First Minister’s Statement on 7 October 2020
On Wednesday 7 October, the First Minister made a statement to Scottish Parliament outlining a series of temporary measures intended to stop the rise in coronavirus cases in Scotland. In her statement, the data clearly demonstrated the significant rise in cases. In that regard the evidence paper published on Wednesday by the Chief Medical Officer, Chief Nursing Offer and National Clinical Director shows that the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases with a link to sport is on the rise (see page 12), albeit not specifically linked to our sport.
The First Minister outlined measures that are a mixture of national and regional in scope, that will come into force from 6pm on Friday 9 October for the hospitality changes and 1am Saturday 10 October for all other changes. These measures are to remain in place until to Sunday 25 October inclusive, unless a statement is made prior to them indicating any further change.
The primary measures impacting on sport are regional in their reach, covering the following NHS Health Boards (with local authorities also listed to provide clarity);
NHS Ayrshire & Arran (North, South and East Ayrshire local authority areas)
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde (Glasgow, East and West Dunbartonshire, Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire, and Inverclyde local authority areas)
NHS Lanarkshire (North and South Lanarkshire local authority areas)
NHS Forth Valley (Clackmannanshire, Stirling and Falkirk local authority areas)
NHS Lothian (Edinburgh, East, West and Mid-Lothian local authority areas).
Having confirmed the details, given that STS is not a contact sport, the direct impact on the sport is limited, however we would draw to the attention of indoor and outdoor clubs the following points (please note the following is not applicable to performance sports activity which is approved through the ‘Resumption of Performance Sport’ process):
Outdoor Cubs
Where a local outbreak has been reported, sports facility operators and deliverers should review their facility/operational risk assessment and consider if additional mitigating actions should be put in place to reduce risk. This may, for example, include; suspending activity, enhancing hygiene and physical distancing measures or introducing additional activity restrictions.
Indoor Clubs
Adult (18+) indoor group exercise activities are not allowed. (Adult group activity for the purposes of this guidance is activity, involving adults, from more than 2 households / 6 members of those households who take part in an activity on any one day.)
Indoor sport and leisure facilities can remain open if Scottish Government Coronavirus (COVID-19): Guidance for the opening of indoor and outdoor sport and leisure facilities is fully implemented.
Children under 12 years of age can continue to take part in organised indoor contact and non-contact sports training, activity and competition.
Young adults under 18 years of age can continue to take part in indoor non-contact sports training, activity and competition.
Adults (18 years of age or older) should not take part in any indoor group activity such as exercise classes, any form of contact sport, group competitions or group coaching/training.
Adult group activity for the purposes of this guidance is activity, involving adults, from more than 2 households / 6 members of those households who take part in an activity.
Recreational activity, such as gym use, 1:1 personal training, swimming, ice skating and indoor snowsports activity where physical distancing can be maintained is permitted.
Coaches can take multiple sessions per day, but each session should not include more than one other household if adults are involved (maximum of 6 people in total).
Summary
With that in mind, this does not preclude indoor clubs from opening (or re-opening) but it does emphasise the need for clubs to avoid holding any form of competition and re-iterate the importance of closely monitoring numbers using the range at any one time and ensuring social distancing guidance is followed.
With those factors emphasised, the restrictions on indoor and outdoor sport remain as previously communicated and contained in version 1.4 of the STS guidance for target shooting in Scotland. We will work to update our guidance early next week to help provide further clarity on considerations for clubs when local or regional additional and/or tighter measures are applied.
Additional Indirect Guidance
To summarise the key points from the First Minister’s announcement that do not specifically relate to shooting but may have an indirect relevance and/or impact on it are:
Adult (18+) outdoor contact sport is not allowed, with an exemption for performance sport as defined in the resumption of performance sport guidance. (Indoor adult contact sport continues to be prohibited across the country.)
The following travel advice:
Asking people to avoid public transport unless necessary (e.g. work or school);
Advised to avoid (but not prohibited from) travelling outside your health board area if you don’t need to; and
For those living outside this region, they are advised not to travel into the region if you don’t need to. However, this is advice not mandatory and people are not required to cancel half-term breaks they have planned.
Outdoor adult non-contact group exercise and indoor adult individual exercise can continue in line with current SGB and operator guidance.
There is no change to sport and physical activity guidance for under 18s.
Those who were in the shielding group have not been asked to return to shielding but are being advised to take extra care, especially in the central belt, following the rise in cases.
Finally
While the restrictions announced are short-term, we understand the challenges they present in relation to the re-opening of clubs. We also recognise the impact this pandemic is continuing to have on participation, finances and facilities across the sport. STS will continue to work with the Scottish Government (through sportscotland) to ensure that the concerns and challenges facing the sport are heard, understood and addressed. We will continue doing all we can to support clubs through this and as part of this process, would encourage clubs (members or otherwise) to complete our survey about clubs re-opening, whether they have reopened yet or not, which also provides an opportunity for clubs to identify what additional support they need.