Libraries, museums and tourism provisionally set to re-open from July 15th

Our First Minister has given a statement today at the Scottish Parliament indicating the next steps of the process to come out of lockdown, including provisional dates, subject to further progress in suppressing the virus.

For the family historian, and associated disiplines, the following are some of the key measures as announced by Nicola Sturgeon in the updated routemap, in her words:

I can confirm that, on 3 July, it is our intention to lift the guidance advising people in Scotland to travel no more than 5 miles for leisure and recreation purposes.

And although the tourism sector will not open fully until the 15 July, we intend that self-contained holiday accommodation – for example holiday cottages and lodges, or caravans where there are no shared services - can open from 3 July.

We intend that from 10 July, households will be able to meet people from more households outdoors - with physical distancing. I will confirm the details of that in my 2 July update.

From 15 July, we intend that a household will be able to meet indoors with people from up to two other households, subject to physical distancing and strict hygiene measures .

As we have indicated, the tourism sector generally - and therefore all holiday accommodation - can re-open from 15 July. We intend that indoor locations such as museums, galleries, monuments, cinemas and libraries will also be able to reopen from that date, but with precautions in place - for example, tickets being secured in advance – and of course subject to physical distancing and strict hygiene.

The First Minister's full speech is available on the Government's website at https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-update-first-ministers-speech-24-june-2020/.

COMMENT: It looks likely that libraries and museums will re-open on a restricted basis to begin with, perhaps with ticketed bookings and social distancing measures in place, and no mention was made of archives within the statement. I will obviously update as and when such announcements begin to appear.

Chris

My next 5 week Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the Old Parish Registers course starts July 6th - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=302. My next book, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is now out, also available are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.