped: “pre-order”. An order is to make a commitment to buy something in advance of receiving it. What does “pre” do for that?
Another entry for your perhaps overstuffed Museum of Journalism is the word “reveal” or “revealed”, especially in headlines. From time to time, I search The Independent for the word and rarely get fewer than double-digit occurrences. Please stop it.
Geoff Holmes
Lymington
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