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THREAD. The govt has published their official explanation for why they believe hospitality businesses have to close to control spread of COVID. It’s a very odd few short paras which are full of holes. You can read it here 1/ https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/transmission-risk-in-the-hospitality-sector/transmission-risk-in-the-hospitality-sector
It gives examples of super spreader events from other countries. BUT at no point does it say what social distancing / hygiene protocols, if any, were in place in any of them. I am sure a full restaurant operating in pre-pandemic style was indeed a focus for transmission.But... 2/
..that’s not a comparison with what the uk hospitality industry has done to protect customers/staff since lockdown 1 ended. It says the R has only ever been reduced by tier 3-style restrictions, without offering evidence as to which parts of those restrictions had an impact 3/
It describes a systematic review including papers published up to July 3. As Uk hospitality did not start to reopen until July 5 none of those papers could reflect the situation in the UK or what the impact of social distancing measures has been 4/
For obvious reasons I have visited many restaurants since July, both big and small. At none of them have I felt unsafe. Not saying there aren’t those doing a bad job. It’s just that I haven’t seen them. I’m also not saying that it’s impossible hospitality is an issue 5/
But there needs to be robust evidence of that before you force businesses to close, and risk both their closure and putting millions out of work. This paltry government explanation is not that evidence. Ends/
