Comment: Kirkcaldy care home deaths are devastating reminder of hellish virus

The news of so many deaths in one care home in Kirkcaldy is beyond distressing.

Six elderly people have passed away at Methven House after contracting coronavirus - and a further eight deaths which, due to a lack of testing were presumed to have been a result of Covid-19.

Fourteen loved ones lost in one home.

The impact on families, staff and owners has been devastating.

And if those stark, painful numbers don’t make you grasp why we are all in lockdown, why schools and shops are shut, why there are such imposing restrictions on our movements, then nothing will.

Methven House is one of many care homes in the frontline of this hellish virus.

Its own staff have diagnosed positive too, underlining the enormity of the task facing them every single shift as they care for loved ones who cannot be with their own families, even for short visits.

This is where social distancing has the most powerful, deeply personal impact.

The doors to care homes are closed.

You cannot sit at the bedside of a loved one and comfort them even in their final moments.

You cannot hear their voices, perhaps for the very last time.

And you cannot even attend their funerals such are the resrtictions on the number of mourners.

Behind every single statistic updated daily by our politicians there is a person, a family and people who care for them.

Their lives and their stories must be remembered and respected.

You can do that very simply by following the advice.

Talk of a gradual emergence from lockdown gives us all hope, but the responsibilty for a safe return to normality rests with us all.

Remember those who died in one care home in our town, and you will help to protect so many others.

While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you. In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you - wherever possible and providing it is safe for you to do so - to also please purchase a copy of our newspapers; the Fife Free Press, Fife Herald, St Andrews Citizen, East Fife Mail and Glenrothes Gazette.

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Thank you

Allan Crow, Editor, Fife Free Press