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NICOLA STURGEON YESTERDAY announced that pubs, restaurants and cafes in most parts of Scotland will be banned from selling alcohol indoors for more than two weeks, in an effort to curb Covid-19.
Starting at 6:00 pm in the morning, pubs and restaurants will only be able to open interior spaces between 6:00 am and 6:00 pm and they will not be able to serve alcohol inside them, although they can sell drinks outside until 10 pm
However, five areas – Greater Glasgow & Clyde, Lanarkshire, Ayrshire & Arran, Lothian and Forth Valley – face stricter restrictions, with pubs closed to all customers except for take out during the same period.
The cafes will be open until 6 p.m., as long as alcohol is not sold, the Prime Minister said, to counter social isolation.
First of all, what is the current situation regarding Covid cases in Scotland?
Coinciding with Sturgeon’s announcement, the Scottish government released the evidence from its senior clinical advisers who guided the new restrictions.
The evidence document noted an increase in infections in Scotland, but highlighted several areas in the central belt that were of particular concern.
“Various areas of the board of health, including Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Lanarkshire and Lothian, have been tracking rates of more than 100 positive cases per 100,000 population over the past seven days,” clinical advisers said in the document.
The assessors also expressed concern about neighboring areas in Ayrshire and Arran and Fort Valley, which are showing an increase of more than 55 cases per 100,000, “suggesting that there may be a domino effect spreading from existing areas of high number of cases and growth “. .
By comparison, the incidence rate per 100,000 from September 23 to October 6 at midnight was 171.4 in Dublin, 312.2 in Donegal, and 257.4 in Monaghan.
Source: PA Graphics
What is the evidence behind closing the pubs?
The evidence document highlighted that Scotland is “closely monitoring” the situation in France with a four week delay and Spain with a six week delay.
Scotland currently has half the number of new infections as France and a quarter of those in Spain.
Mortality rates in Spain rose significantly in mid-September and are now 10 times the rate in Scotland.
Both France and Spain have introduced tough new measures to reduce their growing number of infections and deaths, including closing all Paris bars for two weeks starting October 6.
Marseille’s bars and restaurants closed for 15 days on September 30 and additional restrictions have been put in place in Madrid as well, with bars and restaurants closing at 10 p.m.
Evidence documents go on to describe the role of hospitality in suppressing Covid-19.
The hospitality industry was essentially shut down in Scotland in late March in an attempt to curb the spread of Covid-19 until July 15, when the country entered Phase Three of its roadmap.
Phase Three meant that households could meet up to four other households at a time outdoors, up to 15 people in total. A household could also meet up to two other households indoors at the same time, up to eight people in total.
The model of the R rate at that time shows that around three weeks later, it rose above 1. This is when the virus begins to spread most rapidly.
“While this cannot be entirely attributed to hospitality, it likely played a role,” clinical advisers said in the paper.
From the details of the interviews that were completed as part of Test and Protect, Scotland’s contact tracing program, up to 26% of people who tested positive for Covid-19 between late July and early October reported “exposure” to hospitality settings, such as pubs, restaurants, or cafes.
All ages are included, but of 26%, half belonged to the 20-39 age group.
It was noted in the document that the data does not indicate where the people who tested positive were infected.
“However, it does highlight that people who have been infected have been in hospitality settings where they could have transmitted the virus to other people. As virus levels increase in the community, this consideration becomes more important, ”said clinical advisers.
Hospitality presents one of the greatest risks of spreading the virus, the advisers said, as this environment generally “involves people of different ages with different individual risk profiles who mix with other households or sit in close proximity to other households during more than 15 years. minutes “.
This advice was taken into account when deciding to shut down all licensed pubs and cafes in board of health areas with significantly high rates of Covid-19.
However, as noted above, pubs and restaurants in other parts of Scotland will be able to open indoor spaces between 6 a.m. M. And 6 p.m. M. And they will be prohibited from serving alcohol inside.
The clinical advisers did not provide full details on why alcohol should be banned from these facilities, but did note in the document that “as people will generally visit family or friends, they will naturally be less concerned about distancing and this behavior will also be seen influenced by the disinhibiting impact of alcohol ”.
People sitting in n open air restaurant area in the Grassmarket in Edinburgh, Scotland
Source: Jane Barlow via PA Images
Have other countries adopted similar approaches?
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As noted above, both France and Spain have introduced stringent new measures to reduce their increasing number of infections and deaths, including closing all bars in Paris for two weeks starting October 6.
Bars and restaurants in Marseille closed for 15 days on September 30 and additional restrictions have been put in place in Madrid as well, with bars and restaurants closing at 10 p.m.
Here in Ireland, which is completely on Level 3 today, eating indoors in pubs and restaurants is prohibited. Outdoor seating and service are allowed outside of wet bars and restaurants.
Also, web pubs (the ones that don’t serve food) are closed in Dublin.
One idea currently being raised by various government TDs, although not believed to be a realistic broker, is reducing opening hours for off-license licenses.
Describing the case in RTÉ’s Today with Claire Byrne yesterday, Junior Minister Patrick O’Donovan said that alcohol consumption was having an impact on the spread of Covid-19
He said: “We are asking people to exercise common sense here. When you see slabs of cans being brought home, you know they aren’t taking them home for an after-dinner snack. We can’t pretend that house parties aren’t taking place when they clearly are. ”
It is understood that the government is not considering restricting the opening hours for unlicensed licenses at this time as it is believed that it would have little effect as people would simply shop earlier in the day.
Commenting on this issue at last night’s press conference at the Health Department, Medical Director Dr. Tony Holohan noted that after a few alcoholic beverages “it becomes more difficult to follow … advice and maintain social distance.”
“There is no question that alcohol has played a huge role in helping to create the kind of social circumstances in which this virus thrives,” said Dr. Holohan. Added:
This virus loves alcohol.
Similar to the suggestion to reduce license opening hours in Ireland, South Africa imposed a ban on the sale of alcohol and tobacco products in March, when the country entered a strict lockdown in an attempt to stop the spread of Covid. -19.
The sale of alcohol was banned to ease pressure on hospitals, allowing emergency room physicians to focus on Covid-19 rather than traffic accidents and other alcohol-related injuries.
These measures were lifted at the end of August. However, it remains questionable whether the measures were effective. At the end of August, South Africa still had the fifth highest number of Covid-19 cases in the world.
With reports from the Press Association and AFP
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