Coronavirus is bringing out the best – and very worst in us

The prism of a major crisis definitely reveals the full spectrum of people’s attitudes and behaviour – and the current coronavirus situation is no different.

On the one hand, hard times bring out our community spirit, the chance to help complete strangers and show the best parts of our nature.

This is certainly true today, with neighbours looking out for the elderly and traders offering to make up free food parcels for those on benefits and worried about self isolating.

Sadly, it also brings out the worst in us.

It is blatant in the greed and selfishness demonstrated by those who pile high their shopping trollies with toilet rolls and hand-wash – with no thought for the consequences of their actions on the rest of us.

The brainless few who resort to panic buying – despite all the advice to the contrary – and so actually create a problem where none existed.

It’s the same for those people who have emptied pharmacy shelves of pain-killers, just in case the shops might run out at some vague point in the future – without a second thought for those with chronic conditions who actually need those medicines right now.

We hit a new low in Chesterfield yesterday, though, with reports that visitors to the Royal hospital have been stealing hand sanitising gel.

The selfishness is as breath-taking as the stupidity of those who would put at risk the most vulnerable – those already hospitalised and potentially at risk of infection.

It also threatens the health of the people we desperately need most right now – the hard-working members of our National Health Service who are on the frontline of the battle to protect us from coronavirus.

Theft is never acceptable, but stealing from a patient’s bedside table, as has happened at the Royal, is about as low as you can go.

Personally, I have never believed in the idea of karma – and I certainly would never wish coronavirus on anyone – but you have to wonder if the people who did this might end up regreting it

Let’s hope their actions don’t come back to haunt them – or the rest of us.