Follow the Covid guidelines and help keep us all safe - Colin Beattie

I hope that everyone has had a peaceful festive period. I am aware that unfortunately this year will not have kicked off with the positive start many people were hoping for due to another lockdown.

I am particularly concerned by the briefings regarding the new strain of the virus, and just how easily spread it is. I know that it is becoming increasingly difficult to follow restrictions, but if we don’t we risk putting ourselves and our NHS at a serious threat.

As the First Minister has said, we are in a race between the virus spreading and the vaccine rollout, and we need to give the vaccine a head start. We can only do this by following the rules. It’s hard, but we are all in this together. Let’s stick it out, get the vaccination rolled out, and save lives and our NHS.

If you are shielding and need advice you can phone [phone]. If you are feeling overwhelmed or isolated, you may want to call Samaritans on 116 123 or Breathing Space on 0800 83 85 87.

Following a particularly cold period I have had many enquiries about gritting and icy roads. If you have an enquiry about a badly affected area, then you can get in touch with the council to report this. There is also a map of where the grit bins are located on Midlothian Council’s website. With limited services this year due to staff working from home it is more important than ever that members of the community play their part where they can in gritting neighbourhood roads so that the council can main focused on critical routes such as roads around fire stations, hospitals, ambulance depots and local danger spots on roads with high traffic levels.

Colin Beattie is SNP MSP for Midlothian North and Musselburgh