Latest clampdown is an enormous gamble
BACK in March, hopes were high that the worst of coronavirus would be behind us within months.
But this cruel disease continues to exert a malign hold on our daily lives.
The ban on indoor household visits brings with it the chilling prospect of another epidemic – this time of loneliness.
Campaigners warn up to 200,000 elderly Scots will be effectively cut off from the outside world. The frail and vulnerable are in danger of becoming the forgotten victims of the latest phase of grinding lockdown.
The effects of social isolation are wellknown – and the consequences for mental and physical health can be devastating.
And yet many of the rules underpinning these new curbs appear arbitrary.
The ‘rule of six’ cap on gatherings was described by one public health expert this week as ‘incomprehensible’ – a ‘magic number’, plucked from nowhere.
The rationale for a full nationwide application of the prohibition on indoor domestic visits, when Covid outbreaks are localised, is also, frankly, bewildering.
According to the latest updates yesterday, nearly 500 cases were recorded in 24 hours, the biggest single day’s tally since mass testing began. That’s concerning, but more than 200 were logged in the Greater Glasgow area, raising further questions over the need for a tightening of restrictions across Scotland.
On islands where the virus is at very low levels, the impact of the ban on household visits could be severe. South of the Border, local lockdown measures are in place based on Covid prevalence, which appears to be a more proportionate response.
Nicola Sturgeon has hinted pubs could be next for the closure list.
Indeed, if there were sufficient public funds, they may have been shut by now.
These are businesses that are just beginning to get back on their feet after the initial lockdown – while some have never reopened – and this week they were hit with profit-sapping curfews.
Closing them again would put the future of the industry in jeopardy.
And it would limit the number of meetingplaces during the freezing winter months.
The First Minister has warned against unnecessary personal interactions and mid-term foreign breaks – putting up to 30,000 jobs in the travel industry at risk.
Her approach has been characterised by extreme caution and that is understandable given the growing probability of a second spike. But it is a stance that could prove enormously counterproductive.
Not so long ago, Miss Sturgeon boasted of Scotland’s faster progress in suppressing Covid, compared to England.
Yet her much-trumpeted ‘elimination’ strategy, as laudable as it was, is clearly failing. With her latest Covid clampdown, she is taking an enormous gamble – one that we must fervently hope will pay off.