Sturgeon signals shift away from more Covid lockdowns
●Change from ‘maximum suppression’ towards dealing with Covid more like flu virus
Nicola Sturgeon is starting to make a “change in direction” away from a “maximum suppression” strategy as the Scottish Government reacts to rising Covid-19 case numbers, a public health expert has said.
At a Scottish Government coronavirus briefing yesterday, the First Minister indicated the number of people in hospital and intensive care rather than case numbers alone would begin to dictate the public health response to the virus.
Ms Sturgeon said early data around the vaccine showed it may lower the likelihood of serious illness or death among those infected by Covid-19 as she indicated a potential move away from a“maximum suppression” strategy.
This could see the Scottish Government response of strict lockdowns or restrictions“evolve ”, ms sturgeon said, when case numbers rise in future.
The change in policy was described
by public health expert Professor Linda Bauld as “appropriate” as she predicted Scots would likely receive a Covid-19 vaccine alongside a flu vaccine in future years as the country learns to live with the virus.
The chair of public health at the Usher Institute at the University of Edinburgh said the Scottish Government’s change in narrative was “reasonable” as the pandemic continues to develop.
Speaking at the briefing, Ms Sturgeon offered “cautious optimism” that case numbers in Glasgow appeared to have stabilised over the weekend despite test positivity “creeping up”. The SNP leader said, however, that case numbers alone were no longer a good barometer of whether a region should consider harsh er measures due to a potential drop in the number of hospitalisations and intensive care admissions linked to the progress of the vaccination programme.
Indicating the Scottish Government may move away from its existing policy of“maximum suppression”, the First Minister said the signs were good that vaccination maybe lowering the risk of high case numbersnecessarily leading to high numbers of hospitalisations and death figures in Scottish hospitals.
Ms Sturgeon said the traditional response to Covid-19 case numbers rising of strict lockdowns and restrictions on hospitality and other activities may not continue, with the Scottish government planning to notre act“quite so aggressively” in future. She said :“Increasingly we are monitoring whether and to what extent vaccination might be breaking that link between rise in case numbers and significantly rising cases of serious illness and death.
"If that does prove to be the case – and we hope that it will – we hope that our response to this virus can increasingly evolve as well.
"While care will still be needed because there will always be people who require hospital treatment, it might mean that we don’t have to react quite so aggressively with tough restrictions in the face of rising case numbers.
"Instead we hope that we will be able to rely on enhanced public health interventions like testing and vaccination and, of course, on good public health practices on behalf of the public.
"This will be a key factor in our decision making in the coming days and indeed beyond that, both in relation to Glasgow, but also in relation to the country more generally.”
The First Minister said in the first day of the new registration system for 18 to 29-year-olds, a total of 22 per cent had registered for a Covid-19 vaccine.
In total, more than five million vaccine doses have now been administered in Scotland, with 3,138,366 first doses and 1,881,214 second doses.
This includes an additional 16,421 people who received their first dose of the vaccine on monday,while 29,035 scots were given their second dose.
Pushed on whether her comments meant the Scottish Government now favoured a policy of living with the virus rather than driving it to its lowest possible level, the First Minister said Scotland was at a point of transition.
She said :" I still think it is really important, taking everything into account, [that] we try to keep case rates as low as possible because the lower they are they less chance of transmission, the less chance of new variants developing, so that is important.
"But vaccination changes the game in some respects from last summer in how you deal with this.
"There’s got to be a point to us having a mass populationwide vaccination programme and that is it does allow us to change how we deal with this virus and deal with it in a way that has much less restriction on our day-to-day lives.
“We are in the position right now, we’re almost at what I would describe at a bit of a transition from how we were dealing with it to how we hope to be able to deal with it because we don’t yet know or understand the impact of vaccination as much as we want to, but I hope we can migrate to that.
"[it’s about] moving to a situationwhere we doge tour normal life and operation of our country back to something much closer to what we all want it to be like.”
Speaking to The Scotsman, Prof Bauld confirmed the Scottish Government had made a subtle change to its overall approach to Covid-19.
She said: “It is a change of direction. In an ideal world they would like maximum suppression still, but it is difficult to sustain a zero Covid approach when your narrative all the way through has been to save lives and protect thenhs. it is appropriate to change tact.
"We are going to find cases. I am not surprised, but it is the first time I have heard it articulated. There are similar statementsbeing made in many other developed countries. This is how we are going to live with it and I think that is reasonable.
"They are not rewriting any of their strategies. The narrative has had to shift because of the effectiveness of vaccines.
"If you are going to say to people ‘we still want to be testing’, they have got to recognise they are going to find cases, so it is the other indicators that become more important and that they are looking at.
"The question for me is ‘when do we get there?’ In Bolton, for example, there are a lot of people in hospital and they are very worried.”
Prof Bauld said caution was still key as the pandemic continues with particular attention to the demographics and numbers of those in hospital or in ICU.
The public health expert said the Scottish Government had a “duty” to protect individuals from serious illness.
Euro 2020 fan zone risks ‘breaching public trust’ in Scottish Government decisions
The Scottish Government’s decision to approve mass gatherings of thousands of fans in Glasgow at next month’s Euro 2020 football tournament risks undermining public trust in its pandemic messaging, Anas Sarwar has warned.
The Scottish Labour leader said the sign off of the fan zone in Glasgow Green – which will welcome up to 6,000 supporters a day – demonstrated inconsistencies around the government’s decision-making and messaging as it seeks to deal with a spate of infections in pockets of the city.
Mr Sarwar also said Scotland should not be asked to go into lockdown again, provided protocols are in place to swiftly deal with Covid-19 outbreaks in hotspot areas.
The government approved the plans for the fan zone on Monday. It will be open
Martyn Mclaughlin
for the 31 days of the tournament, which begins on June 11. The area will be ticketed and subject to physical distancing rules.
It comes as the seven-day average of new infections across Glasgow has risen to 137 per 100,000 people from 112 on Friday, despite the ongoing measures.
Mr Sarwar said while the fan zone was a welcome initiative, there was a need for a significant increase in testing and vaccinations in the city, as well as other hot-spots.
He said: “I think it highlights the inconsistency of the decision making and the inconsistency of the messaging that risks breaching public trust in the government’s decision making.
“I’m in favour of a fan zone during the Euros, but we only get to that point, and we can only have credibility in approving it, if we get Glasgow back on track and bring normality back to people’s lives. We’re not going to get there unless we have urgent action.”
The Scottish Licensed Trade Association said the launch of the Glasgow Green fan zone “adds insult to injury” while hospitality premises in the city remained “in limbo”.
SLTA media spokesman Paul Waterson said: “That the situation is looking more positive is, of course, to be welcomed, particularly if the First Minister announces on Friday that Glasgow can move into level two.
“But there is intense anger among licensed hospitality trade operators in the city that 6,000 people are to be permitted to converge on Glasgow Green and buy alcohol in what we understand will be tented areas when many pubs that have followed the guidelines and invested in all the tools to stop the spread of the virus and operate in a safe and controlled environment are sitting shut.
“I cannot underestimate the level of rage there is about this – my phone has been ringing off the hook with publicans asking me to explain why this is allowed to happen when they are languishing in limbo.
"Can’t the government and Glasgow City Council see that this is adding insult to injury? People are understandably upset.”
Criticising the “timidity” of government action, Mr Sarwar said a ramping up of testing capacity and vaccinations, allied with “ready made protocols” designed to address future local outbreaks, would prevent people being asked to return to lockdown.