The first thing I saw on Twitter regarding the Covid Winter Plan (because everything has to have a brand these days, including pandemic responses, somewhere the Grim Reaper is opening an ad firm) is a Tory saying that football fans will be allowed back to watch live games. A capacity of about 4000 limit.
I'm going to assume this is a joke. Surely not even the Tories are this stupid.
So we're going back to the same three tier system as before (4 if you live in Bristol, where the mayor invented a 'tier one and a half'). I despair; that system didn't work before. It was filled with inconsistencies and proved confusing. Ultimately it proved unsuccessful which is why we are here, looking forward to a return to the same mess.
Johnson says more places will fall in higher Tiers which will be tougher. I can't really understand how there can be more than 2 grades: either you're in lockdown or you aren't - but with appropriate social distancing and not opening the places that prove a vector, like pubs. But no, the doors will be flung open once again.
Essentially these are the rules:
a. In tier 1, the government will reinforce the importance of working from home wherever possible.
b. In tier 2, pubs and bars must close unless they are serving substantial meals (like a full breakfast, main lunchtime or evening meal), along with accompanying drinks.
c. In tier 3, all hospitality will close except for delivery, takeaway and drive-through; hotels and other accommodation providers must close (except for specific exemptions, including people staying for work purposes or where they cannot return home); and indoor entertainment venues must also close.
Also the Rule of Six is a thing, again. Utterly ridiculous, it made no sense before, it's not suddenly going to work now is it!
So in tier 2 pubs will just get round restrictions by serving 'substantial' meals (ie more than just a bag of crisps and 10 pints of lager). What a joke. It's good, then, that Covid is stopped by food. Right?
All this just to appease the economy. They pretend it's because they care about people's well being, but we know they don't. One look at the last ten years is enough to prove otherwise.
The following modifications also exist:
a. The 10pm closing time for hospitality has been modified to last orders at 10pm and closing time at 11pm. This allows customers to depart gradually and provides greater flexibility.
b. In tiers 1 and 2, spectator sport and business events can now resume inside and outside with tight capacity limits and social distancing, providing more consistency with indoor performances in theatres and concert halls.
c. The government is expanding eligibility of ‘support bubbles’[footnote 2]. This will help mitigate the impacts of the restrictions on parents of children aged under 1 (or under 5, but with a disability that necessitates continuous care) and for those households where a single adult cares for someone with a serious disability.
How on earth does this make any sense? They believe this is going to help make the conditions safe for a more open Christmas, but it won't. The disease is still prevalent and still dangerous and people are still asymptomatic. It may ease the burden on the NHS (which is really all the vaccine can do at this point since it's not going to be widely available until Spring).
The hospitality industry gets its way through a series of confusing conditions that don't do anything to stop the virus. People will of course still pile in and then pile out come closing time, even if it's an hour later. People won't depart gradually, they'll stay until chucking out time as they always do.
How mass events like sport and entertainment can now be deemed safe off the back of this second vast wave is beyond me.
NO one wants this situation to continue, except, it seems, the Tories who are doing their damnedest to ensure it does.
You can read the rules here.
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