As doctors and nurses working in a rural holiday destination it has become apparent that the influx of holiday makers and second home owners to the area has increased significantly. This large increase is not typical of this time of year. This will be exacerbated further with the closure of schools and Easter  holidays upon us.

This early increase of people travelling to their second homes, camp sites, caravans is largely due to the circulation of Corona Virus. 

My concerns and the concerns shared by my colleagues are that movement if people around the country is increasing the rate at which the virus is spreading, going against the latest government advice. Free movement around the world and within countries has created a pandemic and unless this movement can be restricted immediately the rate of new confirmed cases will continue to grow exponentially. It is every single person's responsibility to 'flatten the curve' and give NHS workers the best chance of managing with increasingly unwell patients.

The second concern is that rural health care settings are not equipped to cope with these huge rises in populations. The number of beds, staff, resources and budgets are all based on our patient populations and permanent residents. 

At a time when our health care systems and staff are going to be pushed to their limits we urge you to really consider travelling to rural UK holiday  destinations (or anywhere within the UK) to an NHS that will already be under huge pressures to cope looking after and treating the local population.

Please stay where you are included in the patient population.

We are asking the government to impose restrictions on travel, the closing of camp and caravan sites, holiday parks and air Bnb's and to restrict travel to second homes until the  virus has abated. Thank you.

We are fast running out of time, predictions are that intensive care units and hospitals will be full to capacity in 2 weeks. Please sign this as soon as possible and let's see if our government can help keep you and its NHS staff safe.