Pat Nevin has spoken with emotion and clarity on what it is like to have a family member working in the NHS during the battle with coronavirus.

The world is coming to terms with the outbreak of COVID-19, with the estimations of those affected reaching mind-boggling figures.

But it was a personal tale that Nevin recanted and it gives relative hope in a bleak time. Discussion had turned to the financial implications for football clubs with what is a likely extended period without any sport at all.

"It just so happens that my daughter... this is her first year ever as a doctor. She just qualified last year. She is working in a hospital.

"That hospital is the hub for the virus in Scotland. She is an FY1, so she will be the first person that sees everybody. Basically, cannon fodder.

"As a doctor, you need to do it. So I am listening to what she's doing - with 90 hour weeks and everything - and it is absolute mayhem.

"I am not dismissing the fears and the worries about [football finances], but the wider stuff is absolutely incredible."

NHS heroics

As to how father and daughter manage a frankly-unspeakable situation, Nevin was in usual equanimous humour.

"We talk. You are intelligent about it, and you are sensible. For the vast majority of young people, it is not an especially bad virus.

"It is not one that becomes lethal [for most young people], it is one that you deal with.

"The odds are still stacked in your favour, massively. You get that on board.

"Going through some stats and the amount of people that have been killed - maybe 6,000 so far - 17,000 die in the UK from flu every year. Get the numbers right, for the moment - it is going to get bigger, but let us not get too panic-stricken about it.

"My daughter said 'I hope I get this quickly' and she will get it quickly. She needs it so that she can get over it quickly, get back to work and get on.

"That is the attitude of the vast majority of medics take because the vast majority of them are going to get it. That is how you put it back in place.

"The people I am really worried about are the aged aunts who have asthma, high blood pressure or underlying health problems.

"That is the fear. That is the reality that you have. Anyone who has elderly relatives out there, keep your distance and do all the right things for them."

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