Sturgeon bursts the bubble
Couples who live apart will NOT be able to meet up like in England
SCOTLAND will not be introducing “support bubbles” to help couples who live apart, according to “boring” First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
It was widely expected that Scotland would follow Boris Johnson’s plan to allow people who live alone to stay at one other household from this weekend in a bid to combat loneliness.
Sturgeon has already said she was looking at what could be done to help couples who have been kept apart and without intimacy for months.
She first mooted the idea of “support bubbles” in April, after looking at a similar measure in Belgium.
But yesterday she dashed hopes by saying: “Call me boring if you want but I’m going to stick to the plan to try to get Scotland through this as safely and as sustainably as possible.
“Sometimes that means going a little bit slower than people understandably want but, please, at least know it’s for a good reason.
“I’ve said all along that this is not a popularity contest. My fundamental duty as First Minister right now is to steer this country as safely as I can through the biggest crisis any of us has ever gone through.”
Sturgeon added she hadn’t ruled out bubbles completely but said: “We’re considering moving to phase two a week today, which is our next review date.
“I feel very strongly about this. If we are to move out of lockdown at the right pace and in a way that’s sustainable, that doesn’t risk the virus running out of control and us having to go backwards, we stick to our plan and do things in a very methodical way.
“We stick to our review timetables and assess all of the evidence, taking careful and well-founded decisions. That is what we are going to do.”
However, she said she would be “considering all the things that are in phase two which, of course, includes greater social interaction for individuals”.
She added: “I want to get people able to see more of their families and friends.
“We have spoken before about couples who live apart. These are particularly difficult times for people in these circumstances and for people who live alone. We want to move to greater normality as quickly as possible “But I won’t do anyone any favours by taking these decisions in anything other than a well-planned, wellthought-out way or by trying to move too quickly. “We will set out next Thursday whether and to what extent we can go into phase two. “I am optimistic, on the basis of the data as it is right
Call me boring if you want but I am going to stick to the plan to get Scotland through this as safely as possible
now, but we will all increase the possibility and likelihood to ease more restrictions if we all stick to the rules just now.
“I am very hopeful we will be able to take some significant steps forward next week.”
Sturgeon said that while phase two did not specify guidance for couples, she was “considering lots of different types of detail that lie underneath the broad categories we set out on the route map”.
She added that the Government had “limited headroom” to change things before running the risk of the R number rising and virus going out of control again.
Sturgeon said yesterday that the R number of the virus – the reproduction rate – had fallen to between 0.6 and 0.8, meaning on average every person with the virus is passing it on to fewer than one person.
With the numbers dying, and those in hospital and intensive care also showing the spread is lessening, she said she was “optimistic” phase two would begin in a week.
Yesterday, five people were reported to have died, bringing the total confirmed dead with the virus to 2439. A total of 4500 people were estimated to have the virus in Scotland, less than half the previous week’s estimate.
However, Sturgeon admitted the previous week’s figure of 11,500 was an overestimate.
She said: “There’s no doubt looking at all of this data that we are making very real progress in combating and suppressing the virus in Scotland.
“But I have to inject a note of caution. The estimates I have reported do not yet take account of the phase one changes we took to begin the easing out of lockdown. We should continue to monitor any impact from that carefully.”
Looking ahead to phase two, she said: “We did talk about a bubble before but as we went into phase one, it was decided it was better to allow people to meet one other household outdoors and not limit it to one other household. As we go forward, if the evidence allows us to allow people to meet differently, we will do that.
“We need to recognise the reality of how people are living their lives right now and try to come to a view on what will make the biggest difference to people’s quality of life.
“That will be a balance of getting the economy back to mitigate some of the fears people have about job losses but also enabling people to come into contact with each other a bit more and get that quality of personal life back as well.”