Yesterday was another grim chapter in a story of anguish and heartbreak for Scotland.
Even though the numbers are moving in the right direction, news that the death toll had reached 4000 was still a shocking development.
Four thousand families are grieving and struggling to make sense of the chaos of the last few months.
However, it is inevitable that Scots will pore over the numbers and wonder how many of the deaths were avoidable.
It is unrealistic to expect perfection but an assessment of the early decisions is sensible.
Allowing patients to move from hospitals to care homes without being tested was a tragic error.
Not equipping all NHS and care home staff with PPE was another blunder.
Across the UK, a slowness to go into lockdown was almost certainly another mistake that cost lives.
Professor Neil Ferguson estimated that going into lockdown one week earlier could have halved the UK’s death toll.
A similar conclusion was reached by Edinburgh University academics last month. Caution, perhaps brought on by fear, has proved fatal.
The pain of those who have lost loved ones is acute, and the least they deserve is an honest account of what went wrong, and why.
