How pandemic unfolded
| Published date | 24 March 2021 |
| Publication title | Stirling Observer |
February 21 By the following month, the Observer told how Stirling MSP Bruce Crawford praised the work of laboratory staff across Scotland for helping to keep the coronavirus at bay.
March 4 People across Stirling were being urged not to panic over fears about the spread of coronavirus after the first Scottish case was confirmed.
Fears were being felt locally with hand sanitiser selling out in city centre pharmacies and shelves were emptied in Superdrug and Bodycare and sales limited to two per customer in Boots in the Thistles. A testing centre was set up at Lochview Hospital in Larbert.
March 6 Forth Valley recorded its first confirmed case of coronavirus as the country was on high alert.
A resident tested positive on Thursday, March 5 in the first known case in the Forth Valley area. The infected person was said to have been in contact with another known to have the disease. NHS bosses said the patient's location could not be disclosed but assured residents they had contacted all those who may be at risk of catching the virus from them.
It also emerged that a Forth Valley College lecturer had gone into self-isolation. It was thought the lecturer had recently returned from Italy where a total of 107 people had been killed by the coronavirus at that time. The lecturer, based at the Stirling campus, made the decision to selfisolate, without being formally diagnosed, to reduce the risk of passing the virus on to students.
March 11 The second positive COVID case was detected in Forth Valley. An NHS Forth Valley spokeswoman said: "If you have not been contacted directly then you are not at any potential risk. For patient confidentiality reasons no further information will be released that could identify the patients.''
March 13 Nine school pupils from the Stirling Council area and seven local authority employees were forced into self-isolation as the pandemic worsened. The news came on the same day that the Scottish Government revealed that the number of confirmed cases in Forth Valley had trebled, rising from two to six.
Traders were also being urged to maintain fair prices for products that were in high demand. Products such as toilet roll, hand sanitiser and even dried foods, such as pasta and rice, were in higher demand due to panic buying.
March 18
The...
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