Swinney criticised for ‘misleading’ post
Deputy First Minister John Swinney has been criticised for a “misleading” graphic shared on social media.
The image compared the riskofcovidspreadinscenarios of different mask wearing and social distancing.
But Mr Swinney, who is also Covid recovery secretary, did not include a source for the figures, and they have been labelled misleading by opposition MSPS.
The image, which has been retweeted 500 times from Mr Swinney’s post, was also shared by the SNP Largs branch and leader of Edinburgh City Council Adam Mcvey.
It appears to have been presentontheinternetforatleast ayear,butitsoriginisnotclear and the Scottish Government has not yet provided a source for the information.
Mr Mcvey confirmed he shared the graphic without knowing its source. He said that while figures from experts are “interesting”, they don’t change the conclusion that wearing
a mask reduces transmission.
The graphic states there is a 90percentriskofcovidtransmission when two people are not social distancing or wearing masks, which drops to 20 per cent when the non-infected person puts a mask on.
This falls to 5 per cent when the infected person puts a mask on, the graphic states, and to 1.5 per cent when both are wearing masks and zero per cent when both are wearing masks and standing at a distance of two feet.
There is no information on whether the subjects are indoors or outdoors, or the type of mask used.