Sam McBride: What is happening at Stormont over coronavirus restrictions is inept, but also baffling

Oct 20, 2020

Dear reader

The row about the coronavirus restrictions introduced by the Stormont Executive rumbled on on Monday, with a Lagan Valley MLA the latest high profile DUP politician to speak out.

Paul Givan said in the Assembly on Tuesday that the attempts by some other parties on the Executive to push for school closures to last between four and six weeks were tantamount to “child abuse”.

Schools here are set to remain closed for an extra week at half-term as part of the new virus restrictions, but it is claimed that other parties, including Sinn Fein, wanted them shut for much longer.

In the Republic, where the country moved to Tier 5 restrictions last night, schools will remain open despite swathes of the economy closing down for six weeks.

The row comes as the Department of Health confirmed that another three people have died after contracting coronavirus.

It was another day of high infection rates with 913 people in Northern Ireland having tested positive for Covid-19 over the previous 24 hours.

Stay safe

Alistair Bushe
Editor

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