Letters, Monday, September 28 2020

During the pandemic, plastic-based personal protection equipment is needed in medical and care settings.

However, I am dismayed at how many members of the public are using disposable masks.

Recently, there was a BBC documentary called War On Plastics: The Fight Goes On, which highlighted these masks’ high plastic content.

Some people are not even disposing of these masks in a bin, but they are found dropped on pavements and, even worse, in the countryside, rivers and coasts, endangering animals too.

I would urge people to buy (there is so much choice) or make a cotton mask which can be washed and re-used safely. We will need to wear masks for some time, so think of the environmental consequences of buying disposable ones

Jane Wood

Friends of the Earth

Virus

It is not safe to shop in Blackpool

Why is Blackpool letting all these visitors in when they are not distancing themselves or wearing masks?

They are going to cause another lockdown and cause the virus to spread even more.

I know we need money coming in, but we need to stop building hotels - we don’t need them.

Do the work that needs doing like cleaning the streets. Central Drive is the pits - it’s disgusting, so shabby and dirty. Also, shopping in the town centre is a nightmare with all the traffic.

Cyclists are flying round, plus there’s all the motorbikes, lorries, buses and cars. It is not safe to shop in Blackpool.

Name and address supplied.

Virus

Panic measure won’t work

Pubs must now close at 10pm, ostensibly to help stop the spread of the virus.

We have a reversion to Scottish licensing law from over 50 years ago when people speeded up their drinking with pints and whisky chasers as the witching hour approached before shutters down at 9.50pm and out on the street by 10pm – a recipe for getting drunk quickly.

So I really cannot see how this measure can achieve anything at all except to increase infections as tipsy people are all thrown together on the streets, trying to find taxis or find their way home, as opposed to a more graduated movement of people under normal licensing laws.

This is another ill-thought out panic measure from ministers and advisors completely out-of-touch with real life.

Peter Horton

Address supplied

Virus

Condemn rule-breakers

Society must condemn Covid rule-breakers.

Only society – you and me – can STOP this silent, unseen killer, the coronavirus.

When we see people flouting Covid-19 instructions, we must ALL show our disgust in a loud and positive way, there and then.

Our leaders have utterly failed to get through to these selfish and self-centred ‘Covid pushers’. Can society save itself? This is our problem!

Harvey Carter

Newton

Virus

Control panic buying in shops

Once again, as a complete lockdown looms, panic, or should I say selfish, buying has already started.

It should come as no surprise, especially to the supermarket managers.

Panic buying can only be controlled by placing a limit on the number of a particular item that can be purchased at any one time – for example a pack of nine toilet rolls is ample for a week’s shop, not a trolleyload full.

If there is no control, the items simply go off the shelves and stay unavailable, unless restocking can quickly be carried out by the supermarket, which is not always the case, as we saw last time.

And it is no good relying on people’s consideration for others.

This doesn’t even come into the equation.

Like it or not, selfishness is part of the make-up of most of us.

David Craggs

via email

Security

What about our safety?

It would seem security and safety is contracted out to non-government companies.

Surely the safety of UK citizens must be a prime responsibility of the party in power?

The more I learn of this Conservative Government, the less confidence I have in them.

To contract out essential services such as security is totally wrong.

I am afraid, Boris Johnson, your abilities as a leader are being severely eroded and your political leadership and future is looking extremely bleak.

PL Taylor

Address supplied