The investigation into Covid has come to an end. Here are the most significant events of the day:
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Sturgeon, visibly emotional and on the verge of tears multiple times throughout the day, expressed her belief that the death toll from the pandemic was excessively high. She went on to apologize to those who had lost loved ones and to those who had been impacted in other ways, stating that she and her government had done everything in their power and would leave it to others to assess their efforts.
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Earlier today, Sturgeon expressed a similar sentiment, stating that the decisions made during the pandemic will have a lasting impact on her life.
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Sturgeon acknowledged that she erased WhatsApp messages, citing “security concerns”. Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar alleged that Sturgeon was untruthful to a journalist when she stated that she had kept WhatsApp messages that the inquiry may want to examine.
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Sturgeon expressed her regret over not implementing a lockdown sooner in 2020 during the pandemic. She stated, “Of all the regrets I have, the biggest one is not enacting a lockdown one or two weeks earlier than we did.”
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During the course of the day, she refuted allegations of using the pandemic for political gain in order to garner support for Scottish independence. The main lawyer, Jamie Dawson KC, stated that this would be a significant betrayal of the Scottish population, which Sturgeon acknowledged.
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Proof was provided to the inquiry that the Scottish government had apprehensions about Spain preventing an independent Scotland from being accepted into the EU due to travel restrictions. An email, sent on July 19th from then deputy first minister John Swinney’s email address but signed off by someone named Scott, was also copied to Sturgeon and other high-ranking government officials. The email stated, “No matter how much ministers may try to justify it on health grounds, the Spanish government will see it as purely political; they will not forget; there is a genuine chance that they will never approve EU membership for an independent Scotland as a result.”
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Sturgeon stated that Boris Johnson was not the suitable prime minister to handle the Covid situation. When asked if Johnson was the wrong prime minister for the crisis, she responded with a “yes”.
Scotland.
“No,” she replied.
Individuals from Scotland who have lost a loved one to Covid.
I apologize to all those who have lost loved ones and to anyone who has been affected in any other way.
“I have put forth my utmost effort, as has my government, and ultimately it is up to the people to judge. However, I am confident that every day, myself and my colleagues have done our best to navigate this country through the challenges of the Covid pandemic.”
Sturgeon expressed tearfully that she believes the death toll from the pandemic was excessively high.
With tears welling up, Sturgeon expressed, “I deeply believe that the number of lives taken by this pandemic was unacceptably high. It was never a feasible goal to have no loss of life during a pandemic.”
I believe it was excessively high.
“I believe the other consequences were excessively severe. Every loss of life is a heartbreaking tragedy, and I am remorseful for it. Both those in this room and those outside across the nation are struggling with the pain and anguish caused by this. Unfortunately, we did not perform as well as I had hoped.”
Sturgeon expressed that the consequences of the choices made during the pandemic will stay with her for the rest of her life.
During the Covid-19 Inquiry, Sturgeon expressed her emotions while recounting a memory of sitting in Bute House in February 2020. She had a document with worst-case scenario figures and a potential number of deaths, which thankfully did not occur at that level. However, her instinct at that moment shifted completely.
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“At that time, my primary instinct and the one I utilized in handling the pandemic was: how can I effectively guide a government to make decisions that will minimize the devastating impact of this virus?”
Individuals will form their own opinions of me, my leadership, and my choices. However, throughout my lifetime, I will bear the consequences of these decisions and regret any that were incorrect. Nevertheless, I will always have the conviction in my heart and soul that my intentions and drive were solely focused on doing what was best during this pandemic.
Sturgeon has refuted allegations that her pandemic response was based solely on her intuition.
During a discussion about the fanzone in Glasgow for the 2020 European Championships, which were actually held in 2021, an email was revealed to Sturgeon from former health secretary Humza Yousaf and national clinical director Prof Jason Leitch. The email stated that Sturgeon’s initial inclination was to cancel the event.
In response to the allegation made by Jamie Dawson KC, the main lawyer for the investigation, the ex-prime minister stated that the fanzone’s cancellation could have been a possibility.
She explained that despite her initial instinct, she sought out the opinions of experts, asked for advice, and carefully considered their recommendations before ultimately making a decision that went against her gut feeling.
Sturgeon stated that it is possible that Covid will never completely disappear, despite her belief that the pandemic will not come to an end quickly even with the vaccine rollout.
Jamie Dawson KC inquired of Sturgeon whether she and the Scottish government believed that the vaccine’s arrival would lead to a quick end to the pandemic.
According to Sturgeon, although we are no longer in a state of pandemic, people are still dying from Covid every week.
The Covid virus is still present and it is possible that it will continue to exist indefinitely.
She stated that she had been referred to as the “harbinger of bad news” in regards to Covid.
Sturgeon became emotional for the second time today as she expressed that she is deeply affected when her intentions behind her actions during the pandemic are doubted.
She expressed that she feels a strong personal connection when her motives are questioned, as she knows that they were sincere and made with good intentions.
Jamie Dawson of KC presented the idea to Sturgeon that she wanted to be known as the one who successfully eradicated Covid in Scotland, but Sturgeon declined.
The ex-prime minister expressed that their government’s choices aimed to keep the impact of Covid as minimal as possible, reducing the number of lives lost and lessening the effects on people’s jobs and children’s education.
I acknowledge that there will be thorough examination of the choices that were made, including some that I regret not making differently, while others were the correct ones.
I was motivated by my desire to do what was morally correct in order to lessen the negative impact of the virus.
I was not as successful as I had hoped in implementing measures to reduce the toll, which was too high not just in Scotland but also in other parts of the UK. However, these measures may have had some effect.
Sturgeon inquired about the frequency with which public health professor Devi Sridhar reviewed her statements for press and press interviews to ensure they were in agreement.
Sturgeon disagreed, asserting that the amount of work produced by Prof Sridhar indicates that if she did do this, it was only on a few occasions.
Sturgeon stated that the Scottish government’s strategy was to suppress the virus to the “lowest possible level”, which she referred to as a “maximum suppression” approach.
She stated that government officials often use terms such as “zero Covid” and elimination informally, but she strongly emphasized that this is not the same as eradication, which she believes to be a distinct concept.
She stated: “I never believed that we would reach a point where Covid was completely eliminated and disappeared.”
Source: theguardian.com
