Scotland’s national clinical director has assured people they do not need to cancel their Christmas party plans amid rising Omicron cases – if they put safety first.
A total of 13 cases of the Omicron variant of Covid have been confirmed by the Scottish Government so far, prompting renewed calls for people to follow guidelines and take regular lateral flow tests.
While socialising and events have been making a comeback over the past few months, the new variant has raised fears that stronger restrictions could be put in place impacting upcoming festivities.
Testing and vaccinating
But speaking on BBC’s Good Morning Scotland, Jason Leitch told people they don’t have to cancel their plans, but urged them to give “serious thought” on making events safe.
He said: “Now I’m not naive, I understand what a Christmas party is and what having people in your house is and all of that, but quite a lot of the positive cases come from pals.
“You meet in an environment, either in a home or a private part of a restaurant or a pub, we get quite a lot of cases that way.
“So, how could you make that safer? Frankly, stop Covid arriving. That means vaccinating and testing. If you can do those two things you’ve got quite a good chance- not a foolproof chance – of stopping it arriving.”
Mr Leitch advised that this was the method used throughout COP26 which resulted in “very, very few” positive Covid cases.
“So could you, before you have your Christmas dinner or before your night out, could you get everybody to do a lateral flow test and everybody to be vaccinated?”
“I’m not suggesting you check certificates at the door for your granny, but my mum and dad will do lateral flow tests before they come for their dinner, and we will do them before they arrive.
“Flow before you go.”
North-east businesses speak out
Following the announcement of the new variant, some have decided to change their plans in the lead up to Christmas.
Hospitality businesses in Aberdeen have said they have had some cancellations in the past week but do not think it will be the start of a trend.
More people and groups seem to be keen to celebrate the festive season after being unable to do so last year.
Stephen Gow, general manager of The Chester Hotel in Aberdeen said: “We have had a small number of cancellations in recent days citing the new variant as the reason, but certainly nothing which would indicate a trend towards larger cancellations.
“Earlier in the year when we launched our Christmas packages, we noticed a trend away from organisations booking large get togethers for several hundred staff in 2021 and instead an increase in bookings for private groups of less than 100.
“The feeling seems to be that everyone missed out on Christmas 2020 and plans to celebrate in style this year, although in smaller party sizes than in previous years.”
Another level of uncertainty
Allan Henderson, managing director of McGinty’s Group, said: “Bookings haven’t been as high as in previous years if you go back to like 2019, but we expected that.
“There is very few large-number events booked in – a lot more offices have gone for departmental nights out as opposed to the whole office going out.
“With regards to the Omicron situation, there has been quite a few inquiries about potentially reducing numbers, but we haven’t a big number of cancellation as of yet, but it’s still early days and obviously these things change at the pace so that could change over the next week or so.
“We’ve noticed some reductions in numbers, but not really the full-scale cancellations.
“It’s undoubtedly another blow for the hospitality industry and I would say that our industry has been hammered more than any other, except for perhaps the airline industry.
“These are usually some of the busiest three weeks in hospitality and the new variant does add another level of uncertainty again, but we are hoping that Omicron won’t appear as the end of the world for us.”
Increasing Omicron cases
The first nine Omicron cases confirmed in Scotland were all linked to a single private event, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon confirmed on Tuesday.
However, cases confirmed since do not appear to have any direct link to this event.
Mr Leitch said there is still a lot of uncertainty around the Omicron variant and more information is needed – but he is hopeful is is not as bad as early signs suggest.
“We need to know three things: transmissibility, severity of disease and vaccine escape, and we don’t know those three things yet,” he said.
“Early data from South Africa suggests increased transmissibility, we don’t know about severity of disease, and unfortunately yesterday some slightly difficult news about vaccine escape, but very early days and very few people.
“We need bigger numbers before we can be certain. I am not overly encouraged by what I’m seeing about the early data in South Africa but that’s often what happens, early on it looks bad because it’s just a few people.
“I’m still hopeful it might not be as bad as the worst case people are suggesting.”