MUM’S THE WORD
Mother’s Day boost as households can meet outside from Friday
FAMILIES were given a Mother’s Day boost yesterday when Nicola Sturgeon announced Covid restrictions would be loosened to allow socialising outdoors.
The First Minister revealed the partial easing of the rules ahead of schedule, saying she believed it would be safe at this stage – but she warned “caution” was the watchword.
From Friday, four adults from two households will be allowed to meet anywhere outdoors, including in private gardens.
And Sturgeon said the fightback against the virus looks “very encouraging indeed”, with a fall in the numbers of people dying, in hospital and becoming infected and a steady rise in the numbers vaccinated.
She said she had “deliberately prioritised changes which might improve our general wellbeing and quality of life without having too big an impact on infection rates”.
She said: “We realise that meeting up even outdoors, even in Scotland, can be hugely beneficial for our wellbeing so from Friday we intend to relax the law so that up to four adults from up to two households can meet up outdoors and we will make clear in the guidance that this can be for social and recreational purposes as well as exercise.
“Meeting will be possible in any outdoor space including private gardens. But you should only go indoors if it is essential to reach a back garden or to use a toilet.”
For youngsters aged 12-17, the rules were relaxed a bit further to allow them to meet in groups of four from up to four households.
They will be able to participate in non-contact sports and will be allowed to travel across local authority boundaries to participate.
There was also good news for adults missing the cameraderie of exercising with friends – from Friday outdoor non-contact sports and group exercise will resume for up to a maximum of 15 adults at a time.
Sturgeon said: “These are minor changes, I know that, but I do think they are important changes.
“They have also been made possible by the hard sacrifices the majority of people across the country have made and we will seek to build on them in the weeks ahead.”
The First Minister also relaxed one further rule to allow communal worship to resume from March 26 if there is “no deterioration in the situation with the virus before then”.
She said the date was chosen to
allow worship of Passover, Easter, Ramadan and Vaisakhi.
And places of worship big enough to allow two-metre distancing will be allowed a maximum of 50 in congregations.
Last night, the Rt Rev Dr Martin Fair, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, welcomed the announcement.
He said: “While some congregations will adopt a cautious approach regarding the re-opening of our buildings – and others won’t have the practical means to do so – everyone will be very glad at this news and will already be looking forward to how most appropriately to celebrate Easter 2021.”
Sturgeon admitted that some of the steps the Government was already taking to get children back to school could push the R number back above one.
The First Minister also reiterated that the virus can cause long-term harm, with Long Covid affecting many people who have never been hospitalised with the coronavirus.
And she added: “People in their 30s, 40s and 50s make up a sigificant proportion of those currently in hospital with Covid.” She added: “Even though we are heading firmly in the right direction just now we cannot afford to take our foot off the brake too soon.
“We still need to keep the virus under control if our hopes for a much more normal summer are not to suffer a setback.”
There were 466 positive cases in the previous 24 hours which is 3.3 per cent of those tested.
Currently 614 people are in hospital and of those 50 are in intensive care – both fewer than the day before. However, there were 19 deaths recorded.