Closing schools during the coronavirus pandemic may have been a mistake, Scotland’s health chief admits

Professor Jason Leitch has admitted closing schools during the Covid pandemic may have been a mistake.

Scotland’s national clinical director said different decisions might have been taken had the full impact of lockdown been known.

Professor Leitch, who led the Covid campaign, added that he was drafted into televised meetings of the Scottish Government over fears only half of the nation liked First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

His comments appear to undermine tough tactics used by the Scottish and UK governments for two years of causing enormous disruption to education, the NHS, business and society.

Scotland’s health chief suggested other decisions may have been made in hindsight

Yesterday, a parents’ group welcomed his apparent “admission” that closing schools was a “terrible” decision.

Professor Leitch stressed that he had been a spokesman for the SNP government, not a policymaker, during the pandemic.

But he would advise ministers, if he felt it necessary, to “go tough on this”.

Professor Leitch added: “We needed public approval because we are a democracy.

“The feeling was that a clinical leader would be better than a politician because only half [of the country] disliked Nicola Sturgeon and the other half. But more than half trusted her.”

His comments came at a talk entitled Faith in the Covid era at Christ Church in Morningside, Edinburgh last week.

He continued, “I’ve made some missteps. We did what we did because of the knowledge we had at the time. I don’t know if we would do it that way again because we have different knowledge now.

“I wonder if we would reconsider closing schools. Lockdown is an old-fashioned approach to treating a disease that’s traveling the world on a plane.

Professor Leitch, a 54-year-old qualified dentist and member of Airdrie Baptist Church, Lanarkshire, said during the pandemic it “felt unchristian not to be able to hug and make human connections”.

In his lecture he said: “In answer to the question, what have we done to faith? It’s more important to ask what we’ve done to people, and that will stay with me forever.

“I had a family that I didn’t see and wasn’t raised. In my community there were old people who died alone.

,That was awful. And what happened in nursing homes and schools will stay with me forever.’

A spokesman for children’s rights group UFTScotland said: “Now we are seeing confirmation that homeschooling was a terrible political decision that impacted a generation.

“We knew from the data at the time that Covid was affecting older people and was not a problem for younger people and the harm of closing schools was never considered. Everyone went insane and children were thrown under a bus. Now Professor Leitch admits that children were not brought up.’

Younger children have been hardest hit by the Covid lockdowns, with teachers reporting children are more likely to exhibit aggressive behavior and feel overwhelmed in groups

Scottish Conservative health spokesman Dr. Sandesh Gulhane, said: “We have repeatedly urged Nicola Sturgeon’s government to put schools first when it comes to easing lockdown restrictions – to limit the huge disruption to student education – but they have invariably been the one last ones where the curbs were lifted.

“Professor Leitch’s comment suggests he believes we were right.”

The Scottish Government said it has committed to a public inquiry into its handling of the pandemic.

A spokesman added: “Our priority during the pandemic has been to save lives and reduce the damage of the disease.”