Scots should be told to wear masks outdoors, medics say
Not taking every step to cut infection risk ‘would be crazy’
EVERY precaution must now be taken to minimise transmission of coronavirus, including telling the public to wear face covering outdoors, medical leaders have said.
Professor Mike Griffin, President of the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh, said it “would be crazy” not to take every possible step to reduce infections during winter, given the added risk of a faster-spreading variant, as well as the prospect of life-saving vaccinations in the near future.
Mr Griffin said this should include wearing face masks in public spaces outdoors as well as indoors, and delaying the return of university students to campuses in January after halls of residence were associated with a spike in cases at the end of summer.
He said: “I think this new variant of Covid has changed our thinking on all of this. Above all, we wanted schools to continue – it was crucial for children’s development and education, and university eduction as well.
“However, the prospect of these vaccines becoming available mean we have the potential to get rid of this disease. It would be crazy not to take every possible opportunity of minimising transmission during January.”
Mr Griffin is among a number of
Scotland’s medical leaders backing maximum precautions following the relaxation of household mixing rules on Christmas Day, which coincided with mounting alarm that highly transmissible UK and South African strains of the virus could trigger an explosion of new cases.
In a statement, the Scottish
Academy – which represents the Royal College of Anaesthetists, the Royal College of General Practitioners, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, and the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh – said they are
“gravely concerned that this
could lead to the NHS being overwhelmed”.
They added: “Our plea to the public is simple, please do not let your guard down now. You must continue to play your part to protect the NHS and save lives. Our general practices are exceptionally busy and our hospitals are already near capacity.
“We risk facing a perfect storm of challenges if we don’t take collective action now to prevent further spread of Covid-19.
“We are calling for social distancing to be two metres at all times and for masks to be worn in any situation where you are
meeting people who are not in your household or bubble – indoors or outdoors.
“All other potential measures to decrease community transmission should be considered by the Government.”
Several countries, including France, Belgium and Italy, have made face masks compulsory outdoors in a bid to curb infections, although in some cases the rule is limited to crowded outdoor areas.
Face masks have been mandatory in Scotland since the summer for enclosed public spaces, such as shops and public transport, and advised – but not required – in busy outdoor areas.
Mr Griffin said: “Masks have been shown to be efficacious in preventing spread and therefore it should not be just indoors – it should be outdoors as well. It is a small price to pay for this next month or two.”
Mr Griffin pointed to the pressures already being seen elsewhere in the UK, with University Hospital Wales in
Cardiff issuing an urgent appeal on Boxing Day for medical students to help out in its critical care department, which was described as “extremely busy” due to Covid admissions and winter pressures.
“We do not want our hospitals overwhelmed,” said Mr Griffith. “They are getting like that in the south of England and in Wales.
“In Scotland they are coping at this stage, and it is crucial that we continue to keep those levels of infections down so that hospitals and the health service can concentrate on rolling out the vaccine. Let’s not have healthcare workers redeployed to look after people in intensive care and Covid wards.
“We also need to continue with the rapid testing programme, and we need to be able to provide emergency care – not just to Covid patients, but the non-covid patients.
“We understand that there’s no difference to the illness that an individual patient will suffer [from the new variants], but all you need to do is think about the mathematics.
“If it is more transmissible, it will infect more people, and if more people are infected more hospital admissions will occur and if more hospital admissions occur, there will be more intensive care admissions, and more deaths.”
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said: “Our winter planning process includes assessing our readiness across all aspects of health and care, including Test and Protect, vaccinations, PPE supplies and the maintenance of essential services, including urgent and emergency.
“As part of the specific response to Covid-19, boards will maintain the ability to double their ICU capacity within one week, treble in two weeks and, if required, extend this to over 700 in total across Scotland. In addition, to support this, over 60 ICU and supportive care medicines, as well as supplies of Covid-19 treatments, have been centrally procured.”