English: Diolch, Llywydd. Plaid Cymru wants extra support for communities that have been disproportionately hit by COVID. The areas with the highest rates of COVID cases are Merthyr, Neath Port Talbot, Rhondda Cynon Taf and Blaenau Gwent. The figures for Blaenau Gwent, Rhondda Cynon Taf and Merthyr have been higher than Liverpool's, which has benefited from extra support and priority for new technologies. This is nothing to do with Valleys culture, as some have claimed, but everything to do with poverty and low pay, poor, overcrowded housing, patterns of employment that mean fewer people can work from home, the dysfunctional social security system that doesn't support people in all cases to isolate, and a reliance upon family members and friends for childcare. So, before stereotyping, it would be helpful if people could understand these relevant facts. It's undoubtedly good news that the firebreak seems to have had a positive impact on cases. Government should be making it as easy as possible for people to isolate. We must do all that we can to protect the most vulnerable, and we must also, as taxpayers, be prepared to support those who put everything at risk to help us all, and those are the front-line workers. And on that note, a small gesture of support that would be very welcome would be if Government agreed to pay for the funerals of all front-line workers who die of COVID. It's not right that their families should have to worry about finances at a time of grief. We have to recognise this and support them. It's time now that we accept that schools are playing a higher role in transmission than was initially thought. The ONS modelling and data suggests that children are more likely to be the first case in a household. Children and young people are likely to be asymptomatic spreaders. Far more thought needs to be given as to how to control transmission in schools. There has to be regular mass testing to identify asymptomatic cases, and there must be additional support to recognise the difficulties in digital learning that are faced by families trying to combine childcare and teaching their children with full-time employment. Coming back to testing, in September, the Welsh Government promised that 'every school in Wales has been provided with testing kits. The rapid deployment of testing by NHS Wales will also support individual schools, where needed.' What has happened to that? There is still no mass testing to keep schools safe and open. Teachers are complaining to me about the mental pressure that comes with having little communication from Government over the plan, or lack of a plan, to cancel the exams. Wouldn't it be a great idea to have a plan before we had the announcement? But teachers also feel unsafe. One said recently, 'I'm terrified of going to work, not knowing if people are asymptomatic. The stress is making me physically ill'. Teachers deserve better than this. Furthermore, given that households are one of the main transmission routes, especially in areas where overcrowding is an issue, Plaid Cymru believes that the time has come for the Government to establish separate isolation facilities for adults. Such facilities have been used in South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Italy, Finland and many other countries with a much better record of suppressing the virus. Not only would such places offer a safe space for people to ride out a mild illness without spreading it to older or more vulnerable relatives who live with them, it would also offer the opportunity to monitor people and intervene earlier when they deteriorate. This early intervention is so important, and the existence of these facilities partly explains why Singapore has the lowest case fatality rate in the world, at 0.05 per cent. There are many other interventions that we need in areas with high COVID prevalence. We need to do much more to protect those who are clinically extremely vulnerable, and we need to do much more on the financial side of all of this, both for individuals and for businesses. We must have a change in approach that recognises that the pandemic and the responses to the pandemic are being experienced differently and in a different way that reflects existing inequalities. It is no accident that high COVID rates mirror high deprivation rates, and the Government response must take better account of that.
Welsh: Diolch, Lywydd. Mae Plaid Cymru am gael cymorth ychwanegol i gymunedau sydd wedi cael eu taro'n anghymesur gan COVID. Yr ardaloedd sydd â'r cyfraddau uchaf o achosion COVID yw Merthyr, Castell-nedd Port Talbot, Rhondda Cynon Taf a Blaenau Gwent. Mae'r ffigurau ar gyfer Blaenau Gwent, Rhondda Cynon Taf a Merthyr wedi bod yn uwch na ffigurau Lerpwl, sydd wedi elwa ar gymorth a blaenoriaeth ychwanegol ar gyfer technolegau newydd. Nid oes a wnelo hyn ddim â diwylliant y Cymoedd, fel y mae rhai wedi honni, a phopeth i'w wneud â thlodi a chyflogau isel, tai gwael, gorlawn, patrymau cyflogaeth sy'n golygu y gall llai o bobl weithio gartref, y system nawdd cymdeithasol gamweithredol nad yw'n cynorthwyo pobl ym mhob achos i hunanynysu, a dibyniaeth ar aelodau o'r teulu a ffrindiau ar gyfer gofal plant. Felly, cyn stereoteipio, byddai'n ddefnyddiol pe gallai pobl ddeall y ffeithiau perthnasol hyn. Mae'n sicr yn newyddion da ei bod yn ymddangos bod y cyfnod atal byr wedi cael effaith gadarnhaol ar achosion. Dylai'r Llywodraeth fod yn ei gwneud mor hawdd â phosibl i bobl ynysu. Rhaid inni wneud popeth yn ein gallu i ddiogelu'r bobl fwyaf agored i niwed, a rhaid inni hefyd, fel trethdalwyr, fod yn barod i gefnogi'r rheini sy'n peryglu popeth i'n helpu ni i gyd, sef y gweithwyr rheng flaen. Ac ar y nodyn hwnnw, un arwydd bach o gefnogaeth a fyddai i'w groesawu'n fawr fyddai pe bai'r Llywodraeth yn cytuno i dalu am angladdau pob gweithiwr rheng flaen sy'n marw o COVID. Nid yw'n iawn fod eu teuluoedd yn gorfod poeni am gyllid ar adeg o alar. Rhaid inni gydnabod hyn a'u cefnogi. Mae'n bryd inni dderbyn nawr fod ysgolion yn chwarae rhan fwy yn y broses o drosglwyddo'r haint nag y credwyd i ddechrau. Mae modelu a data'r swyddfa ystadegau gwladol yn awgrymu bod plant yn fwy tebygol o fod yn achos cyntaf mewn cartref. Mae plant a phobl ifanc yn debygol o fod yn lledaenwyr asymptomatig. Mae angen rhoi llawer mwy o ystyriaeth i sut i reoli trosglwyddiad mewn ysgolion. Rhaid cael profion torfol rheolaidd i nodi achosion asymptomatig, a rhaid cael cymorth ychwanegol i gydnabod yr anawsterau gyda dysgu digidol sy'n wynebu teuluoedd sy'n ceisio cyfuno gofal plant ac addysgu eu plant â chyflogaeth amser llawn. I ddod yn ôl at brofi, ym mis Medi, addawodd Llywodraeth Cymru 'Mae pob ysgol yng Nghymru wedi derbyn pecynnau profi. Hefyd o gymorth i ysgolion unigol lle bo'r angen fydd profi cyflym gan Wasanaeth Iechyd Cymru.' Beth sydd wedi digwydd i hynny? Nid oes profion torfol o hyd i gadw ysgolion yn ddiogel ac ar agor. Mae athrawon yn cwyno wrthyf am y pwysau meddyliol sy'n deillio o gael ond ychydig o gyfathrebiadau gan y Llywodraeth ynglŷn â'r cynllun, neu'r diffyg cynllun, i ganslo'r arholiadau. Oni fyddai'n syniad gwych cael cynllun cyn i ni gael y cyhoeddiad? Ond mae athrawon hefyd yn teimlo'n anniogel. Dywedodd un yn ddiweddar, 'Rwy'n arswydo rhag mynd i'r gwaith, heb wybod a yw pobl yn asymptomatig. Mae'r straen yn fy ngwneud i'n gorfforol sâl'. Mae athrawon yn haeddu gwell na hyn. At hynny, o gofio mai aelwydydd yw un o'r prif lwybrau trosglwyddo, yn enwedig mewn ardaloedd lle mae tai gorlawn yn broblem, cred Plaid Cymru fod yr amser wedi dod i'r Llywodraeth sefydlu cyfleusterau ynysu ar wahân i oedolion. Defnyddiwyd cyfleusterau o'r fath yn Ne Korea, Singapôr, Taiwan, yr Eidal, y Ffindir a llawer o wledydd eraill sydd â hanes gwell o lawer o atal y feirws. Byddai lleoedd o'r fath nid yn unig yn cynnig lle diogel i bobl ddod dros salwch ysgafn heb ei ledaenu i berthnasau hŷn neu fwy agored i niwed sy'n byw gyda hwy, byddai hefyd yn cynnig cyfle i fonitro pobl ac ymyrryd yn gynharach pan fyddant yn dirywio. Mae'r ymyrraeth gynnar hon mor bwysig, a bodolaeth y cyfleusterau hyn sy'n esbonio'n rhannol pam mai Singapôr sydd â'r gyfradd farwolaethau isaf yn y byd, ar 0.05 y cant. Rydym angen llawer o ymyriadau eraill yn yr ardaloedd sydd â chyfradd uchel o achosion o COVID. Mae angen inni wneud llawer mwy i ddiogelu'r rheini sy'n agored iawn i niwed yn glinigol, ac mae angen inni wneud llawer mwy ar ochr ariannol hyn i gyd, i unigolion ac i fusnesau. Rhaid inni gael newid yn y dull o weithredu i gydnabod bod y pandemig a'r ymatebion i'r pandemig yn cael eu profi'n wahanol ac mewn ffordd wahanol sy'n adlewyrchu anghydraddoldebau presennol. Nid damwain yw bod cyfraddau uchel o COVID yn adlewyrchu cyfraddau amddifadedd uchel, a rhaid i ymateb y Llywodraeth roi gwell ystyriaeth i hynny.