Rangers march ‘low risk’ claims medical professor
THERE is little risk in a planned march of Rangers fans from Ibrox to George Square at the weekend, according to a top public health expert.
Professor Hugh Pennington thinks there is nothing to worry about in terms of increasing Covid infections as a result of fans taking to the streets as their club lifts the trophy on Saturday.
“You can’t say that it is no-risk,” said the emeritus professor of bacteriology at Aberdeen University. “But it is very low-risk.
“As long as it’s properly managed and there isn’t a lot of hugging it should be okay.
“The number of cases in Glasgow is really quite low, the risk of transmission is 15 times less than it is inside.
“The risk is what they do before the walk and what they do afterwards, the walk itself will be trivial in terms of infection transmission.”
Outdoor gatherings remain banned under strict rules intended to curb the spread of Covid-19.
The virus is an airborne disease, more easily shared among people indoors.
“We should probably just hope for the best and hope that it’s windy because that blows the virus away,” said Pennington.
“It’s really when people’s faces get close to other people’s faces that you get the real risk of transmission. But most of them won’t be carrying the virus anyway because the cases are so low.
“I wouldn’t say that it’s dangerous at all. With the virus numbers what they are at the moment, I wouldn’t see this as a high-risk exercise.”
It will be a huge day for Rangers fans as they lift their first Scottish Premiership trophy in 10 years.
Union Bears, the club’s squad of ultra-supporters, has organised the walk from the club’s stadium to the city centre to celebrate the event.
But Glasgow’s top cop fired fans a warning earlier this week.
Chief Superintendent Mark Sutherland reminded organisers that the plans were against the law and warned fans against going along for the party.
He said: “Under the current restrictions no-one should be gathering in numbers of more than six at the stadium or any other location and Police Scotland supports the club in urging its fans to do the right thing and follow the coronavirus regulations around gatherings.”
The city’s top brass have a policing plan in place to “minimise any disruption added.
We told previously how Rangers FC urged fans not to gather, a move welcomed by the Scottish Government, which blasted the plans as “irresponsible”.
A spokesman for Scottish ministers said: “At this crucial stage of suppressing the virus, groups of people gathering together for whatever purpose jeopardises public safety and we strongly urge Rangers fans wishing to celebrate to do so responsibly, and in line with the restrictions in place.”
There was a small increase in cases and test positivity in the 10 days after Rangers fans gathered in the city centre on March 7 but this coincides with the time school pupils went back to school.
The local health board was not able to say whether the gathering resulted in a spike in infections due to the difficulty in finding exactly where infections occurred. Deaths continued to fall for the rest of the month and have been in decline since. to the community”, he