Kilt fitter at Scotland's coronavirus 'Ground Zero' attacks SNP government for keeping outbreak secret

A woman who fitted kilts for delegates at a conference believed to be Scotland's coronavirus 'Ground Zero' has said she is angry and upset the SNP government kept the outbreak secret.

Gillian Russell said she was not traced by public health officials who investigated the 25 cases linked to the Nike event in Edinburgh in February and she feared she passed on the virus to others.

The 43-year-old, who had to take time off work with flu-like symptoms, said neither she nor her colleagues were warned about the outbreak, despite Nicola Sturgeon’s claim that “contact tracing was done rigorously in this situation".

She said "that is simply not true in my case" and in subsequent weeks she spent time with elderly relatives, attended a retirement party, and flew on holiday to Portugal with her partner on a full airplane.

Ms Russell said she was shocked to find out from the media earlier this month about the outbreak at the international conference, which was staged at Edinburgh's Hilton Carlton Hotel on Feb 26 and 27. It is thought to have included Scotland's first Covid-19 cases.

Nike closed many of its stores around the UK and worldwide for deep cleans but the Scottish public was not informed. Ms Sturgeon has said she did not make it public to protect patient confidentiality but has been accused of cover-up.

The intervention by Ms Russell comes as the Scottish Government's scheme starts on Thursday to trace the close contacts of those with the virus.

Ms Sturgeon confirmed that the Test and Protect plan will see free hotel accommodation to virus sufferers and their close contacts who cannot self-isolate at home.

An army of contact tracers has been tasked with discovering who has been in close proximity to Scots with Covid-19 and telling them to stay apart from others for 14 days.

But public confidence in the system has been undermined by the failure of the incident management team set up to investigate the Nike outbreak to identify some of the 70 delegates' close contacts.

It emerged last week that three guides who took the delegates on a walking tour of Edinburgh were also not contacted, along with 20 Lloyds Banking Group employees who shared facilities with the delegates.

Ms Russell, a shop manager, told Sky News she helped to fit hire kilts for 10 Nike delegates, five men and five women on 24 February. Soon afterwards, she and several colleagues began to feel unwell.

She said: "I'm quite angry and upset about it. I don't like the thought that I could have possibly infected someone without my knowledge. We were never informed. The worry is that somebody is actually infected and, possibly, died."

Asked about the SNP government's decision not to disclose the outbreak, she said: "It's wrong. They've kept things from us, they should have been a lot more upfront and honest.

"They should have told us when the cases broke at the conference if they were unable to trace everybody that people had been in contact within Edinburgh."

Ms Russell cannot be sure about the cause of her illness as she has never been tested for the virus, but she said she would not have risked exposing others.

Ian Murray, Labour's Edinburgh South MP, said: "Her personal story exposes why the SNP government made a fundamental error by deciding to cover-up this outbreak.

"This matters because as the government belatedly introduces its test, trace, isolate strategy, there are now questions about whether people can have faith in it."

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The Scottish Government has been entirely consistent in its handling and publication of information relating to positive cases of COVID-19 in Scotland, and claims to the contrary in regard to the Nike issue are simply wrong.

“All appropriate steps were taken to ensure public health was protected, with more than 60 contacts traced in Scotland, and around 50 others traced in England.

"All of the cases linked to this event were assessed by their close contact, or contact with conference delegates who tested positive after the event so public health authorities were satisfied there was minimal infection risk and did not consider it necessary to issue a public health notice.”