Is Nicola Sturgeon being too cautious now

[frasersmummy]

Listening to her briefing it sounds like there will be no easing of restrictions until the schools are back and settled

With infections at such a low rate should we not be getting back to something closer to normal?

People are losing their jobs every day and she doesnt seem bothered

What does everyone else think?

No, I think it’s the right approach. We’ve had a lot of big changes recently with indoor restaurants and pubs, plus people coming here on holiday and returning from abroad.

The schools going back is a huge step. Very few other countries in the world have reopened fully with no social distancing at all.

Let that settle and fingers crossed, things look good and we can go into the winter safely.

I’m still struggling with the decision to open indoor hospitality. There’s far more things I would have relaxed before that. The idea of people drinking and not social distancing or washing hands is far riskier than opening swimming pools and cinemas in my opinion. I also think we should have shut the borders as the number of people abroad and potentially bringing it back is also worrying.

Nope. I think she’s right.
Nothing else till two to three weeks after schools go back. We can’t jeopardise schooling. If they have to close down again we will never get anything else back up and running.
A cluster of 14 in greater Glasgow today. If those 14 were going about normal life each one could have encountered 3-4 other people closely and before you know it the count is back in triple figures just in that town.

I think the reopening of pubs UK / nationally was for tax reasons - the amount of tax that goes to the government from each pint / dram etc.

They don’t make any money from gyms or pools or dance clubs

I think she is being very sensible to wait until after schools are back

It’s the most important factor at the moment

So are businesses still advised to keep offices shut? I work in accountancy, currently on furlough and I wasn't able to be set up for wfh before we shut. Anybody know when things will re open?

There was a reported cluster wasn't there ? I don't think she makes these decisions alone she just has to weigh it all up swimming pools would be rammed full changing rooms would need wiped etc, I know it's a pain but I do think we have to be patient.

I think opening pubs and restaurants was wrong and I think we are starting to see the impact of that with the clusters.

As for schools, whilst I want DD to get a proper education, I am in two minds about how safe it is. I think number of Covid end of September, once they've been in schools and colleges about a month, will tell us if there's a link.

I think NS has been too cautious and BJ not cautious enough but I am not sure what the right path is either.

Seeing what's happening in mainland Europe, with numbers of cases increasing as services have reopened. Look at Barcelona- on lockdown again.

I don't want a 2nd wave, in combination with lockdown over winter & a NHS struggling to cope.

No, I don't think she is being too cautious. It's not about what's happening today, it's about what could happen next month if we move too fast today - and looking at many other countries is a massive cautionary tale.

I am happy school reopening is being put before other things. Children and teens need education, and a lot of parents' jobs will be under threat if they can't rely on their children being at school.

I agree with her approach

Schools should come first, I'm so glad she's prioritising children's wellbeing and education.

They also need to see the impact of opening hospitality etc before the move into the next phases.

Schools re open in 2 weeks I think it is fair that should be a priority and she really doesn't want to jeopardise that, with every phase there has been left outs but we really need to get to the end as slowly and cautiously as we can.

Sturgeon isn't bothered as long as her agenda is advanced.

The new hate crimes bill is evil - it is setting up 1984.

Small to medium businesses are being killed. A local business in England with 3 shops gets £30,000 - £10,000 per shop. Sturgeon's version the shop owner gets £10,000 on a business basis, rather than a site basis.

Trying desperately to push back the inquiry into how complaints about Salmond were handled - failing to meet the end of July deadline to hand over documents and saying end of August was unlikely - obviously they should have gone for a faster shredder.

What we need is a root and branch audit of Scottish Assembly spending in the last decade.

I am not a Sturgeon fan in the slightest. She has played this crisis to her own advantage right through, eyes on the prize of independence.

But on this I think she's right. We need schools back, parents and children have made it clear we will not accept the piss-poor "blended learning" which Councils offered in the summer term, and their plans for children at school 30% of the time were a non-starter.

Opening schools full time, for all children is a more important step that getting nightclubs and mass gatherings on.

I think she is right here. It’s most important that children get back to school. I don’t mind waiting a wee bit longer for more things to open up and I don’t have any kids at school.

Yes it awful for business my dh is having to make redundancies and his wage has gone down even though he was classed as a key worker and has to provide a 24 hour service.

@LizzieMacQueen

So are businesses still advised to keep offices shut? I work in accountancy, currently on furlough and I wasn't able to be set up for wfh before we shut. Anybody know when things will re open?

Business should support home working if you can. There’s no problem with some people going in to get equipment or set up the it infrastructure to enable home working but if possible you should not be working from there regularly. My dh office is planning 1 day a week per team to sort stuff out at the office and the rest from home.

I haven’t liked her handling of it at all.

Is it caution to put untested elderly people into nursing homes? Or utter incompetence? Is it cautious to announce a year of blended learning whilst planning for pubs to open? Or incompetence. I could go on.

She is smart, I will admit that.

Scotland’s children and businesses deserve better.

www.independent.co.uk/news/health/coronavirus-scotland-england-cases-charts-latest-lockdown-strategy-a9622016.html

can't abide the woman and we don't need that many briefings each week.

It's a party political broadcast no matter how much she tries to deny it or blames the journalist questions. here's a thought - stop these political questions by stopping the briefings. She knows exactly what she's doing.

Interesting that the SG are not following England yet regarding localised restrictions or lockdowns. You'd think she'd jump right in there to show Scotland is more caring / Scotland did it first.

We're all going back to school but no one knows for sure what back to school is going to look like or if it will change again in a few weeks.

As for working from home, we've been told for the 'forseeable' but what is the forseeable?

@nextslideplease if you've got a crystal ball then let's hear what you think 'foreseeable' means for a virus we don't understand yet, and for which there may or may not be a vaccine in the next year.

@Invisimamma

Schools should come first, I'm so glad she's prioritising children's wellbeing and education.

They also need to see the impact of opening hospitality etc before the move into the next phases.

I agree

I don’t like her particularly or the SNP but I’m glad we have her instead of Boris.

She is definitely politicising it for sure - hence why when Swinney said about blended learning for a year and parents went nuts she very quickly contradicted him - she knows if that happens there goes a number of her seats in the next election and with it any chance of an Indyref 2 any time soon.

I also think a lot of the factors in the better levels of infection now are down to luck. Our peak was behind England’s which means our lockdown came de facto sooner which may have meant it was more effective.

I actually agree with the principle of prioritising schools over things like nightclubs etc., both from a welfare/education point of view, and also because parents can’t get back to work if schools/childcare are shut. Overall the slow pace of opening has been frustrating though, and there is no excuse for the health service not being fully open several weeks ago.

And I agree that there is absolutely no need now for a daily briefing, which has now become mostly a party political broadcast. Nothing is said that couldn’t be covered in a press release. The subtle (and sometimes not at all subtle!) attacks on Boris or Westminster without any means of rebuttal by the opposition parties are a clear breach of political neutrality rules on the part of broadcasters and in the run up to an election are totally unjustifiable.

@Mrsjayy

There was a reported cluster wasn't there ? I don't think she makes these decisions alone she just has to weigh it all up swimming pools would be rammed full changing rooms would need wiped etc, I know it's a pain but I do think we have to be patient.

I'm sorry to contradict an old friend but swimming pools would not be rammed full at all. We had predictions that Primark etc would be rammed and heaving too, of course they aren't, they're subject to the same guidelines as everywhere else. All the 'open' places I've seen are very limited in numbers, with clearly signposted rules and guidelines.

I've no personal desire to go to a swimming pool, but there's absolutely no reason why they couldn't reopen, subject to the usual hygiene and SD rules that we're all used to now.