Coronavirus: Scotland announces that ‘retail services’ can reopen in Phase 3
By Helena Biggs | 21 May 2020 | Events, News
The Scottish Government has released a 46-page document detailing its route map out of lockdown.
The COVID-19 – Framework for Decision Making outlines that personal retail services including hairdressers (and presumably beauty salons) can open in phase three ‘with appropriate distancing and hygiene measures’. However, no dates have been announced alongside each phase.
“We can’t live this way forever,” comments Nicola Sturgeon MSP, first minister of Scotland. “We all want to get back to some semblance of normality – whether that’s seeing our friends and family, getting back to work or school, or just being able to spend our free time in the way we want to.”
On the strategy document, she adds: “It doesn’t have all the answers and it doesn’t set exact timescales. That’s because we are still learning about the virus. We will have to move carefully and gradually to ensure we keep it under control and develop the best ways of doing so.”
Sturgeon comments that she knows lockdown is doing harm of its own; causing loneliness and social isolation, deepening inequalities and damaging the economy, and continues.:
“None of us want it to last any longer than it has to.” The phases to ease lockdown ‘are gradual and incremental and will be matched with careful monitoring of the virus.’
“Continued hand washing, cough hygiene and physical distancing will be essential – so too will compliance with our test, trace, isolate and support system.
“This will mean that our workplaces and our public transport will look different from normal – we have all got used to things being different and it is going to be that way for a while.
“Trusting each other will be vital, as will recognising that every decision we take as individuals will have an impact on our collective wellbeing.
“It’s a highly anxious time for business owners and workers – so we must continue to work together to suppress the virus further and restore a way of life that is as close to normal as possible.”
Full details of the Scottish Government’s COVID-19 recovery strategy can be found here.