Care home visits to restart from the beginning of next month
Scots will be able to visit relatives in care homes from the beginning of March, according to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
Speaking at the Scottish Government daily briefing yesterday, Ms Sturgeon said she recognised that the “inability to visit loved ones” during the lockdown had been “a source of anxiety, distress, and real trauma”, but said she hoped the new rules would be a “really important move forward”.
From the start of March, new guidance will recommend that all care homes that are able to, should assign each resident with two designated visitors.
However, face coverings and “rigorous hygiene” rules will still be in place for any visits.
It comes as the First Minister confirmed that an additional 34 deaths occurred in care homes last week.
She said that, while it was not a “complete return to normal yet”, the change represented a “a big step back to a more normal way of life”.
Rural hotels have warned that phones have been ringing off the hook from customers looking to cancel bookings, amid uncertainty over the opening up of the tourism sector in Scotland. Meikle, owner of the five-room Moor of Rannoch Hotel near Pitlochry, said five customers had already contacted him this morning to cancel their bookings – while others had asked to move their breaks to later in the year.
Meanwhile, Gethin Chamberlain, owner at self-catered accommodation The Five Turrets in Selkirk, said he had taken his first cancellation while Nicola Sturgeon was still giving her speech in Parliament on Tuesday, when the First Minister unveiled her route map out of lockdown.
Ms Sturgeon said in the last week of April, Scotland could expect to see “a phased but significant” re-opening of the economy.
However, tourism businesses have warned uncertainty surrounding details of who will be able to travel and when
will leave them unable to guarantee bookings – compared to businesses in England, where Boris Johnson has set dates on lockdown easing.
Mr Meikle, who runs the hotel with his wife Steph, said: “We have had some guests cancelling already and some guests moving bookings to later this year. We also have a few group bookings in and our worry is that if the two household rule applies, they will also have to cancel.
"Our biggest issue is if we move back into the levels system with travel restrictions. Back in October, we took the
decision not to open up even when we were allowed. We were in level two, but a lot of our regular customers are from the central belt and they were in level three, so they couldn't travel. At the moment, no-one knows when people will be able to travel, even in Scotland.
"Even last week, we were getting quite a few new bookings, but now, with the uncertainty, it has just dried up.”
He added: "Usually, in May, June and July, around 60 per cent of our business comes from overseas, a lot of that is Dutch or German tourists Scott