New rules over pubs backed by city expert
RESTAURANTS AND BARS ARE HOTSPOTS FOR COVID SPREAD
A SCIENTIST at the University of Leicester has defended the government’s new clampdown on pubs to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Pubs across England are currently shut but many are expecting to reopen when the second national lockdown ends in a week’s time.
As reported today, Leicester and Leicestershire will emerge from lockdown straight into Tier 3, which will see all pubs staying shut unless they want to offer takeaways.
The next level down, Tier 2, which both areas will hope to move to after a fortnightly review, now means pubs and bars can only serve alcoholic drinks alongside “a substantial meal”.
Dr Julian Tang, an associate professor of respiratory sciences at the University of Leicester, said a lack of evidence of infections taking place in pubs did not mean it was not happening.
Dr Tang said: “When you have people meeting (in a pub or a restaurant), the fact that nobody gets a track and trace call-back to those people in the pub at that time does not mean transmission isn’t happening.
“It most probably does, but they are just missed. A lot of these cases are very mild, especially the age group that go to the pubs, and a lot of them will have asymptomatic infections.”
He said asymptomatic cases of Covid-19 – where no symptoms whatsoever are noticed – could account for between 80 and 90 per cent of all cases. He said there was scientific evidence that places such as bars and restaurants are Covid-19 hotspots, particularly where ventilation is poor and people talk to each other face-to-face. Dr Tang said exposure to the virus will be much more intense in indoor areas which have low ceilings, such as pubs, restaurants and school classrooms, where the air volume is more concentrated. Larger venues with high ceilings, such as cinemas and auditoriums, are more likely to have “massive air dilution, so the virus will have more air to spread into and each person will take in less of the virus”. Dr Tang said that while the next set of restrictions would be tough on the hospitality industry and other businesses, they were necessary to slow down the transmission of coronavirus.
He urged people to follow the rules, whatever tier they found themselves in. He said: “It’s not that tiers don’t work – but if people don’t follow the tiers, then they won’t work.”
It’s not that tiers don’t work - but if people don’t follow the tiers, then they won’t work
Dr Julian Tang