AS an avid reader of The Press and especially the letters page I have recently noticed several correspondents claiming to know the effects of Covid-19.

As one of the first people to be hospitalised with this illness I wish to put the record straight. Undoubtedly, the younger your are, the less severe the symptoms, but I can assure you that the illness is nothing like flu.

I would gladly have flu every year rather than one dose of Covid.

It focuses your mind when the lead doctor stands at the end of your bed and asks you to sign your own "do not resuscitate" form.

Please bear in mind I was not on a ventilator even though the medical team said my lungs were crazed like a broken car windscreen.

What people went through who were on ventilators I dread to think and some of them will never fully recover.

Why anybody would risk a large family gathering just because it is Christmas is beyond me. After all it is only one day.

Why do people who have never experienced the horror of the illness always think they know better than the medical profession?

John Hilton,

Holgate Lodge Drive,

York