People with 'underlying conditions' are being treated as expendable. But our lives matter

Summary

In a blog published in the Guardian, Kathryn Hearn says the UK government’s treatment of the coronavirus outbreak has in effect written off all of us with health issues.

The language used by officials describing the spiralling scenarios risks dehumanising us, and makes us feel we no longer matter, Kathryn explains.

NHS England’s latest report on the health of the nation acknowledged that 43% of adults – that’s nearly 20 million people – ­­­are living with at least one long-term health condition. Although not all of those would be directly in danger from Covid-19, there’s still a major section of our society who will be. You’ll know somebody, for sure.

Until Monday’s U-turn, the UK government’s policy was to manage rather than to contain the virus - which would have allowed close to a quarter of a million people to die. Allowing Covid-19 to spread throughout the population in the hope of building some “herd immunity” among the youngest, fittest and healthiest "felt irresponsible at best, and callous at worst".