Early re-opening of pubs, restaurants and hotels could prove to be fatal mistake
It seems extraordinary that the First Minister has repeatedly stated at her daily press briefings that she will gradually move the country out of lockdown, ensuring that any easing is measured and controlled, being conditional on the R number being kept low and cases continuing to decline, then suddenly Fergus Ewing announces pubs, restaurants and hotels will be back open in a month. This is actually bewildering.
What is even more offensive is that it comes two days after the First Minister announced an extension to the period of self-isolation for those in the shielded group, and said that they “will not be forgotten”. It seems it took her two whole days to forget.
The hospitality sector started making a lot of noise and suddenly the government jumps to attention and starts prioritising young people who want to go out revelling.
The Scottish Government are recorded quite clearly supporting the continued opening of social venues in March, which as we have learned was responsible for doubling the death toll. That means 2,000 people died unnecessarily because they prioritised people’s right to socialise over the lives of the elderly and vulnerable. Now it seems they want to pander again to publicans and hoteliers, who are more than happy to threaten staff redundancies if they don’t get their way.
I think this announcement is a disgraceful slap in the face for those shielding who have to stay in all the time, and is also an abject betrayal of promises made. How do you think these vulnerable people will feel, knowing young people are getting drunk, losing their inhibitions, ignoring social distancing and spreading a virus that can endanger the vulnerable’s lives?
As was seen after the VE Day street parties in England, after which many health boards recorded a spike in virus cases, this is exactly what will happen in Scotland. In fact, I suspect that it will be worse, given the behaviour of many young people in Scotland’s nightspots in the week leading up to lockdown, when the disregard for any hygiene rules was astonishing.
This attitude goes across the board, as was seen when the First Minister was comprehensively ignored by thousands of protesters in Glasgow and Edinburgh last week after appealing for them not to attend mass gatherings due to social distancing restrictions.
Maybe the SNP think that we are the same as Ireland, but it seems that they had less than a third of our deaths with the same population and they maintained one of the best track and trace programmes in Europe right through from late February till the present time. Even despite these differences they are probably still being too hasty, giving in to the politically powerful leisure sector in Ireland.
The basic truth is that alcohol and social distancing are non-compatible. The UK government have backtracked on the opening of schools before summer, realising they were incorrect. Let us hope the Scottish Government do the same with this terrible announcement.
M TERRY Rait Loan, Nairn