The audience ceiling rises to 300 for culture and sports.

Of: TT

Published: October 22, 2020 at 3:27 pm
Updated: October 22, 2020 at 4.15 pm

Seated audiences of a maximum of 300 people will be allowed at cultural and sporting events starting November 1.

However, the conditions for nightclubs are tightening.

– It must be finalized now, says Prime Minister Stefan Löfven.

The government has decided to waive the ban on public gatherings and public events for more than 50 people.

For theater, concerts, cinemas and sporting events with seats, audiences of up to 300 people should be allowed. Previously, the plan was for the facilities for cultural and sporting events to have come into effect on October 15. Then there was talk of fixing the ceiling at 500 people. Now the relays will go into effect on November 1 and the ceiling will be lower, 300.

Assume the responsibility

– Organizers from the sports and culture sector have shown a clear willingness to take responsibility for implementing the events. Now they have the opportunity to assume this responsibility, says Culture and Sports Minister Amanda Lind (MP) at a press conference.

However, this does not mean that the danger has passed in Sweden, he emphasizes.

– The situation remains serious and a great responsibility falls on the organizers to ensure that the requirements are met. But also in all of us now, to continue to assume a great responsibility, says Lind.

Two people from the same company should be allowed to sit next to each other, but otherwise the audience should sit within one meter of each other.

– Participants must be assigned a seat with at least one meter of distance from each other, and the conditions must be created for participants to maintain that distance, says Lind.

Prime Minister Stefan Löfven (S) says the Swedish Public Health Agency’s assessment is that the change does not increase the risk of infection more than “very marginally”.

– We want to facilitate as much as possible without risking a rapid spread of the infection, he says.

Congestion on the dance floor stops

However, public dance events with more than 50 people are again prohibited. The background is that the government is concerned about recent reports of congestion at nightclubs.

– It must be finalized now in the discos, and it must be during the required time, says Löfven.

– Too many shortcomings, too much congestion has been reported too many times in nightclubs. Here, medical staff work day and night, then it becomes disrespectful for the same staff to search the evening papers and see photos of crowded dance floors. That doesn’t hold up, says Löfven.

Threatened credibility

In practice, this means that the management of nightclubs with more than 50 people will not be allowed, adds Interior Minister Mikael Damberg (S).

– We must be clear that this (congestion in the clubs) was not what we saw in front of us and then we must toughen this up. I think the credibility of the long-term strategy was threatened by these images with people in discos at night, says Damberg.

The interior minister also raises a warning finger at nightclubs that could challenge the new provision. They risk being punished, says Damberg.

– That is why it is not a recommendation that you can do whatever you want. In the sense of criminal law, it will be the person who organizes a dance event who is responsible for compliance with the Prohibition Ordinance.

A third message from the government is that the law on temporary infection control measures in restaurants is extended by five months. It would have stopped at the beginning of the year.

The Swedish Public Health Agency also proposes that the rules for restaurants be tightened to a maximum of eight people per party.

– We are still in the middle of a serious pandemic. It is important that everyone assume a common and better responsibility for the development of the country, says the director general of the Public Health Agency, Johan Carlson.

Published: October 22, 2020 at 3:27 pm