Trust is crucial to navigate our way through the infodemic - Laura Collins, YEP Editor

It was a sobering figure that made for incredibly uncomfortable reading over the weekend.

Health chiefs issued a stark warning that the number of patients in hospitals with Covid-19 has reached a record high in England.

Government figures showed a further 1,035 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Saturday, bringing the UK total to 80,868.

Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies for deaths where Covid-19 has been mentioned on the death certificate, together with additional data on deaths that have occurred in recent days, show there have now been 95,000 deaths involving Covid-19 in the UK.

And all this is without even looking specifically at the scale of what is happening right here in Leeds.

Behind each tragic statistic is a face, a name, a family and an unthinkable sense of grief as they deal with the personal impact of the pandemic.

We’re all human so it is easy to see why people can feel so overwhelmed by the sheer level of information that is being thrust into the spotlight.

And most important of all is how this vast sea of information is then interpreted as we try to make sense of what is happening around us.

Today marks 294 days since the country first went into lockdown and the Yorkshire Evening Post has dutifully reported on the scale of the crisis here in Leeds.

Every single day we have looked at the official information that is available to us to help inform our responsible reporting.

And transparency and trust is right at the heart of everything that we do.

We also are guided by you, our readers, to help offer constructive feedback to our editorial decisions.

Last week our team re-examined the way we report on the pandemic – especially when it comes to reporting the official statistics released by the Government.

We’ve seen your comments on social media. Put simply, you wanted more context at this worrying time rather than just being told whether or not there had been any deaths in Leeds.

Now we are looking at giving you more detailed information, from the number of people in our city’s hospitals fighting the virus right through to how many tests have been carried out.

We are giving you the links to where we obtain our information so you can also scrutinise it. There are, of course, limitations of what is available but I welcome constructive feedback to help guide our judgements.

Sadly we’re no strangers to abuse on social media, which is why we were compelled to launch our Call It Out campaign last year to tackle this issue.

There are still those who would rather tap out offensive comments than engaging in meaningful dialogue about how we can give readers the information they need at this unsettling time.

The key to this is being constructive.

We’re all feeling the strain of the impact coronavirus continues to have on our daily lives. As journalists, we can’t switch off in this infodemic and every day we try our very best to do right by our readers.

But please remember, don’t shoot the messenger.

A message from the Editor:

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