DON’T EXPECT A ‘ NORMAL CHRISTMAS’
First Minister urges people to stick to the rules now
THERE will most likely be restrictions on numbers allowed in people’s homes at Christmas, Nicola Sturgeon has said.
The First Minister said no country in the world will have a normal Christmas and limits on household gatherings were to be expected.
She said she wanted to be “frank” with people and not give “false assurances” now then change her tune later.
The First Minister was responding after Jason Leitch, National Clinical Director, said that a normal Christmas was “fiction” and people should prepare for a “digital Christmas”.
She said: “This is really tough stuff. I’ve seen Jason Leitch’s comments. He’s trying to be frank with people. Not rule things out but not give false assurance.”
Ms Sturgeon said that action now to drive down the rate of virus can help come Christmas.
She said: “I want us to be able to celebrate Christmas as normal as is possible in a global pandemic.
“The more we stick with rules now, the more we can do that.”
She said the government was trying to deal with increases now to give the best chance of greater normality at Christmas.
Ms Sturgeon said: “Christmas this year, for no country is going to be absolutely normal with no restrictions.
“We are unlikely to be able to celebrate Christmas with no limits on people in our houses.
“If Christmas day was tomorrow it would be pretty harsh but it’s not tomorrow.”
Ms Sturgeon urged people to work together now to get the virus numbers down.
She added: “The worse thing we could do is tell people what they want to hear and then worry about changing course later.”
The First Minister said while they were not as high as at the height of the pandemic in the spring, the number of people in hospital and those in intensive care was rising and that those in hospital are those who were infected weeks ago, meaning there is a lag in increased positive cases translating into hospital and intensive care patients.
She said: “We have to act to stop this spreading.”
Ms Sturgeon added: “Some of the really tough, additional things that government is deciding on right now – restrictions on hospitality for example – and any other restrictions we feel necessary to put in place will also be in part about trying to deal decisively with an upsurge in the virus now so we give ourselves the best chance of greater normality at Christmas.”
The daily report showed there were 1712 new cases in Scotland. Of that, 584 were in Greater Glasgow and Clyde.
There were 928 in hospital, up 55 and 74 in intensive care, up by one and another 17 deaths have been registered. The R number, the rate at which one person infects others, is estimated at as high as 1.5.
Earlier Professor Leitch had advised to prepare for a “digital Christmas”, warning large family gatherings will be “fiction” this year.
He also said he is hopeful that by sticking to tough restrictions now “some form of normality” could be achieved over Christmas.
He told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “Christmas is not going to be normal, there is absolutely no question about that.
“We’re not going to have large family groupings with multiple families around, that is fiction for this year.
“I am hopeful, if we can get the numbers down to a certain level, we may be able to get some form of normality.
“People should get their digital Christmas ready.”
Meanwhile, Ms Sturgeon says she will provide guidance on guising and Hallowe’en this weekend.
Ms Sturgeon said that she “hates” having to tell children they can’t go guising.
But she added: “I can’t tell you how much I hate standing here telling kids not to go out guising, but we are in a global pandemic. We will put out official guidance over the weekend. It’s not safe right now. To parents and children, think of ways to celebrate Hallowe’en that doesn’t have children coming into contact with others.”