Coronavirus crisis shows power of a united community – Ian Murray

It’s in times of crisis that communities pull together and we are now facing the greatest crisis since the Second World War.

I have been overwhelmed by the community spirit in Edinburgh South, which has seen thousands offering their services to those who are less fortunate, the elderly, vulnerable and the self-isolating.

I know this has been replicated all over the city and across the country.

There is a collective effort and it really goes to show you the valuable work done by church congregations, community centres, volunteer groups, community councils, residents associations, neighbourhood watch, and just the sheer kindness of individual neighbours, friends and colleagues.

My MSP colleague, Daniel Johnson, and I pulled together an online Zoom call last week to try to find a way of co-ordinating the offers of assistance with those that need it. The supermarkets also participated and it’s clear, despite the problems that they are facing, they are doing absolutely everything to service those in need. It truly is a wonderful community to represent.

If you are wondering how to help but don’t know where to start, then go to the City of Edinburgh Council website that has a list of official co-ordinators including EVOC and Volunteer Edinburgh.

My friend Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, has also established the Viral Kindness Scotland project at www.viralkindness.scot to build an army of volunteers. My constituency office has never been so busy. I thought Brexit resulted in a heavy workload, but this has outstripped that by many multiples. My hard-working team are all safely working at home, but we continue to deal with hundreds of critical issues every day.

The most time consuming and critical issue is that of the repatriation of local people from all over the world.

In normal times we would receive perhaps one or two per month, but we now have hundreds spread in all four corners of the world every week.

We are lucky as citizens of the UK to have the second largest network of embassies and High Commissions, but that doesn’t make this process any easier.

There are no flights from some parts of the world, and those that are operating are well outside the affordability of most. Some places like Honduras also have complete lock-downs, so getting to an airport is an even greater challenge.

I know it’s frustrating for relatives and friends. Other countries are sending repatriation flights and we should be doing similarly.

Closer to home, by the time this is printed I hope the hard work to get more support for the near 50,000 self-employed and freelancers in Edinburgh will have been announced by the UK government. That will put the minds of many at rest and preserve skills for after this crisis.

Finally, a word to those who still refuse to heed the official advice. You may think you are immune; you may think it’ll never happen to you... well it might, and even if it doesn’t, you are risking others.

Just think about what you are doing. Our hospitals can cope with a lot, but they certainly can’t cope with thousands of coronavirus patients at the same time.

It may only give you mild symptoms but for those who have severe infections they need specialist intensive care and ventilation technology. If those specialist facilities are full as the ambulances continue to arrive, our hero doctors and nurses in the NHS will have to decide who get the facilities and who doesn’t. Bluntly, they will have to choose who lives or dies.

Don’t put our hard working angels in the NHS in that situation and don’t have families bereaved of loved ones because you think you will be ok. It’s selfish and unacceptable.

So, in the words of my dear departed grandmother, “dae as yer telt”, follow the official advice, stay safe and stay at home.

Ian Murray is the Labour MP for Edinburgh South