A TORY councillor has been condemned after vowing to attend a meeting despite telling colleagues he had tested positive for Covid-19.
Conservative representative Marc Asquith sent an email announcing that he had contracted the virus but intended to go ahead with the face-to-face meeting this morning regardless.
He said he was “not concerned” because he had received two doses of a coronavirus vaccine.
Asquith, who sits on the Cheshire East Council, later claimed that he misread his test result and was not in fact Covid-positive.
He was nevertheless lambasted for his initial insistence that we would attend the meeting.
The councillor’s email read: “Colleagues, I appear to have tested positive for Covid-19 this evening.
“However, given that I have had the two jabs I am not concerned.
“Since I have a skin condition, I do not wear a mask but rather a visor, I plan to attend tomorrow as required.
“Those of you who are shielding may wish to keep social distancing from me.
"Best regards, Marc.”
This councillor who said he would go to this morning’s full @CheshireEast meeting despite testing positive for coronavirus … says he actually tested negative. He mis-read his lateral flow test. https://t.co/hdh3O5kVLs
— Phil McCann (@phi1mccann) June 22, 2021
Cheshire East Labour led the backlash.
A statement read: "This is disgraceful from a Conservative Councillor in Cheshire East. Marc Asquith absolutely should not turn up at the Full Council meeting tomorrow, as in doing so he will be putting dozens of people at risk. We call on @CEC_Cons to take action against him urgently."
Asquith was forced to backtrack and claimed that he had misread his test result.
He told CheshireLive: "I did the test and I mistakenly thought it was positive, it was actually negative.
"I circulated the image of the test with my email to fellow councillors that I planned to come anyway and a few had got back to me and said 'you fool, that's a negative test'."
He added: "My view was that it was adequate protection, I felt that if I stayed away from people and wore my mask I would be okay.
"But I will concede that I was over enthusiastic to represent some of the views I had today and that was a mistake."
The councillor stated that he will not be attending the meeting after all.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel