TIME TO SCRAP COVID CURBS
Sturgeon faces calls to ditch social distancing and coverings
NICOLA Sturgeon is facing calls to scrap the legal requirement to wear face masks and socially distance indoors.
Figures show the number of people wearing face coverings and keeping physical distance from others is still virtually identical in Scotland and England, despite all mandatory restrictions being scrapped south of the Border.
It indicates that people in England are still taking personal responsibility for minimising the spread of the virus despite no longer having a legal requirement to cover their mouth and nose on public transport and in shops and other indoor locations.
Miss Sturgeon is also expected to confirm an overhaul of the contact tracing system next week which will allow double-jabbed people to avoid compulsory self-isolation, following concerns across the UK about
‘Government must strike right balance’
the impact the ‘pingdemic’ is having on individuals and businesses.
Boris Johnson lifted all mandatory restrictions on England’s ‘freedom day’ of July 19, but Miss Sturgeon has indicated that wearing face masks could stay mandatory in Scotland even after she is due to lift most curbs on August 9.
She will also make a decision on whether to scrap the legal requirement for physical distancing indoors in pubs, restaurants, theatres and other public places.
Scottish Conservative health spokesman Annie Wells said businesses ‘are eagerly awaiting’ Miss Sturgeon’s statement on Tuesday.
She added: ‘While some precautions may ultimately remain after August 9, the SNP Government must strike the right balance between protecting public health and allowing people to get back to normality.’
A survey by the Office for National Statistics released yesterday, which was carried out from July 21-25, found that 95 per cent of people in England said they had used face coverings outside their home the previous week, despite it no longer being mandatory.
This compared to 94 per cent in Scotland, where it is a legal requirement in some circumstances.
Asked whether they use a face covering while travelling, 96 per cent of people in England and Scotland said they did.
Asked how often they maintained social distancing outside the home, the response was again identical in Scotland and England, with 31 per cent saying all the time, 29 per cent often, and 21 per cent sometimes.
While the First Minister has said face coverings in shops and on public transport will probably be ‘required’ after August 9, she has yet to decide whether this will be backed up by law.
The Scottish Conservatives and the Us For Them Scotland parents group have called for face masks to be scrapped in schools before the new term starts, and senior figures in Scotland’s hospitality industry have called for the legal requirement to be ended.
Miss Sturgeon has previously indicated that people who have received both doses of the vaccine may no longer need to automatically self-isolate after August 9.
This month, the First Minister admitted that the contact tracing system, which forces people to self-isolate for ten days after being in close contact with someone who tests positive, is ‘onerous’.
She said: ‘When we move beyond Level 0, we intend first to remove the blanket requirement for close contacts to self-isolate, as long as they are double vaccinated, with at least two weeks having passed since the second dose, and they take a polymerase chain reaction test that comes back negative.’
Figures for the week to July 25 show 27,866 people were identified as unique primary contacts who needed to self-isolate after 7,214 people who tested positive completed contact tracing.
This compares to 41,871 unique contacts from 12,174 completed cases the week before.
Up to July 26, 60,794 had been ‘pinged’ by the contact tracing app, 1,722 up on a week earlier.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘We all still have a role to play in helping to protect ourselves and each other, with basic measures including physical distancing and face coverings being as important now as ever.
‘We will continue to be guided by clinical and scientific evidence to ensure measures are necessary.’
‘We all still have a role to play’