The media, not wanting to bite the hand that feeds it, has mainly focused on what will reopen – and who we will be “allowed” to cuddle – when the next stage of the Government’s “roadmap” out of lockdown is reached on May 17th. Very little has been written about the businesses that won’t be able to open on this date – but the Sun has today reported on the companies that will have to continue to wait (if they can afford to do so).
While many businesses are set to reopen next Monday, some will have to wait until June 21st at the earliest to reopen…
If you want to go clubbing, you won’t be able to do so until another six weeks time – if the Prime Minister’s roadmap out of lockdown goes according to plan.
This is due to the difficulty of making them Covid-secure due to limited social distancing and it’s harder to keep areas clean constantly.
Gigs are supposed to restart from June 21st, but they could be allowed to go-ahead with limits on numbers and social distancing from next Monday.
Weddings should be allowed without restrictions on numbers in the final stage of the roadmap – but the Prime Minister is under pressure to relax rules sooner than this.
All restrictions will be lifted from June 21st as long as the pace of the vaccine rollout continues the way it is, and infection rates stay down.
Not quite “all” restrictions will end at this point, however. Reports suggest that rules on mask-wearing will stay in place past the “end” of lockdown. Caps on audience numbers at large events are also being discussed, as are staggered entry and exit times which will mean lots of queuing (thereby increasing the chances of viral transmission).
Indoor events such as gigs will have a capacity limit of 1,000, or 50% [from May 17th] – whichever is the smaller number.
Meanwhile, outdoor events will be able to welcome up 4,000 or 50% capacity.
But outdoor events which are seated, such as football matches, will be capped at 10,000 or 25%.
The Government is said to have already told football’s UEFA that crowd sizes at upcoming events – including ones that will take place after June 21st – will be limited to 45,000. And, of course, tens of thousands of businesses will never reopen due to the damage done to them by a year of lockdowns.
The Sun report is worth reading in full.
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