Humza Yousaf was allegedly suggested on methods to keep away from carrying a face masks in public by one among Scotland’s most senior well being officers on the top of the Covid disaster, a public inquiry has been informed.
Personal textual content messages present Jason Leitch, Scotland’s nationwide medical director, informed Yousaf he had solely to carry a glass in his hand to keep away from having to make use of a masks whereas he was standing and speaking to individuals at a dinner.
Leitch informed Yousaf, then Scotland’s well being secretary, that “formally” everybody needed to put on a masks once they have been standing and speaking. “However actually nobody does,” Leitch added.
“Have a drink in your arms always. Then you definitely’re exempt. So if somebody comes over to you and also you stand, carry your drink.”
Jamie Dawson KC, the counsel to the UK Covid inquiry, challenged Leitch on that trade and requested him whether or not he was providing Yousaf a “workaround” so he didn’t need to put on a masks.
Dawson added that this was what Yousaf “was attempting to realize”. It was “a workaround to attempt to allow [Yousaf] to attend the perform, not put on a masks and get out of complying with the foundations”, hesaid.
Leitch denied the allegation and downplayed its significance. “If this have been a broader and essential piece of steering I’d not be comfy with that in any respect. This was a tiny nuance inside broad steering about dinners and consuming,” he informed Dawson.
It was a “difficult space” that even he had discovered obscure, Leitch stated. The principles stated diners weren’t required to put on a masks whereas consuming and consuming however weren’t particular about what they need to do in the event that they stood as much as speak to somebody not at their desk.
“I informed him to have a drink in his arms. He wouldn’t be consuming it the entire time however having a drink in your arms meant you didn’t need to put on a masks,” he added.
Leitch stated he himself had been caught out at a distinct dinner when he was photographed standing with out his masks on.
“Strictly talking, that was breaking the foundations, however it was throughout a dinner and through a social event and due to this fact, I believed it was authentic, and [Yousaf] is asking [about] exactly that situation,” Leitch added.
Dawson stated these messages have been exchanged simply as Covid instances had begun to surge in November 2021 because of the Delta variant, and shortly earlier than Omicron induced an infection charges to soar, to almost eight instances better than through the first wave of the pandemic.
“If the cupboard secretary for well being and social care didn’t perceive the foundations, what probability did anyone else have?” Dawson requested.
Leitch was additionally challenged by Dawson and Heather Hallett, the chair of the inquiry, over whether or not he had connived with suggestions by one other senior civil servant that deleting WhatsApp messages meant they might keep away from freedom of knowledge legal guidelines.
He was proven messages he exchanged with Ken Thomson, then the Scottish authorities’s director basic for technique and exterior affairs, the place Thomson stated “simply to remind you (severely), that is discoverable beneath FoI. Know the place the ‘clear chat’ button is …”. Leitch replied: “DG stage enter there” after which “completed”.
Hallett stated these messages “counsel a fairly enthusiastic adoption” of the coverage of deleting messages.
Leitch stated his response was flippant, however “it definitely wasn’t my place. My place was that I used to be following the steering and wasn’t notably enthusiastic or in any other case about deletion”.
The inquiry additionally heard that Nicola Sturgeon, then Scotland’s first minister, used her private SNP e mail tackle to conduct authorities enterprise “privately” through the disaster.
Prof Devi Sridhar, a worldwide well being knowledgeable at Edinburgh College who suggested Sturgeon through the pandemic, shared their direct messages on Twitter, now X, from June 2020 the place Sturgeon gave Sridhar her SNP e mail tackle in addition to her authorities one.
Sturgeon wrote: “Don’t fear about protocol – tackling the virus extra necessary than that.”
Opposition celebration leaders stated this corroborated their longstanding issues that Sturgeon used SNP emails to evade scrutiny and freedom of knowledge guidelines – a declare the previous first minister has beforehand denied.
Craig Hoy, chair of the Scottish Conservatives, stated it had already been confirmed Sturgeon deleted all her WhatsApp messages through the pandemic. Avoiding scrutiny on this manner “was calculated, secretive and unacceptable”, he stated.