‘ARE you ready to protect your friends and family from the coronavirus?” – a landlord is offering up 23 Skye lets as “isolation solutions” for city-dwellers for £3100 per month.
Ben Greer has urged those on the mainland to “protect your loved ones” from the spread of Covid-19 by heading to “one of the most beautiful destinations on the planet where it’s easy to avoid people”.
For £100 per person per night, Greer, who runs Skye Serviced Accommodation, will provide food and supplies to temporary tenants, who must pay fees up front and agree to stay for at least one month.
The money buys a food delivery, but not the food itself, a weekly change of towels and linens and a cleaning kit for the property.
An online listing compares Skye’s square footage and population density to those of London and Edinburgh, boasting of the island’s “clean air”.
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Comparing the pandemic to warfare, it goes on: “I am an ex-Royal Air Force Chinook Helicopter Crewman having served six operational front line tours of Afghanistan. I understand what an emergency is and will go as far as it takes to mitigate transmission of the current threat.”
It continues: “My team are in the process of being trained in Personal Protective Equipment and cleaning processes so as to minimise the risk of transmission of Covid-19.
“I cannot guarantee that you won’t get the virus here, but I can say that the risks are severely cut to a minimum and that we will use all available powers to deliver a sanitised and procedurally safe environment.”
Those who take up the offer are required to undergo coronavirus testing before arriving at the properties to prove they are free of the illness.
Greer said: “Don’t waste time before we have a nationwide lockdown and you cannot travel, get somewhere safe where risk of infection is minimal.”
There are now five confirmed cases across the NHS Highland area, as well as 26 in neighbouring Grampian.
Greer’s advert states that his properties, which sleep up to eight people, are in different island locations, “but even those in the main town of Portree are easy to access and depart from without human contact”.
Last night the listing provoked angry condemnation on social media, with Scottish Greens MSP Andy Wightman amongst the critics.
The land campaigner tweeted: “The country faces a crisis. Folk can’t afford homes on Skye. But this scumbag outfit is advertising 23 short-term lets for self-isolation.”
Meanwhile, outdoors expert Cameron McNeish called the offer “quite sickening” and folk singer Karine Polwart branded it “capitalist endgame shit”.
And others described it as “profiteering”.
However, Greer says he is acting “to provide sanctuary for those that are concerned about the outbreak” during what will be a quiet time for tourism in the region.
He said: “There are many beautiful places to see here on the island and in a normal season, Skye is a very popular tourist attraction. This year will be very different.”
Coronavirus is affecting every region in Scotland. In the Western Isles yesterday, the local authority said all sport and leisure facilities, libraries and museums would close “indefinitely” by the end of the day.
And NHS Ayrshire and Arran has restricted its visiting times to two hour-long slots every day, allowing just one person per visit and asking children under 12 do not attempt to visit.
Meanwhile, Scottish Mountain Rescue – which has teams in Skye, Arran and Braemar – has urged walkers and climbers to stick to “familiar and safe” areas amid efforts to tackle coronavirus, telling the public to “go on adventures you are familiar and safe with and while doing so, keep social distancing in mind.”
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