Coronavirus first hit Scotland on the 29th January 2020, with the first two cases being present in York. This was only the start of a major global pandemic and start of one of the most uncertain, and scariest years of people’s lives. The Scottish governments response as a whole to the virus outbreak was extremely efficient and coordinated as possible. The government put Scotland’s citizens best interest at heart, and focused solely on the public’s health and safety.
Scotland’s main aim when it came to the spread of the virus was to keep the public safe and keep positive cases of coronavirus, and deaths to a minimum. They wanted to ensure mental health was kept intact, as well as the safety and well being of everyone staying in Scotland. The government came up with many tactics and rules throughout the spread of the virus to try and keep everyone satisfied as possible, this included the elderly, children and teenagers.
First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon played an amazing role as the voice and leader of Scotland. She made sure that Scotland were not kept in the dark with what was happening, she gave regular updates with up to date statistics weekly, if not daily to ensure that Scotland were kept as certain as possible in these uncertain times. She proved to be a huge hit with the public, with many comparing her moves and tactics to Boris Johnston’s, showing how much of a great job she has done for Scotland and the spread of the virus as a whole.
However, not everyone had faith and believed that what Sturgeon was implementing was to their best interest. Many Scottish citizens feel Sturgeon has not been strict enough with rules and measures in Scotland and that if she would have acted faster, more lives would have been saved. Some feel Nicola cares more about the economy than saving lives, which is why she chose to open bars and restaurants so early on, risking lives of many loved ones rather than keeping them safe.
Scotland’s first lock down was put in place on the 16th March, 2020. This was due to cases of the virus reaching peak numbers in Scotland therefore it was becoming extremely difficult to obtain and restrict the viruses spreading ability without putting some sort of rules and laws In place to prevent deaths.
Due to Scotland going into lock down, many small, and big businesses were strongly impacted negatively. With no income from shoppers as everyone was having to isolate, stores began to close and the Scotland went into a recession. This is the first recession since 2008, which only gave more stress and work to the Scottish government to attempt to get the economy back on track. House prices began to decrease and employment rates hit a new low, with many losing their jobs due to company’s going bust and having to go into administration. This put Scotland’s citizens into panic mode as many had no other choice but to panic and stress over their options when it came to making money to provide for their families.
The Scottish government came up with many different tactics and ideas to implement to the country to try and tackle this economic struggle. They of course wanted to get the economy back on track, but wanted to do so with the safety of lives still being priority. They came up with the ‘Eat out to help out’ scheme, which involved a 50% off discount on the total bill when visiting certain restaurant’s across Scotland on Monday’s, Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s. This helped local and small businesses stay open as well as boosting the economy the best they could. This also helped the mental health of Scottish citizens as they felt some normality back in their lives.
Scotland began to get some sort of normality back into their lives, but with cases of the virus beginning to rise again, hope began to decrease. Many of Scotland’s citizen’s felt lonely, anxious and isolated from their friends and family as restriction rules meant that they had to social distance from their loved ones, causing a great peak in suicide rates and mental health issues across Scotland. Children being a main concern of the government and parents, as schools being closed meant lack of education and social skills for young ones across Scotland.
Scotland implemented many rules to help stop the spread of the virus, including wearing face coverings indoors, social distancing measures and even travel restrictions of keeping within 5 miles of your home town. These restrictions really helped stop the spread and without them Scotland would be in a much worse place than we are today.
Lock down number two took place in Scotland from the 14th of September as positive cases began to rapidly rise again. Rules include no longer visiting other households indoors and the ‘rule of six’ being implemented, meaning outdoor meet ups were now limited to a minimum of six people from two households.
One other major law put in place by Sturgeon was that pubs, bars and restaurant’s were given a curfew of 10 o’clock to close. This was because statistics shown that the coronavirus was spreading due to alcohol consumption and lack of social distancing measures when people are under the influence of alcohol.
Local lock downs were also put in place in places like Greater Glasgow, Renfrewshire and North Lanarkshire, which were hotspots for the virus to spread. Although these local lock downs did stop the spread and help keep it to a minimum, some members of the public failed to stick to rules resulting in the whole of the Scotland going into lock down.
So where is Scotland standing just now with cases of the virus? Well, there has been 697 new cases of coronavirus overnight, which is still a huge proportion of society. However, there has been no reported deaths, which we can take as a positive rather than look at the negatives.
Scotland’s government will continue to keep it’s citizens best interest at heart, in attempt to stop the spread of the virus and save lives. Nicola Sturgeon will continue to work around the clock, coming up with new ways to protect and save lives in Scotland. With talk of further restrictions and stricter lock downs, the general public in Scotland must understand that these rules are to be followed in order to get back to normality, and protect loved ones.
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