Splendour will be fine under the Covid rules

MARK Iles (“Sensible caution much better than extra risk”, Opinion, March 12) asks if the Splendour event will be signed off to go ahead.

All venues/events have to comply with the health and safety regulations that apply at the time they take place. Whether there will be any Covid-related restrictions on July 24 is of course uncertain.

According to the England Covid roadmap the aim is to remove all legal limits on social contact by June 21 at the earliest, a month earlier than the Wollaton Park event. So, unlike the event at the Newark Showground on June 18-20, it would be strange if the Splendour organisers were to state that they intended to operate with Covid restrictions when the roadmap plan is to remove them before the event takes place.

The suggestion that only persons who have received two jabs can attend Splendour is both bizarre, and divisive. Most attendees at Splendour will be young people. They are the group that will probably not have received both jabs by the time of the event, yet they are the people who are at least risk of serious disease from Covid. They are also the group who have made the biggest sacrifice in terms of education, career and employment in order to minimise serious illness and deaths amongst the older population.

Mark sounds a note of caution, citing the surge in infections in northern Italy. But, unlike the UK, Italy has not been in lockdown until now, and has only administered just over 6m vaccinations. Hence their current predicament. Back home, the evident impact of mass vaccination, coupled with a gradual easing of restrictions, provides optimism to the many who are yearning for the resumption of normal life.

Neil Stafford West Bridgford