Taking chances with Covid risks lockdown on your home town – leader comment

Those who ignore their individual responsibility to help stop the spread of coronavirus are putting their local community at risk of further lockdown restrictions.

Renewed coronavirus lockdown restrictions in Aberdeen will not be eased until Sunday at the earliest (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

It’s official. Everyone knew that Scotland would be in recession, given the turmoil caused by the coronavirus outbreak and lockdown, but new figures have confirmed it with estimated gross domestic product down nearly 20 per cent in April to June, following a smaller decline over the previous three months. But there was a ray of hope in the statistics with gross domestic product higher in June than it was in May and, as the restrictions have been eased since then, we can look forward to the recovery continuing apace.

However, most regrettably, Aberdeen has fewer reasons for optimism than other parts of the country following a fresh outbreak of the disease and the re-imposition of lockdown measures that will now not be lifted until Sunday at the earliest. There is no question this will cause economic damage but also no question that steps had to be taken to ensure this local problem did not become a wider one.

If Scotland is to have any chance of preventing a second wave from sweeping across the nation, there is little choice but to act swiftly and decisively to suppress localised flare-ups. The same strategy – dubbed “whack a mole” by Boris Johnson – is in place in England and many other parts of the world. The precise measures taken in Aberdeen by the Scottish Government may not be quite right, but something had to be done and doubtless ministers and officials will have done their best to perform the difficult balancing act of protecting our health while minimising the resulting problems.

Critics would do better to concentrate on the detail of the steps taken, rather than attempting to object to the overall principle. Chancellor Rishi Sunak is just one of many who have warned that the economic damage caused by allowing this deadly virus to run out of control would be worse than the lockdown’s effects.

Since this crisis began, The Scotsman has been at pains to stress the individual responsibility of every one of us to do our utmost to follow the rules. For a long time, the vast majority of people did just that, but there are alarming signs that the patience of some is wearing thin.

However, for them, Aberdeen should serve as a warning. If we take risks with Covid, then we may find our own city, town or community continues to suffer under lockdown while the rest of the country sees life and the economy returning to something like normal. Seldom has individual responsibility mattered so much.

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