Nicola Sturgeon was told her SNP Government had acted with “absolute disgrace” when it came to ensuring the right security measures were in place in Scottish care homes during the coronavirus outbreak. Sky News host Kay Burley challenged the First Minister to outline her strategy for a potential second wave of the virus, questioning how she will ensure the elderly are protected this time around. Ms Burley said: “You are preparing, of course, for a second wave in Scotland as many of the other countries in the United Kingdom are as well.
“Given that 47 percent of deaths were in care homes in Scotland, which was an absolute disgrace, how are you going to better protect the elderly this time?”
Ms Sturgeon said she would not challenge the characterisation of her Government’s performance as she insisted necessary measures have now been put in place to contain the spread of the virus among the vulnerable elderly population.
She said: “We’ve already taken a number of steps in common with other countries in the UK and across Europe.
“Every single death in a care home is deeply regrettable, I’m not going to argue against your characterization of this.
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“I would just say, for context, that overall excess deaths in care homes were lower in Scotland than in other parts of the UK.
“But we seem to ascribe the more of those excess deaths in care homes to COVID, which gives the impression care home deaths in Scotland were higher.”
Ms Burley intervened: “Still, nearly 50 percent of deaths were in care homes, this is a disgrace. It’s a disgrace.”
The First Minister replied: “Kay, I started by saying I’m not arguing with your characterisation.”
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