On board with all the exam railing... I'm assuming the reasoning is not that things will be really bad infection-wise by May, but that there will be some students who have had extended periods of isolation or whatever (who hasn't...), and it wouldn't be fair that they were made to do the exams under those circumstances. But ultimately, the SG can't keep using such cases (as a result of the SGs own policies) to disturb and disrupt the diet for everyone (and Yy to first year undergrads struggling because they haven't had ANY exam experience...that was me, recounting DHs experience of marking a first year exam! ). There are always some children who have periods of illness/ bereavement/ domestic issues which mean they miss much of the curriculum in an exam year, and indeed it isn't fair that they are judged against students without those hindrances. But there are special circumstance considerations/ resits etc that can partly redress the balance for those individuals. Or they just move on with less than stellar results and build their life from that point instead. It's disappointing and unfair, but no one is suggesting the entire cohort is held back to cater for those few students.
On the plus side, there is an article on the BBC website suggesting that masks in schools are likely to go in Feb, AND MASKS FOR EVERYONE ELSE SOON THEREAFTER. OK, it was only the opinion of one of their covid pundits, and they had the depressing counter-statement from JS saying "oh, we hope kids won't have to sit exams in May with masks..." but I think it's the first time I've ever seen an acknowledgement from an "expert" that there may at some point in the foreseeable future be an unmasked Scotland. It made me a bit happier anyway.
On a less happy note, I was also reading this article about meningitis increasing in students - only tiny numbers overall, but higher this year than previous (pre covid) years. Seemingly partly due to the "immune debt" caused by not being exposed to germs when mixing with others. It's just another example of the supposedly "neutral" policy of minimising or totally forbidding interactions/ social distancing/ hybrid learning and so on actually not being neutral at all - even in terms of preventing illnesses, let alone all the other problems it causes.