GW Burnet (letters, October 8) writes of an “invasion” of school pupils at Musselburgh Tesco at lunchtimes, with retorts included from Musselburgh Grammar School and Tesco.

My reading of this is quite different.

It is increasingly obvious young people in East Lothian and across the country now bear the brunt of coronavirus restrictions.

Whether it be school pupils having their 2020 education cut short, the initial mad plan for part-time schooling by the Scottish Government, university students effectively imprisoned in halls, or the toddlers surrounded by bemasked adults at the most crucial stage of their development when face recognition means everything, the fact is coronavirus has an extremely limited effect on young people but the measures to counter it have been hugely damaging.

Not one person under 30 has died in Scotland from this disease, yet school pupils and young people are constantly the subject of complaints for supposed reckless behaviour.

I have great sympathy for the elderly, chronically fat or others with life-limiting health conditions.

I’m not sure anyone would want to be in their shoes right now, nor would I fancy spending my life entirely indoors until a vaccine is found.

Whilst the work continues to manufacture the vaccine, however, a lot more empathy and thankfulness ought to be forthcoming from certain members of the public who are having their bacon saved every day by children, students and people of working age, whose own future and economic prospects are in greater peril now than ever before.

Fraser Hudghton

South Crescent

East Saltoun