Mask refuseniks will risk a police fine until Easter Monday despite warnings that heavy handed enforcement of coronavirus rules is futile because Scotland is on the cusp of herd immunity.
Nicola Sturgeon confirmed that it would remain an offence to enter a shop, public transport and other indoor places without a mask until April 18.
Those who refuse remain liable for a fine or the police could issue a penalty notice for up to £60.
The first minister also announced that the requirement to wear masks in places of worship would continue until Monday.
Murdo Fraser, the Conservative MSP, asked why she removed her mask at Prince Philip’s memorial service at Westminster Abbey on Tuesday if they were still necessary for public protection.
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Sturgeon insisted she “abided by the rules in place there” and “wore a face covering on the train to London and the train back”. The requirement to wear masks was lifted in England on January 27.
Colin Wilkinson, managing director of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association, said it was “particularly galling” to see Sturgeon without a mask in London while she continued to impose them in Scotland.
“Surely it would have set an example for the first minister still to wear hers at the Duke of Edinburgh’s memorial service given her decision to insist that in licensed hospitality, in shops, on public transport and some indoor settings in Scotland we are required to still wear them until April 18,” he said.
“It is already confusing people and it is exceptionally unfair for business owners and their staff to have to remind people who are not familiar with our rules that they must wear a face covering.
“To say we are bitterly disappointed by today’s announcement is an understatement.”
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Sturgeon condemned the “wall of abuse” she received from the Conservative benches when she announced the legal requirement to wear masks would continue for another two and half weeks.
She said the measure was necessary in light of the record number of people in hospital with coronavirus, but added that there are signs this was levelling off. Police issued just one fixed penalty notice for refusing a mask in the last six month of 2021, the most recent data available.
Sturgeon said: “This phased approach strikes a sensible balance between our desire to remove this one remaining legal measure and the common sense need for continued caution — not least for the sake of the NHS — while this wave of infection subsides.
“I recognise that face coverings are an inconvenience. However, given all the sacrifice of the past two years and in view of the current pressure on the NHS, I believe the vast majority of people will accept that for a further two weeks this is a proportionate precautionary measure while we pass the peak of this latest wave.
“It also provides some further protection to those who are most at risk from the virus.”
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There were 2,344 people in hospital with Covid-19 yesterday, down from 2,383 on Tuesday. The number of people in intensive care has fallen sharply from 33 on March 15 to 20 yesterday.
The latest figures are another blow for government modellers, who forecast more than 50 intensive care cases by the end of March. Such cases were forecast to rise above 80 in mid-April, while cases on general wards were expected to rise to almost 3,500. It is too soon to say whether today’s slight dip is the beginning of a longer downward trend.
Previous government modelling predicting a large wave of cases in January prompted Sturgeon to close nightclubs and ban dancing in pubs on Boxing Day. The wave never emerged.
Sturgeon continues to impose the toughest coronavirus restrictions in the UK but the country has the highest case numbers. Hospital occupancy is equivalent to 44 cases per 100,000 in Scotland, compared with 27 per 100,000 in England.
Dr Christine Tait-Burkard, a coronavirus expert at Edinburgh University, said punishing people for refusing masks was “too big a force” to impose as the latest wave of the pandemic receded.
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She told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland: “I think recommendations for people to wear masks in high-risk environments is the right course of action, it doesn’t need that legal enforcement any more.”
Tait-Burkard said Scotland was seeing a similar decline in cases as the Netherlands, which removed the requirement to wear masks on March 23, and Germany, which lifted the requirement everywhere except public transport around the same time.
She said: “Scotland has dropped around 20 per cent in the last week, looking closer to the Netherlands which dropped 50 per cent, a flatter decrease to Germany which dropped 100 per cent.
“Both countries have actually removed legal requirements to wear masks and all of the other restrictions, and despite that cases are falling which is a good indication of something similar to herd immunity.
“About 80 per cent of people have had the virus and that is the tilting point for cases going down on their own without any additional measures.”
