One of Nicola Sturgeon’s most trusted advisers has slammed the “utter crap” response to coronavirus in her native Florida, and claimed the public should avoid cruise ships.
Professor Devi Sridhar addressed the Edinburgh International Book Festival ahead of the release of her book titled Preventable: The Politics of Pandemics and How to Stop the Next One.
As Professor of Global Public Health at Edinburgh University, she also sits on the Scottish Government’s coronavirus advisory board.
During the discussion with broadcaster Sally Magnusson on Friday, she said the UK had made mistakes early in the pandemic by “not running fast enough” in tracing Covid cases.
She said Boris Johnson’s announcement on March 12 2020 led to her speaking out about the UK’s Covid strategy on social media.
‘Don’t go on cruise ships’
As reported in The Herald, Prof Sridhar doubled down on her earlier criticism of the cruise industry, following remarks made in February 2020 where she called the boats “floating germ factories”.
She said on Friday: “I would say, as a public health person, don’t go on a cruise ship ever.
“I know, that’s going to get me in trouble. I have had a cruise.
“Is there a legal on this event? I have had a cruise.
“The cruise industry lobbyists wrote [to] me very upset about my comments about cruise ships.
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“But I just think cruise ships and infectious diseases are… they’re not meant to go together.”
Many of Scotland’s island communities depend on the industry economically, with cruises only returning to the country’s ports in July.
Ships have also started docking in Dundee again, following a 17-month pause due to the outbreak.
‘Utter crap’
The academic praised the Scottish Government’s response to the pandemic compared to how the US administration had dealt with the issue.
She added: “All I can say is that I think I do feel fortunate to live in Scotland through this moment compared to being back in Florida.
“Florida is a mess. And I think it shows the importance of governance and leadership.
“Florida from a distance might look great because there’s no restrictions and everything is open and there’s no mask mandates.
“But the result is many people hiding in their homes.”
She continued: “People don’t know what to believe any more because he said such utter crap. I think here in this country you’d say utter rubbish?
“So people don’t know what to believe so it creates anarchy.
“One of the things New Zealand, for example, has done well is there’s one source of information and people trust it.
“And I think in Scotland, across Britain in fact, because of the trust in scientists (the) uptake (of vaccines) is really high.”
Covid safe
All passengers and crew must follow strict Covid-secure safety measures when arriving on board cruise ships.
The UK and Scottish Governments, as well as cruise operators, have put in place a range of strict protocols and procedures to ensure the safety of passengers, crew and members of the public as the industry begins to resume activity.
Safety measures include a negative PCR test prior to embarking for all passengers and crew and consent to testing during the cruise.
Shore excursion bubbles are in place and passengers will only be permitted ashore on an organised ships excursion.