The party is over!
‘Killjoy’ First Minister warns Scots not to socialise in run-up to festive family breaks
OFFICE parties and all ‘unnecessary’ contact with other people should be avoided in the run-up to Christmas, Nicola Sturgeon has warned.
The First Minister urged people to cut back on socialising in order to prevent the virus taking off when people are allowed to form ‘bubbles’ with up to two other households over five days, starting next Wednesday.
She admitted she sounded like a ‘killjoy’ as she also urged people not to hold traditional office parties before the Christmas break.
Hospitality firms made a plea for the rules to be relaxed as Miss Sturgeon announced the latest review, which takes effect today.
But Miss Sturgeon signalled there would be more bad news for Edinburgh, insisting that evidence on case numbers shows she was right not to lower it to Level 2.
Speaking at her coronavirus briefing, she insisted she would not change plans to allow eight people from three households to meet between December 23-27.
However, she called for people to avoid meeting with others next week if they can.
She said: ‘Now is the time to start thinking about reducing unnecessary contacts. And that’s particularly the case if you are planning to meet up with any elderly relatives over Christmas.
‘If you usually have a weekly catch-up with a friend in a café – perhaps decide not to have that catch-up.
‘If you are car-sharing, which of course is something that we are advising against, try not to do it over the next couple of weeks in particular.’
Saying she was ‘sorry that I am starting to sound like the Christmas killjoy here’, she added that people should not be tempted to have Christmas gatherings with colleagues as they present a real risk of transmission. She added: ‘By far the best way of marking Christmas with your colleagues this year is to do it virtually. It is not as much fun, I appreciate that, but it is much safer.’
Miss Sturgeon came under fire yesterday after it was revealed that advice contained in a report before last week’s lockdown review said Edinburgh’s coronavirus rate had ‘trended consistently downwards’ and was within ‘ Level 1 range’. It said Edinburgh’s case forecast was deemed ‘ now very low’ with a ‘low hospital forecast for NHS Lothian’.
However the advice was removed from an edited version of the report published by the Scottish Government last week, as Miss Sturgeon confirmed Edinburgh would remain in Level 3.
Miss Sturgeon said she believes the decision was the ‘ right one’, with cases in the city soaring by 33 per cent over seven days.
She said lowering restrictions there would be ‘pouring petrol on smouldering embers’. She also raised concerns about cases rising in other Lothian authorities.
Colin Wilkinson, managing director of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association, said: ‘ Obviously we will be extremely disappointed if Edinburgh has to remain in Level 3, as businesses there were expecting to move down.
‘The First Minister’s comments today suggest that the status quo will remain and that is very hard on those businesses.’