Covid: Scotland’s rules ease and report describes care staff ‘trauma’

Here are five things you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic this Monday morning.

Secondary school pupils in Scotland will no longer have to wear face coverings in the classroom from today – but they will still be required in corridors. The legal requirement on large venues to implement the vaccine passport scheme also comes to an end, although the app will remain live for businesses wanting to run a voluntary scheme.

The Republic of Ireland has removed the legal requirement to wear face masks in some public settings, replacing it with public health advice that masks should be worn while on public transport and in healthcare settings. However, international travellers still need proof of either their vaccine status, recent recovery from Covid or negative PCR test results.

A report for an English council is highlighting the “experienced untold trauma” suffered by care home staff who had to watch residents die with coronavirus. “They have slept in care homes and care home gardens, away from their own families, to protect vulnerable residents from Covid-19,” says the report by Redcar and Cleveland Council’s assistant director of adult care, Victoria Wilson. More than 39,000 care home residents in England died with the virus in the first year of pandemic.

Therapy dogs are being used to calm children who are anxious about having their Covid vaccination. The dogs have been used at sessions including at Salisbury, Wiltshire, for children who are at risk of Covid or who live with a vulnerable person. And Fiona Hyett, the vaccination centre director at Salisbury City Hall, says: “Having pet therapy dogs on site has really helped provide comfort and distraction for the youngest children.”

When Covid hit, restaurants closed – some temporarily, others permanently. This led to some chefs reinventing their careers on TikTok. Thara Moise says she had to make sure she was “going to ‘blow up’ on social media” when she decided to be her own boss after being furloughed from her job leading a busy kitchen. She started to upload videos of her cooking and recipes to TikTok and it took from from there. Read more.

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Here’s our guide on self-isolation rules across the UK.

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