As Nicola Sturgeon outlined the life-changing measures to be introduced to combat the coronavirus emergency an eerie silence enveloped the media room at St Andrews House on Monday night.
At the beginning of the day the first minister had chaired a press briefing, which struck a serious tone. Just a few hours later as she stood up to address the media for a second time in the late afternoon her tone had changed from serious to deadly serious.
To slow the spread of #coronavirus the general public are being asked to stay at home as much as possible and avoid unnecessary social contact.
Find out more ➡️ https://t.co/zDsV722eKO pic.twitter.com/umZzD8ckd8
— Scottish Government (@scotgov) March 16, 2020
In the short time between the two briefings the situation had escalated alarmingly. Ms Sturgeon gone from advising the elderly to cut down on their social activity by 75% to instructing everyone to reduce their “non-essential social contact”.
Whereas earlier in the day Ms Sturgeon was saying she could not rule out telling people to steer clear of pubs and restaurants at some stage in the future, now she was laying down the law.
People should not go to pubs, restaurants, gyms, cinemas for the foreseeable future. Public transport should be avoided and people should work from home where possible.
Moreover, entire households should “self-isolate” for 14 days if one member displays symptoms of the virus and the most vulnerable should do the same for weeks or months.
Desperate times need desperate measures and now the severity of the challenge facing the nation was inescapable.
“We are now on the cusp of rapid acceleration of the spread of coronavirus. We could see a doubling of cases every two days,” the first minister warned as the hush descended.
What we really want to prevent are deaths which would be avoidable. Deaths which we would avoid, if our NHS is not overwhelmed.”
CMO Dr Catherine Calderwood
The Chief Medical Officer Dr Catherine Calderwood put it starkly. She warned fatalities were unavoidable. The trick would be to stop preventable deaths.
“Even with excellent care some of our Scottish population will become very severely ill and sadly will some may die,” Dr Calderwood said.
“These deaths would happen even with all of our NHS resource behind us. However, what we really want to prevent are deaths which would be avoidable. Deaths which we would avoid, if our NHS is not overwhelmed. Deaths, where if we have enough ventilators – enough intensive care beds, will not happen.”
The weekend squabbles between the UK and Scottish Governments over how exactly the elderly are to be protected were forgotten, at least for the time being.
Ms Sturgeon and Boris Johnson finally managed to get themselves on the same song-sheet as they outlined the dramatic measures to be introduced on a UK-wide basis.
Nicola Sturgeon says we are on the cusp of rapid acceleration of coronavirus cases …doubling every few days.
— Tom Peterkin (@TomPeterkin) March 16, 2020
Heads had clearly been banged together to get some UK-wide unity after what Ms Sturgeon described as “unhelpful” briefing from sources within Boris Johnson’s government.
Both governments were making a concerted attempt to communicate strong and consistent messages.
The measures announced by both leaders would “change life as we know it”, Ms Sturgeon said. It is now up to the public to take heed.
