Nothing feels quite as good as your first outdoor climb of the year. And this year it’ll feel extra special as we’ve all been locked down for so long. But, on your first days out, think about everything twice.
Unless Scottish government update there website in next few days it's looking like once the stay at home law and associated travel ban ends on Friday, then stay local message will be guidance only. Hard to work out for sure if this is the case, Can wait and see if any update comes online in next few days, being guidelines would put Scotland more inline with Wales and England, importantly allowing people to visit friends and family living 5 miles outside there council area legally for potential first time in over 6 months.
lifting the ‘Stay at Home’ requirement and replacing it with a ‘Stay Local’ message (retaining the current, local authority-based travel restrictions for at least a three-week period)
AIUI the plan is to return to the protection levels system we had last autumn BUT with more stringent criteria for e.g. 7 day case rates per 100,000 population to determine which protection level a given local authority area falls in to. Last time I looked they were saying that for protection level 2 an area would have to have a 7 day case rate below 50 cases per 100,000 population. They also said that they were expecting most LAs to be at protection level 3 at the outset, which would mean that the five mile limit would still apply.
I'm afraid it doesn't look like anyone in a level 3 or above area is going to be zipping off around the country any time soon - at least, not legally.
I'm p1ssed because Edinburgh was sitting at ~45 cases until very recently, but it's now jumped up to ~55 so bye bye to any chance of e.g. visiting any of the East Lothian beaches in the next few weeks. And, though I am doing my best to stick to the rules, I am getting royally bored with visiting the same old outdoor exercise locations week after week. There's only so many places you can go within Edinburgh or a five mile radius thereof...
I am definitely being optimistic, but it's the wording that is so poor, lifting stay at home requirement and replacing it with a stay local message. Regardless all seems a little uncessary now given what everyone has put up with over the last year and current positive situation the country is in.
What, a rolling seven day average of between 500 and 600 new cases a day, which is roughly where we were at the end of September when things really started to take off again? With vaccination rates down to about half what they were at the mid-February peak and only just over half the adult population so far vaccinated? And with the government the other side of the border already starting to talk about a possible "third wave"?
Yes, hospitalisation rates and deaths are declining - though ICU admissions are ticking up a bit - but TBH I'm not convinced that this is yet the time to start taking the collective eye off the ball. As I mentioned in my previous post, Edinburgh and a number of other cities are seeing not insignificant rises in the 7 day case rate. This thing spreads from person to person: those hotspots in West Lothian (and one that has appeared in Leith this last week) didn't arise spontaneously out of thin air. Stop people moving about so much, you help stop the disease spreading.
Depending on your given value of "soon". From 26th April it's the intention that the travel restriction will be lifted entirely, regardless of tier. I wait with bated breath!
I moved to Edinburgh at the end of September, the pubs shut a couple of weeks later, then the climbing walls, then everything! 6 months has felt like a long time.
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Unless Scottish government update there website in next few days it's looking like once the stay at home law and associated travel ban ends on Friday, then stay local message will be guidance only. Hard to work out for sure if this is the case, Can wait and see if any update comes online in next few days, being guidelines would put Scotland more inline with Wales and England, importantly allowing people to visit friends and family living 5 miles outside there council area legally for potential first time in over 6 months.
You may be being a little optimistic: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-timetable-for-easing-restrictions/pages/timetable/
2 Aprillifting the ‘Stay at Home’ requirement and replacing it with a ‘Stay Local’ message (retaining the current, local authority-based travel restrictions for at least a three-week period)
AIUI the plan is to return to the protection levels system we had last autumn BUT with more stringent criteria for e.g. 7 day case rates per 100,000 population to determine which protection level a given local authority area falls in to. Last time I looked they were saying that for protection level 2 an area would have to have a 7 day case rate below 50 cases per 100,000 population. They also said that they were expecting most LAs to be at protection level 3 at the outset, which would mean that the five mile limit would still apply.
Note that the travel restrictions based on protection levels were specified in Coronoavirus regulations, so actual law not just advice: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2020/389/regulation/5/made
I'm afraid it doesn't look like anyone in a level 3 or above area is going to be zipping off around the country any time soon - at least, not legally.
I'm p1ssed because Edinburgh was sitting at ~45 cases until very recently, but it's now jumped up to ~55 so bye bye to any chance of e.g. visiting any of the East Lothian beaches in the next few weeks. And, though I am doing my best to stick to the rules, I am getting royally bored with visiting the same old outdoor exercise locations week after week. There's only so many places you can go within Edinburgh or a five mile radius thereof...
I am definitely being optimistic, but it's the wording that is so poor, lifting stay at home requirement and replacing it with a stay local message. Regardless all seems a little uncessary now given what everyone has put up with over the last year and current positive situation the country is in.
What, a rolling seven day average of between 500 and 600 new cases a day, which is roughly where we were at the end of September when things really started to take off again? With vaccination rates down to about half what they were at the mid-February peak and only just over half the adult population so far vaccinated? And with the government the other side of the border already starting to talk about a possible "third wave"?
Yes, hospitalisation rates and deaths are declining - though ICU admissions are ticking up a bit - but TBH I'm not convinced that this is yet the time to start taking the collective eye off the ball. As I mentioned in my previous post, Edinburgh and a number of other cities are seeing not insignificant rises in the 7 day case rate. This thing spreads from person to person: those hotspots in West Lothian (and one that has appeared in Leith this last week) didn't arise spontaneously out of thin air. Stop people moving about so much, you help stop the disease spreading.
(Data taken from the Public Health Scotland Daily Dashboard: https://public.tableau.com/profile/phs.covid.19#!/vizhome/COVID-19DailyDashboard_15960160643010/Overview)
Depending on your given value of "soon". From 26th April it's the intention that the travel restriction will be lifted entirely, regardless of tier. I wait with bated breath!
I moved to Edinburgh at the end of September, the pubs shut a couple of weeks later, then the climbing walls, then everything! 6 months has felt like a long time.