AS WE enter the second peak of coronavirus the hospitals are starting to fill up with those most seriously unwell from Covid-19. Deaths are on the rise and NHS staff are bracing themselves to endure punishing working conditions once again. Many of these health workers are GMB members and they are expressing their concerns to us via our digital forums.

We are hearing that many more people in this country will die unnecessarily and end up permanently disabled with the syndrome called “long Covid.”

During periods of change and upheaval, agents of chaos like Nigel Farage are permitted to have a voice on the national stage to warp the narrative in favour of the ruling class who have been divided and fighting amongst themselves over their coronavirus strategy.

Farage plays a role to deepen divisions amongst working-class people in our society to take the spotlight off the true fight that we should all be having with a government that cares far more about protecting profit than human beings.

GMB members working to save lives in our hospitals will never accept the right-wing line that personal freedoms are more important than the health of the nation as a deadly, disabling virus rips through the population and neither should the rest of us. Now is a chance to call out and expose the dangerous and selfish narratives of rightwingers like Farage and the anti-maskers for what they truly are.

It is important for us to remember that every concession prised out of the hands of this Tory government, including the extension to the furlough scheme, has been won through the pressure put on via united action by trade union members and community groups.

It is simply staggering that testing programmes are still failing to deliver and even health workers who are at highest risk of being exposed to Covid-19 are not benefiting from regular testing. Testimony is emerging that people who know they have had contact with someone with the virus are being missed by the failing trace and contact system.

Demands are growing for the test, track and trace system to be handed over to the public sector and it must be difficult for anyone to understand why a transfer has not happened yet. Anyone would think that public health is a lesser priority than the profits of Serco and Deloitte and others involved in the test, track and trace fiasco.

GMB members are complaining that their NHS employers are insisting the back office staff come into work because concerns about failing performance targets are taking precedence over the risks of transmitting the virus further.

We are hearing that hospitals are allowing visitors to come right into the heart of the Covid-19 petri dish because the view of NHS leaders is that “harm is being caused” to patients by a lack of visitation rights.

In this era of Covid-19 risk assessments that save lives should not be viewed as an onerous task but unfortunately GMB reps are coming under immense pressure while raising vital concerns around the heath and safety of themselves and their patients.

Union members in too many hospitals up and down the country are complaining that there is little in the way of clear advice and guidance for staff being exposed to coronavirus or what clinically vulnerable staff should be doing in the present period and this is even worse for outsourced hospital workers.

The issue of the very low levels of statutory sick pay that will prevent some NHS workers isolating or shielding remains unresolved. It is wholly unacceptable that the GMB is still having to campaign for full contractual sick pay for hospital workers when we have already brought this issue right into the heart of government two years ago.

It is also a reflection of how broken and ineffective our political system has become when such a grave issue as the human right to full contractual sick pay for all workers can be so easily ignored. The choice our members face between “go into work or stay at home and starve” ensures that Covid-19 will be spread unnecessarily throughout the population.

All of the evidence suggests that the virus is growing as some in this country are urged on to develop an increased sense of confidence in their own personal invincibility by the false narratives of the right-wing anti-mask movement and some employers.

Too many workplaces that could close and reduce the “R rate” remain open and too many people are being encouraged or even instructed to go into work, school and colleges when they could and should work from home.

The health of the nation is on the line and GMB members are in work delivering essential services and facing all of the risks. The risk of rising disability, rising deaths and repeated crippling lockdowns are what we all face if we allow a business-as-usual attitude to prevail during this period of national lockdown.