March 15, 2022

expert reaction to update on COVID regulations in Scotland from the Scottish government

There has been an update on COVID regulations from the Scottish government in response to the recent spike in cases, including legal requirements to wear face coverings on public transport and most indoor public settings until at least early April.

Dr Stephen Griffin, Associate Professor in the School of Medicine, University of Leeds, said:

“It is very clear that ignoring SARS-CoV2 prevalence is a profound mistake.  It leads to increased pressure on the NHS, makes it more likely that clinically and socio-economically vulnerable people will become (re-)infected, and increases the incidence of long COVID.  Moreover, with a considerable number of people in the UK remaining unvaccinated, including a large proportion of our children, the strategy to rely 100% upon vaccination is ultimately, and logically flawed.  Vaccines are the key to regaining normality, but using them as the sole countermeasure is in fact likely to limit their potential.  Yet again, we are moving far too soon to relax protections, and the UK Government seems to consider that sheer will can contain a highly infectious virus.  It cannot.

“Ms Sturgeon has again done the responsible thing and reacted to growing SARS-CoV2 infections.  The wearing of masks, especially well-fitted filtering masks, i.e. FFP2 or FFP3, both reduces sources of infection and protects the wearer in poorly ventilated spaces.  In addition, to quote Prof Trish Greenhalgh, mask wearing is a gesture that demonstrates that you care for the wellbeing of others. Such altruism has sadly been replaced by libertarianism for many.

“The pandemic continues to disproportionately affect those least able to cope with the consequences of infection, which comprise a significant minority of the country’s population.  Many people are unable to exercise their new-found “freedom”, and the fact that a death toll of 100s every week has become normalised is one of the most disturbing outcomes of the UK COVID response.  We heard recently that we must brace ourselves for an “expected” surge of infections…just what exactly does that mean, and how does it entail ‘living’ with COVID?

“It is reassuring to see that Ms Sturgeon remains prepared to act responsibly and prioritise safety in the face of concerning levels of infections; this should be the example for the rest of the UK to follow.”

https://www.gov.scot/news/update-on-covid-regulations/

All our previous output on this subject can be seen at this weblink:

www.sciencemediacentre.org/tag/covid-19

Declared interests

Dr Stephen Griffin: “Member of Independent SAGE.”