Prof: Families should decide for themselves if Christmas is safe

FAMILIES should carry out their own risk assessment to decide if it is safe to celebrate Christmas together – despite government guidelines, a public health expert insisted.

Prof Linda Bauld said: ‘Mortality from Covid-19 is significantly higher for older people.

‘I think around 86 per cent of deaths in hospital were people over 65.

‘If we come together with people from different households – the people you care about – at the time of year when the windows are closed and physical distancing is difficult it’s an opportunity for the virus to spread, so this is really, really tough.’ Prof Bauld, chair of public health at the University of Edinburgh said: ‘It’s up to us to decide, even if government says, “OK, you can get together indoors with other people.” ‘Let’s all make our own risk assessment about the people we care about and ourselves, and say how we are going to apply that to our own personal circumstances.

‘It has to be a partnership between guidance and support that government gives and what people decide to do for themselves and their families.’

Prof Bauld (pictured) said governments should also consider people’s mental health in their planning as levels of depression and anxiety are significantly higher than expected for the time of year.

‘This discussion is about trying to recognise that there are not only harms from the virus, there are other harms. People want to see their loved ones,’ she told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland.

Prime minister Boris Johnson’s announcement yesterday had been expected, but Scotland is yet to reveal its guidance for families at Christmas, saying only: ‘No agreement has been reached.’