The Hospitaility Industy and SARS-Cov2
The SARS-CoV2 pandemic has affected most people on Earth by now, and is showing no signs of eradication in the near future. Reports of a vaccine are few and far between, and while it is possible to treat the illness effectively if correct preparations are made, infection rates are still high, and the death toll rises every day. Industries such as hospitality are coming to terms with new social distancing and operational procedures, and in certain places it is difficult, and sometimes impossible, to adhere to the new guidelines. This is particularly relevant to me personally. Having worked in hospitality in the UK for more than five years, it is quite apparent to me that the way the industry operates is incompatible with social distancing. Keeping the virus contained whilst restaurants and bars operate normally is counterintuitive, and may be contributing to the spread of the virus.
A Personal View
To provide an example, the establishment in which I work has recently introduced new rules in an attempt to make the place safe for customers: Tables have been spaced further apart, and table service is now the only way service is conducted (i.e., drinks and food cannot be ordered at the bar, and can only be ordered when a server comes to your table to take an order). Also, once all of the tables are full, no more customers are admitted. This is to try to keep the venue as socially distant as possible. All staff must wash their hands at least every thirty minutes, and all touch points in the building are regularly sanitised.
In theory, these rules would make the venue as safe as possible for customers and staff, but the building itself is not designed to keep people socially distant, and illness can still spread very easily. Many of the staff in my place of work (including myself) have recently contracted a stomach bug and have had time off to recover. This goes to show that even with best-laid plans to avoid infection, illness has still found its way into our venue. If it had been Covid-19 instead of just a stomach bug, the venue would now be closed and all staff would have to go back into lockdown.
Government Priorities
There is no easy solution to this problem. If the only priority for the Government was to protect people against the virus, every bar and restaurant in the country would still be closed. Doubtless, the government subsidies given out to keep businesses afloat during lockdown would have run dry at some point, and many establishments would shut down, leading to thousands of jobs being lost. But, if the only priority of the Government was to protect the economy and jobs, the virus would have surely spread a lot faster than it has, through the lack of social distancing in bars and restaurants, leading to a higher death toll. The current balance struck between the two is risky at best.
The hospitality industry is not an essential industry as far as keeping the country running is concerned, but what makes it so important is the amount of people the have jobs within it; 2.9 million people are employed in hospitality in the UK, making it the UK’s fourth-largest industry. There is no way of keeping people isolated and protected from Covid-19 as well as protecting hospitality jobs, and if there is another surge of cases in the UK, those jobs may again be at serious risk.
The Root of New Infections
The irony is that if there is another influx of infections, it will most likely be caused by the amount of people going out for food and drink. If you have been out for a meal or a drink on a weekend in the UK during the past few weeks, it is easy to see how this could happen. Due to lower capacities in venues to try to reduce overcrowding, queues of people quickly form outside the doors. These queues are very rarely socially distant, and masks are almost never worn. Sometimes it seems to me that there are almost no differences in how the industry operates now to how it operated before the pandemic. It feels as if my place of work could be shut down at any moment. All it takes is one person who isn’t aware they are carrying the virus to walk into the building, a glass or piece of cutlery or door handle that hasn’t been sanitised, and I, and the dozens of others I work with, lose their jobs for weeks.
The situation is too precarious to be sustainable. Ideally, the hospitality industry should not be operating at this time. When a vaccine or other type of highly effective treatment is released, only then can bars and restaurants confidently re-open for good. However, the amount of money needed to ensure those people whose jobs are in limbo are provided for is probably too much for the Government to afford.
The furlough scheme introduced earlier in the year was a great success in keeping those out of work with a roof over their heads and with food on the table. However, until lives are again put at serious risk with another spike in cases, and while the industry is as successful as it always has been, it is unlikely to be re-introduced. All any of us who are employed in hospitality can do now is wait; wait until either a vaccine is released and the virus is effectively contained, so life may carry on as normal, or wait for another rise in cases to put all our lives on hold again.
Stay safe out there
/e
