‘Beware the deniers and the fantasists’

Speaking in the Assembly this week, Ms. Mc Laughlin said she felt obligated to share her concerns in relation to the increased spread of Covid-19 in Derry.

The SDLP MLA said: “Astonishingly, in the space of a few months, Derry went from having the lowest rate of infection across the whole of the United Kingdom to the very highest.”

Ms. Mc Laughlin was critical of the lack of an effective track and trace system, stressing that ‘it was important for the rest of the North, the rest of Ireland and the rest of the UK to understand what happened in Derry.’

In her comments, the SDLP MLA cited a number of reasons which she believed contributed to the spike in Covid-19 cases.

“There were house parties, dinner parties, birthday parties and first Holy Communions at which hosts and visitors were complacent,” she said.

Ms. Mc Laughlin also made the Assembly aware of an anti-mask rally held recently in Guildhall Square that was ‘well-attended.’

Health Minister Robin Swann was also critical of the anti-mask rally held in Derry.

He said: “There is one thing that I think everyone who attended that rally has in common with all of us; they expect the health service to be there for them.

“While they rail against it, while they attack the regulations, while they attack the guidance that is coming out from our scientific advisers and the heartfelt pleas from our nurses, our doctors and anybody in the health service who is asking people to follow the regulations, they still expect those people…to be there to make them better, should they contract COVID or anything else.”