WE WILL EXIT AT OUR OWN PACE
Nicola Sturgeon lifts restrictions on going out to exercise... but refuses to back Boris
SCOTS will be able to go out to exercise as often as they like from today – with the easing of further lockdown restrictions to be considered later this week, Nicola Sturgeon said yesterday.
These could include reopening recycling depots and garden centres as well as allowing some outdoor workers to return to their jobs. It could also see parks open for sunbathing and picnics.
However, the First Minister refused to back Boris Johnson’s deciorsion to take the first ‘careful steps’ out of the coronavirus lockdown. She said the only restriction to be relaxed in Scotland from today is to allow people unlimited outdoor exercise, rather than being restricted to jogging, cycling or walking just once-a-day.
Most people will still be urged to stay away from workplaces, even though those south of the Border have been told they should return to work if they cannot do it from home.
There is also no confirmed return date for schools in Scotland, despite confirmation that primary schools in England are likely to begin to resume from the start of next month.
But Miss Sturgeon did offer some hope to Scots fed-up with lockdown life by confirming she will consider whether to lift further measures later this week.
She insisted the decision to not follow England’s plan was taken to save lives, adding: ‘Let me be very blunt about the consequences if we were to do that – people will die unnecessarily.’
The First Minister will make a judgement in the coming days on whether to allow more outdoor activities, which could include sunbathing, picnics in parks, some sports and driving to beauty spots.
A decision will be announced at the weekend on whether to allow some more outdoor work to resume, or for garden and recycling centres to reopen.
The decision to not immediately follow Mr Johnson’s advice, that employees should return to work if they can’t do it from home, could mean Scotland’s economic recovery from the crisis takes longer than England’s.
Miss Sturgeon said her main message for Scotland remains ‘please stay at home, except for essential purposes’.
On lifting the ‘once-a-day’ limit on outdoor exercise, she said: ‘When you are exercising, you must stay relatively close to your own home and, at all times, at least two metres away from people from other households.
‘And although the rules permit exercise – such as walking, running cycling – they do not yet extend to outdoor leisure activities such as sunbathing, picnics or barbecues. The fact that you are allowed to exercise more than once is definitely not – and I want to stress this point – a licence to start meeting up in groups at the park or the beach.
‘Doing that really does risk spreading the virus and could potentially force us to reintroduce stricter guidelines or toughen-up the regulations and penalties in future.’
Miss Sturgeon said the change to exercise restrictions is the only alteration she believes is possible ‘without risking a rapid resurgence of the virus’.
She added: ‘We do not, at this point, want to see more businesses opening up – or more people going to work. Our guidance to business remains the same as it has been.’
Over the coming week, she said, the Scottish Government will assess whether it is possible to further extend the range of permitted outdoor activities.
She added: ‘We will also consider over the coming days whether garden centres can re-open and we will think about whether some additional forms of outdoor work – particularly where people work on their own or at a distance – can safely resume.
‘We will also be looking urgently – in close discussion with councils at the possibility of reopening waste and recycling centres. I will update you on these further issues next weekend.’
The First Minister said she will consider issues including the return of businesses, changes to public transport and when children can begin to return to school – but insisted that ‘I do not expect that schools in Scotland will start to return as early as 1 June’. She was heavily critical of the UK Government’s decision to change the main public information slogan from ‘Stay Home, Protect the NHS, Save Lives’ to ‘Stay Alert, Control the Virus, Save Lives’.
Describing the new slogan as ‘vague’ and ‘imprecise’, she said she has asked for it not to be used in Scotland. She added: ‘The message in Scotland at this stage is not to stay at home if you can. The message is, except for the essential reasons you know about, stay at home, full stop.’
A key reason for the different pace of lifting restrictions in Scotland, she said, is a suggestion from experts that the R number – the rate of infection from each person with the virus – is between 0.7 and
‘If we lift lockdown people will die’
1.0 in Scotland, higher than in other parts of the UK.
Scottish Conservative leader Jackson Carlaw said there should be an agreed, four nation approach throughout this crisis, within which variations can occur in different parts of the UK.
‘That this is an agreed approach is important for the sake of clarity and for the support needed to underpin any variations. Unilateral divisions will only create confusion.
‘Those variations must be led by the science and for the sake of transparency, where it is argued they are justified, that evidence should be published. Both the Prime Minister and the First Minister remain equally determined that the progress we have made against Covid-19 must not be compromised.’