Want a Covid test? See you in Scotland!

SO people from Salisbury are being advised to take the high road to Scotland to get a Covid test.

It would make a great 'Chance' card for the new Salisbury Monopoly set, wouldn't it? 'You are feeling poorly. Go directly to Inverness. Do not pass Go. Do not collect £200.'

It’s increasingly obvious to me that we’re being led by a bunch of jokers, but this isn’t really funny.

It doesn’t matter how many times Smirker-In-Chief Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, Matt Hancock and their cronies pop up on our TV screens protesting that their ‘world-beating’ system’s working pretty well on the whole.

That simply isn’t borne out by the reported experiences of far too many members of the public.

I genuinely do not understand how, with the constant flip-flopping of advice about where we can go, with whom, and under what circumstances, this particular bunch of politicians can expect to be taken seriously.

The basic public health message, on the other hand – which is to be ultra-cautious, stay home a lot, wash your hands a lot more, then cross your fingers and hope it’s not your turn - does need to be taken seriously.

But with no end to the pandemic in sight, plenty of otherwise sane Brits simply don’t follow it any more.

Because they’re told it’s OK to head to sunnier climes for a holiday. Having forked out on air fares and hotels they’re suddenly told it’s desperately important to come back RIGHT THIS MINUTE and pay through the nose for new plane tickets. They get home from these ‘danger zones’, and they’re not even Covid-tested.

These rules can only be made by leaders who’ve forgotten or never known what it’s like to have to save up all year for anything.

Back in Blighty, people are urged to get back to work if they've still got any, and ‘eat out to help out', then ticked off for socialising too much, or in the wrong way.

I feel so sorry for our young people, their lives stuck on hold, being blamed for trying to have fun. I know some of them push the boundaries, but even us oldies can’t all stay indoors all the time. It’s getting very boring.

And it’s no use the Health Secretary complaining that testing capacity is being used up by people who aren’t showing symptoms when we know that many carriers are symptomless.

How are we supposed to know if we’ve got it, or if we’ve had it, when no one can find out unless they’re visibly extremely unwell? Do we want to risk passing it on unwittingly? No, we very rightly don’t!

I had a nasty flu-type bug in early March and took longer than usual to get back to normal, experiencing other health issues. But I have no idea whether Covid was to blame. There wasn’t a testing option.

It’s not actually irresponsible to seek information about your own wellbeing. It’s just inconvenient for a government that has totally failed to step up to the plate and make adequate provision.