Mask rules for residents in care homes spark anger
●‘It is where they live’ – families hit out at Scottish Government guidance
Families of people in care homes have demanded clarification from the Scottish Government in the wake of “inconceivable” new guidance on mask-wearing.
The latest advice from the Governmentstates that residents should wear a disposable face mask in communal spaces, unless they are exempt.
But relatives have said they “cannot believe it ”, as the measure would be distressing to residents and communal areas are still part of their“own homes ”.
Cat hie russell, whose mother lives in a care home in glasgow, said the elderly woman found it difficult to wear am ask on the occasions when it has been necessary, including when visiting hospital .“It just feels odd, she just pull sit up on her face,” she said. "These are people's homes, they're not a temporary place where they go, this is where they live. You're basically condemning these people tone verse ea human face, because the staff always wear masks, and relatives have to wear masks, and now even [residents] have to wear masks, they can’t even see each other. We’re really quite concerned about it.”
People with dementia have been excluded from mask-wearing requirements in some settings, but it is not clear if that will be the case in care homes.
Sheila Hall, whose Glasgow-based mother does not have dementia, said if there was an exemption then those wearing masks would be in the minority, and feel discriminated against because of this.
She said: "My mum doesn't have dementia, but she’s 96. Why should she have to sit waiting a mask in the communal room? for her dignity, why should she wear it in her own home? I don't think it's fair to discriminate.”
Scottish Care, a representative
Covid cases in children are now at the highest level they have ever been during the coronavirus outbreak, the latest figures have shown.
A total of 1,064 children aged between zero and 14 recorded a positive Covid test in the week to june 7, according to the latest figures from public health scotland. The figure is four times higher than it was in early May.
Earlier this week, Dr Deepti Gurdasani, senior lecturer in epidemiology at Queen Margaret University London, told The scots man that data showed school children were driving the epidemic in Scotland and called for urgent mitigation measures in schools.
She said on Wednesday the latest figures were an “entirely predictable consequence” of government policy on managing Covid in schools and warned the figures were likely to be underestimates.
Provisional figures indicate 15,687 pupils were absent for Covid-related reasons at the end of last week, with overall attendance dropping to 87.8 percent – the lowest percentage since pupils returned after Easter.
The Scottish Government has previously pointed out that a large percentage of those children were absent due to the need to self isolate, rather than that they are actually suffering from Covid-19.
Dr Gurdasani said: “This is an entirely predictablethe spread of the delta variant and lack of mitigations within schools. Importantly, even the numbers we're seeing among school-age children are likely under estimates, given these are based on childrenand children are much more likely to not have symptoms of infection.
"We saw clear rises in infection rates even ahead of Easter in the ONS [Office for National Statistics] data, so the impact of school opening sand closure on infection rates is clear and consistent across the UK.
"We should be very concerned, given the known risk of long covid, and be cautious also given reports from other countries that children may be more affected by this new variant.”
The ONS stopped releasing data on surveillance of infection by age in scotland following the Easter holidays.
Dr Gurdasani added: "While vaccines in adolescents are certainly welcome, given the rapid rises in case numbers, the risk to children, their families, and educational disruption, it's important to take urgent mitigatory measures in schools alongside planning for vaccination.
"These should include masks both in primaries and secondaries, attention to ventilation with monitoring and supplementation, where needed.
"[There should be] small class sizes and limited bubbles, minimising movement between these, moving classes and physical ed outside where possible.
"Schools should be supported with this adequately. It's vitally important we don' t expose children to a new highly transmissible variant, the properties of which are not yet understood.”
Of the daily case numbers recorded in Scotland, around a quarter are in children aged under 15. However, when the size of the population in each age groups is factored in, it is clear that infection rates are considerably higher among young adults and older teenagers.
On June 7, the weekly case rate among people in their early 20s was 277.2 per 100,000, while older teenagers had the second highest rate, at 228.4 and for younger children it was 122.9.A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Covid-19 cases in schools remain low. The current rate of absence for Covid- related reasons amongst pupils is around 2 per cent. The vast majority of these – about 85 per cent - are pupils who are isolating, rather than being off because they have a covid- related sickness.
“We continue to closely monitor the situation in schools and work with partners to ensure guidance reflects the latest scientific evidence and advice. We have confidence on the decisions made on managing local out breaks by local public health teams in partnership with schools and local authorities.”
Meanwhile, overall, Scotland has recorded one coronavirus death and 1,011 new cases in the past 24 hours, according to the latest Scottish Government figures.
It is the first time since midfebruary that more than 1,000 daily cases have been reported.
A total of 242,875 people have now tested positive for the virus since the start of the pandemic. The death toll under this daily measure – of people who first tested positive for the virus within the previous 28 days – now stands at at 7,678.
A total of 121 people were in hospital on Tuesday with recently confirmed Covid-19, no change on the previous day, with 14 patients in intensive care, up two.
So far, 3,422,431 people have received the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccination and 2,313,695 have received their second dose.
It comes as new National Records of Scotland (NRS) figures show a total of 10,130 people have died in Scotland with confirmed or suspected coronavirus.
Latest data shows that eight fatalities that mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate were registered in the week to June 6, the same as the previous week.
In Edinburgh, “urgent” calls have been made for walk-in vaccinecentres open to all adults, in a bid to speed up the rollout as cases rise. it comes after walk-in centres opened for all over-40s in the city.
Labour Lothian MSP Sarah Boyack said these clinics do not go far enough, and that “walkin clinics for over-18s are now a matter of urgency. We have been asking for walk-in clinics for hotspot areas and we need to see a faster rollout of the vaccine in Lothian.”
Ms Boyack asked First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on Tuesday when clinics would be opened to over-18s, but said she did not receive an answer. ms sturgeon said NHS Lothian “have plans in preparation for walk-in vaccination clinics”.